The Peace and Justice Committee conducted a survey of Queen of Angels’ parishioners at masses during October 28 to 30. The survey was designed to gauge the interest of the parish on different topics the Peace and Justice Committee could address. There were 91 surveys returned.
The four top-scoring areas of interest (of those areas on the survey) for the parish were efforts to combat hunger, world hunger (both 94% favorable), homeless shelters (93% favorable) and assistance for victims of abuse
(87% favorable).
The four lowest-scoring areas of interest for the parish were Heifer alternative holiday gift sales (71% favorable), fair-trade coffee sales (70% favorable), community-supported agriculture vegetable co-op (69% favorable) and Right to Life causes (68% favorable). These scores are still considered very favorable in survey research.
Respondents listed many topics when asked what other areas the Peace and Justice Committee should address. There were two comments regarding senior citizens rights and also two comments on separation of church and state in the community. Some respondents added that the Peace and Justice Committee should work more closely with other parish committees. Also shared were two suggestions which are to be addressed on a parish-wide basis in the near future: Young people/teen ministry and a special Ministry to assist the elderly in our parish.
The group discussed the scores at our meeting in November. In future, we will aim to better communicate how our existing programs contribute to combating hunger. The group also discussed the possibility of working with homeless shelters and further investigating how our group can assist victims of abuse as we have not addressed those two topics in the past.
