CATHOLICS COME HOME.org CHICAGO SUMMARY REPORT
Information from Responding Parishes Finds Increased Mass Attendance
Chicago, IL (June 23, 2010)– The Chicago evangelization initiative, CatholicsComeHome.org, has released a Summary Report indicating an increase in Mass attendance following a major media effort this past December and January that included 2,000 commercials that aired on ten local television stations and cable outlets.
The Archdiocese of Chicago’s Office for Evangelization recently released the report showing that between October 2009 and February 2010, average Mass attendance increased 8.1 percent at 269 out of 368 parishes and missions in Cook and Lake Counties that responded to the survey. The Report noted that the Archdiocesan Office of Research and Planning conducted the special February attendance count at the beginning of Lent, when traditionally more people attend Sunday Mass.
The Chicago CatholicsComeHome.org Summary Report recaps the results of two separate surveys given to pastors and the designated parish program contact. A total of 440 surveys from 201 pastors and 239 parish contacts provided the statistics for this report. The survey evaluations by pastors and parish contacts were considered generally positive, with more than 90 percent of the parish contact people reporting that their parishes were positively engaged in, and enthusiastic about, planning for the initiative. Additionally, two-thirds of responding pastors suggested that the CatholicsComeHome.org commercials be used again in the future.
Other survey findings from the 201 responding pastors include:
- 88 percent think the archdiocese should use media to evangelize in the future
- 71 percent thought the initiative benefited their parishes
- 52 percent said there was an increase in confessions
The CatholicsComeHome.org diocesan partner evangelization initiative was a collaborative effort among the Archdiocese of Chicago and the Dioceses of Joliet and Rockford. The viewing area for the ads consisted of 20 counties across northern Illinois.
Click here to read the entire Archdiocese of Chicago CatholicsComeHome.org Summary Report.