Matthew Kelly Passion and Purpose: Post Event Survey Results

1. Matthew Kelly Passion and Purpose:Post Event Survey Results Good Shepherd Parish Huntsville, Alabama April 2012

2. Purpose and Content • Survey designed to evaluate value of Matthew Kelly’s “Passion & Purpose” seminar and to gain insights for the question of “what next?” • Content: • Demographics • Evaluation of activities associated with Matthew Kelly program • Lessons Learned from Matthew Kelly • Personal Faith Journeys and Potential Parish Support

3. Demographics • 100 surveys with 96 completed • ~15% of attendees • Not statistically significant – but a potentially valuable data set • Respondent’s Parish Affiliation • Good Shepherd 91.1% • Holy Spirit 8.9% • Other : • All Saints (Knoxville, TN) • Our Lady of Fatima (Alcoa, TN) • Sacred Heart (Cullman, AL) • SFX (Birmingham, AL) • St Joseph (Tuskegee, AL) • St. Dominic (Mobile, AL) • St. James the Less (Corinth, MS) • St. John the Baptist (Madison, AL) • St. Joseph's (Dalton, GA) • St. Thomas the Apostle • St. William (Guntersville, Al)

4. Demographics (continued) • Gender: 27.8% male and 72.2% female • Age: • Range: 16 – 81 • Mean: 57 • Distribution:

5. Demographics (continued) • 75% of respondents are “cradle Catholics” • Almost 25% are converts – most long term

6. Matthew Kelly Activities

7. Rediscovering Catholicism • Book Receipt: 94.8% of respondents and/or their family received a copy of Matthew Kelly’s Rediscovering Catholicism • Reading: • 9% read none of it • 38% read some of it • 53% read all of it

8. Motivation to Attend Seminar • 46 respondents provided “other” comments

9. Motivation to Attend Seminar (continued) • Clear linkage between Kelly’s books, CDs, and reputation and attendance • Sources of “Rediscovering Catholicism” varied i.e., Good Shepherd distribution, Cursillo, son’s high school etc. • Others influenced attendance • Recommendations from friends, family, Father, and even strangers • Tickets purchased as gifts • Searching and Responding to Challenges • Get out of rut, broaden horizons, improve, enrich my faith life • Share my faith –easily; evangelize

10. Expectations of Seminar • Variety of “other” responses • Some had no expectations • Some were searching or seeking • Spiritual inspiration • New ideas for promoting Jesus in the world • Renew my hope in the Church • Words, ideas, understanding and inspiration for living my faith.

11. Value of Seminar • More than 85% of respondents considered the Matthew Kelly seminar to be valuable • 58% said it was “extremely valuable” • 13% indicated it was of limited or no value

12. Learning • Responses to question “What 2 or 3 things did you learn?” varied widely • Common Themes • Special insights for being a better version of myself (i.e., silence, confession, reading, intimacy) • Pride in accomplishments and potential political power of the Church • Concerns over future of the Church • Personal and poignant responses (see hand-out)

13. Faith Journey

14. Personal Faith Journey • Responses to question “What do you personally need to extend and/or deepen your personal faith life?” were both unique and common • Common Themes • Need to carve out more time for silence, prayer, reading, and being with/listening to God • Desire to read and understand the Bible • The commitment for more frequent confession • Individual personal responses included on hand-out

15. Parish Support • Responses to question “What can your parish do to support your efforts to extend and/or deepen your personal faith life?” were obviously parish-specific, some respondents felt more supported than others • Common Themes • Call for adult education • Call for Bible Study • Call for prayer groups • Call for programs such as Matthew Kelly • Many additional ideas included on hand-out

16. Participation in Parish Activities • 62% of respondents currently engaged in “service” to parish (EM, lector, usher, music, etc) • Some consistency in previous findings for potential parish support and “might participate” responses • Growth potential for social outreach groups/activities

17. Annual Mass Attendance • Assuming that attendance at Mass is a major indicator of engagement as a Catholic, the question “Approximately how many times a year do you attend Mass?” was posed • 82.3% of respondents attend more than “Sunday Mass” • Over a third of respondents attend Mass on an average of 2-3 times per week

18. Implications for “What’s Next”

19. Relevance of Survey Results • Demographics • Not a representative sample • Disproportionately older • 72% female • Willing and able to spend $39 on a spiritual seminar for a Saturday • Significant number already engaged in parish activities • Frequent Mass attendees • ~10% of responses not from Good Shepherd • Positively, strong on-line response for age distribution of respondents • Matthew Kelly • Clear linkage between distribution of Rediscovering Catholicism and attendance at seminar • National reputation and multi-media appeal enhanced interest – locally and regionally • Beyond Holy Spirit, participation by local parishes was no greater than “out-of-sector” participation • Respondents readily identified with Kelly’s frame works and language

20. Relevance (continued) • Personal Faith Journey • Significant individual variation – may be age/stage of life related • Common call for more silence, more prayer, more Biblical and spiritual reading/study • Potential Parish Support • Applicability of results cluttered by non-Good Shepherd responses • Strong call for adult education (including Bible Study)

21. Individual Sensibilities • Unique Cases: • Respondent : • Did not attend. Thought the cost was prohibitive. • I missed the introduction to this presentation, and did not get a book? We travel to take care of elderly family in another parish, about every other weekend so may have missed why this person was so inspiring. • Continued opportunity, and a budget for it. Lack of job meant lack of funds for extras like the seminar. • I have the desire to do mission work. Often I am blessed with either time and no funds or funds and no time, depending on what work assignments I am able to get. It is very frustrating to me. I do what I can locally.