A family's opinions of our survey

HERE are the reactions of three generations of one family to the Catholic Herald and Gallup Poll survey on the Catholic Church — Monica Comerford's mother, Monica herself, and her son Hugh.
Mrs Kathleen M. Winter
writes: I was delighted to be given the opportunity to take part in this survey. Most large organisations make use of this system to collect information for future development, so why not a Catholic paper?
With so much change since Vatican, the first question, on what type of Mass we liked, was very important. I personally, think the sung English Mass (which must be simple) in which the whole congregation are involved, the most satisfactory. The liturgy in our parish is varied. We have a Folk Mass once a month, which is excellent; a said Mass with hymns, and a sung Latin Mass occasionally. With so much variety most parishioners (hopefully) are happy.
It is strange that the Sign of Peace should be the cause of so much disagreement. We come together at least once a week to receive the Eucharist, sharing the Body of Christ; surely some sign of recognition in such a gathering is not out of place? St Paul, in most of his letters, advises his readers to "greet each other with a Holy Kiss"! But of course the invitation to give some sign must come from the celebrant.
As Vatican II decided that lay people must be consulted on parish matters, it is surprising that this request is still being ignored. If all the reforms are to be brought about without too much heartache, it is absolutely essential to have a properly elected council, so that all matters dealing with the parish can be discussed freely liturgy, education, welfare, finance and expenditure. In such a situation one can develop a flourishing Christian community. But all too often the reverse is the case, and usually the trouble is about money.
All the Churches are experiencing a dramatic drop in members and vocations. But surely the rise of the Charismatic Movement may be God's way of renewal in the churches? Even in my own circle there is much evidence to prove this: indifferent people have become enthusiastic, others have widened their outlook, while those fearful to any change have accepted it.
Such remarkable happenings can surely only be achieved by the power of the Holy Spirit. This movement is growing rapidly, but it needs to be kept within the official structures of the church; if not we shall he faced with more divisions. To achieve this the lead needs to come from bishops and clergy. The question of money and how it should be raised is another problem in most parishes. Without any hesitation, I think covenants are the most satisfactory. We all complain of over taxation, and to recover some of that money from the Chancellor to give to our Church and charities, gives me, at any rate, enormous pleasure. Bazaars and raffles are tolerable, but gambling, such'as bingo and pools, are surely not the right image for the church?
Monica Comerford writes: I must admit I am rather fond of filling in surveys, I am the sort of person who is quite happy to tell the market researcher what I buy or eat or watch, and why. I am just not one of life's "Don't Knows".
For good or ill, I usually have some idea of what I think about most issues, and as religion is of very great significance to me, and I do not think we are usually consulted enough, I was very glad to fill it in.
The first few questions about Mass — what type one prefers — are, 1 think, very significant, because from this flows many attitudes to faith.
I said I liked only the new English Mass. This is not because I like only new things, but because I believe that liturgy is not static or sacrosanct, but a vehicle by which we worship God and try to encounter and understand something of His purposes for us.
Since I believe that people and civilisations differ very much in their needs, culture and understanding of God, I do not believe that a liturgy devised four or five hundred years ago in a language which few people now learn can possibly be really meaningful and instructional to people today.
If one does prefer it, I think it is because some people do not see the purpose of liturgy as I do. Leading on to questions about congregational singing and the Sign of Peace, again I like them because 1 see Mass as not an individual's private worship of God or a quiet meditation (these all have a place, though surely not at Sunday Mass) but a gathering of a particular community of friends and neighbours for a corporate celebration — a sort of party with God.
So in this context I think my answers make sense, to me at any rate. It all depends, I suppose, on how you see the Church. 1 see it as on going, changing, growing, and developing at all times and in all places. If it stops it gets stunted, and in a way I think it was in danger of doing this for quite a longish period — a bit like a Chinese woman with bound feet — and when you unbind them it is very painful indeed.
But wouldn't it have been better if they had never been bound, though indeed some Chinese people (and some Catholics) found tightly bound feet very beautiful?
I found many other questions very interesting — like those on the Charismatic Movement, lay participation in the Church, ecumenism and Bible reading, as they are all areas of enormous change and development lately; but to me the one about how long had I read the Catholic Herald brought back a lot of thoughts. In fact 1 ticked the "Over 10 years" box, though I have read the paper for almost 30 years and it was in its pages that I first came to understand the idea of the true meaning of liturgy and why people might want (unheard of heresy!) a vernacular liturgy: that Christians might actually pray together and discuss their Faith in common, that lay people had a real and important role in the Church (and not just to raise cash!)
Questions about clerical celibacy, marriage and now the taxing questions of the role of women in the Church are all finding a place.
Under the editorship of the pioneering Michael de La Bedoyere many ideas once considered outrageous but now with us were given a most enlightened hearing. There have been times when I have not felt so happy with the
baper, but I am delighted with its present readth. It is certainly helping in the adult formation urged so strongly in "A Time for Building." I hope it is with me in fine fettle when the year 2000 comes around.
Hugh Comerford writes: In general I dislike surveys, as in my opinion they often force you to say things you don't entirely mean.
Multiple choice answers usually suggest possibilities that one partially agrees with, but since they attempt to cover every conceivable view in a complex situation the result is that they rarely represent fully what anyone believes. Having said this, I found this particular survey
relatively painless and quite enjoyable to fill in, even if I was not particularly satisfied with my answers. I found as I filled in the answers that I was continually saying to myself: "I believe this, but if I say so, then I will be in danger of meaning something else."
An example of this can be seen in question 22: "Do you think that there should be — daily religious assembly for the whole school?"
My view would be that assembly should exist only as long as it is constructive religiously, and by this I mean that it should not exist purely because assembly is the "done thing" or because there is no other way for the headmaster to offload countless notices about obscene illustrations on the loo walls or how well this year's rugby first fifteen are doing.
Assembly should be planned, students should
be encouraged to speak before the school and, above all, the idea that assembly is a routine everyday occurence should be got away from. Perhaps the usual assembly time should be timetabled, allowing individuals to book time on it if they have something they would like to share with the school; and if no one books the time on a particular day then there should be no assembly.
Going back to the question, though, which box would I tick to indicate this? That there should be religious assembly for the whole school or that there shouldn't?
One thing I liked about the survey was the wide range of questions which were posed: I found that the simpler questions provided light relief between the ones that were more difficult to answer.
A question that I found interesting and rather difficult to answer was the one about Northern Ireland: "Do you think that the Catholic Church is doing enough about the troubles in Northern Ireland?"
My first reaction was to say "No", but it is difficult to know what the Catholic Church should be doing. 1 came to the conclusion that we should all pray for Church unity on a massive scale.
Although I could only answer questions based
on my own experience, I was occasionally left wondering whether I should answer a question with respect to my own situation or whether I should answer according to what I thought was the general case.
Being still at school, with many things to read
i
on an academic, rather than an interest level, 1 tend to read articles in the Catholic Herald only if they are recommended by someone else. This made it difficult to answer the question on how; long I have been reading the paper. It is possible that others are in a similar predicament. So finally I would like to suggest that careful note should be made of peoples' varying opinions in addition to what the results of this survey may show.