Take the 10-minute survey! Exploring lay Catholics’ understanding of their baptismal identity

By Barb Arland-Fye
The Catholic Messenger

Bishop Dennis Walsh and his fellow U.S. bishops want to know: “What does your baptism mean to you?” The bishops hope to learn what lay Catholics understand about their baptismal identity and how it guides them in living out their faith.

Bishop Walsh and the diocesan Synergy Committee, composed of chancery office leaders, have created an online, anonymous survey in both English and Spanish that takes about 10 minutes to complete. Nearly 800 Catholics have already taken the survey, which opened July 30 and closes Sept. 30, said diocesan Evangelization Director Patrick Schmadeke.

The survey results will help the diocese determine how parish leadership can better support the mission that all Catholics are called to through their baptism. Take the survey in English (https://tinyurl.com/2cc7afmf) or in Spanish (https://tinyurl.com/4av2um7u). Encourage other Catholics to take the survey, too.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) provided instructions that the Davenport Diocese’s Synergy Committee adapted to create its survey, said Schmadeke, a committee member. In addition to committee members, clergy and others provided advice on phrasing questions. “This particular survey is for lay people; we’ll have a separate survey for clergy,” he said.

Among the questions that the survey asks:

• Do you feel that your baptism is core to your identity?
• Does your parish have organized conversations about how the Holy Spirit is calling the community to mission?
• As a layperson, do you feel that you share responsibility for the work and mission of the Church with ordained ministers?
• Who are you comfortable sharing your faith with?
• How many times in the last year have you explicitly shared your faith with someone who is not a practicing Christian?

  Early reaction

“The most powerful comment I’ve heard from someone who has taken the survey is that it felt like a ministerial experience and that person wanted to talk with other people about how they responded to the survey,” Schmadeke said. “That was a cool comment to hear. This person had never been asked questions like that before.”

The survey “probes you to think about topics around the Catholic faith you might otherwise take for granted,” said Luke Greene, a parishioner of St. John Vianney Parish in Bettendorf. “I found it refreshing that the Church is asking questions and seeking honest feedback. I’m hopeful about how the responses may help shape a more robust Church experience in the future.”

Schmadeke said the diocese is promoting the survey in The Catholic Messenger, on the Davenport Diocese’s Facebook page, through other diocesan communication channels, by word of mouth and has provided parishes with promotional tools.

After the survey concludes, a committee will review the data during the month of October and submit a written summary to the USCCB by Nov. 1. Corinne Winter, professor emerita of St. Ambrose University in Davenport, will author the summary. She previously authored the diocesan Synod summary.

Winter said the survey “addresses key pastoral concerns that are present in the Church” and “allows individuals to take the initiative to do the survey whether or not their parish is heavily involved.”

Baptismal mission

The Messenger article, she said, will help more Catholics know that the diocese wants them to complete the survey. “I hope pastors in every parish will encourage parishioners to take the time to do this. Publish it in the parish bulletins (and not just once). Hopefully, it would be announced at the beginning and end of Masses with someone offering encouraging words that this is important and why it’s important.”

The survey “continues the work of the Synod and the idea that all of us need to take ownership of the mission of the Church,” she said, explaining its importance. “As with the Synod, we need to really rid ourselves of a long-engrained habit of saying, why doesn’t Father do something, why doesn’t the bishop do something, why doesn’t the pope do something?”

“All of us need to view our role in the Church as a calling. Whatever we are called to do, that is a vocation we have as baptized people,” Winter said. “We keep getting rattled about the lack of priests. We need to change our thinking. When we think of the call to priesthood or to religious life (we need to ask ourselves), am I called to make a sacrifice for the sake of Church? The answer for every one of us is yes. All of us are called to make our lives a gift to God and to the Church.”

Winter believes “there is a deeply engrained feeling in people that what they say doesn’t matter anyway. We need to listen to one another — especially when we disagree. That is exactly what Pope Francis asked us to do.”

Schmadeke said the diocese plans to share the summary widely. Separate reports for parishes will provide information about the insights and needs their parishioners identified within their parishes.

“I hope that parish leadership groups as well as individual parishioners take this as an opportunity to reflect on what we’re doing well with our baptismal mission of evangelization and what we can do better as a community,” Schmadeke said.