Reporting Back Two Surveys
I have taken a few surveys over the last couple months, and it is time for me to report back the results and my thoughts.
Christmas Mass Feedback
I asked people about their experience of the Christmas Mass schedule. I also noted that we need to eliminate one Christmas Eve Mass, as our current schedule forces us to rely on at least one visiting or retired priest, which is unsustainable. Finally, I asked about the possibility of doing 4:00 pm and 7:00 pm, instead of 3:00 pm and 6:00 pm.
Responses
We received this many responses about the following Masses:
Christmas Eve
3 x 3:00 pm – St. Anne (Blaine)
2 x 3:00 pm – St. Peter (Kendall)
7 x 3:00 pm – St. Joseph (Ferndale)
6 x 3:00 pm – Sacred Heart (Bellingham)
12 x 6:00 pm – Assumption (Bellingham)
1 x 6:00 pm – St. Joachim (Lummi)
0 x 6:00 pm – St. Joseph (Lynden)
0 x 6:00 pm – [Spanish] St. Joseph (Ferndale)
0 x 9:00 pm – Sacred Heart (Bellingham)
4 x True Midnight – Assumption (Bellingham)
Christmas Day
2 x 9:00 am – Sacred Heart (Bellingham)
0 x 10:00 am – St. Joseph (Ferndale)
1 x 10:00 am – St. Joseph (Lynden)
5 x 11:00 am – Assumption (Bellingham)
High Level Take Aways
- Based on self-reported capacity, it seems that our number of Masses was appropriate. The main disconnect was at Sacred Heart – the 3:00 pm was CRAZY full, while the 9:00 pm (as reported by sources outside of the survey) was not well attended and failed to reduce demand for the 3:00 pm.
- Some people certainly advocated for keeping the 3:00/6:00pm distinction, but more than half thought that 3:00 pm was too early and that 4:00/7:00 pm would actually work better. One person suggested we at least try 4:00/6:30pm next year. I also heard that more later Masses on Christmas might help those morning numbers.
Decisions
Based on everything I read, I will likely try out 4:00/6:30, putting the largest capacity churches at the earliest slots. Chew on it for now. I will try to remember to send this out for feedback in October.
Christmas Eve
4:00 pm – Assumption
4:00 pm – St. Joseph (Ferndale)
4:00 pm – St. Joseph (Lynden)
4:00 pm – St. Anne
6:30 pm – Sacred Heart
6:30 pm – [SPANISH] St. Joseph (Ferndale)
6:30 pm – St. Peter
6:30 pm – St. Joachim
True Midnight – Assumption
Christmas Day
10:00 am – Sacred Heart (Bellingham)
10:00 am – St. Joseph (Ferndale)
11:00 am – St. Joseph (Lynden)
11:00 am – Assumption (Bellingham)
Assumption Project Feedback
Back in November, I published this letter about some bequests we had received at Assumption and the possibility of using those bequests to repaint part of the church to its original decoration.
The basic question was: “Assumption has to raise money for a few projects anyway; should we try to raise an additional $110,000 in order to paint the back wall?”
High Level Take Aways
- 24 people responded.
- 9 wanted to raise only the money necessary.
- 15 wanted to raise the additional money.
- The majority of feedback was excited about beautifying the church and restoring the original decoration; many of these folks did not ever think that would be a possibility and were excited to learn that it might be possible. Some parishioners thought the church was fine as it is.
- A good number of parishioners brought up financial concerns. Some about the number of projects currently underway in the county generally and at Assumption specifically and others about other needs beyond aesthetics that could use additional money.
- Some parishioners were uncomfortable giving to a combined campaign because they did not support either the organ renovation or the painting project and wanted to focus only on the functional needs of the church.
Developments since the Letter
I have been delayed in giving an update about this project because I wanted a final number for the heating system repair. Unfortunately, getting a final bid on that project is becoming almost impossible, and we are having to rethink our approach to these contractors. So I have to provide an incomplete update:
- Organ: After the letter was published, a parishioner came forward to cover nearly all of the remaining balance on the organ. This allowed us to consider this project fully funded and to focus our fundraising efforts elsewhere.
- Unfortunately, after that donation was made, our organ contractor communicated that they ran into some unexpected complexities with our instrument and they may need to fly out an expert. We are still negotiating this change with them, so the price of the organ restoration might change.
- Steam System: There are three parts to this project: (1) repair the floor supports against the foundation wall, (2) split the system into two isolated branches and add isolation valves to each radiator, allowing us to work on the system without shutting off all the heat to the building, and (3) rebuild the floors in matching wood, including hatches that allow easy system inspection and access.
We have a bid for the floors which is reasonable and a bid for the foundation/support work which is probably the best we can get. We have been struggling to get a bid for the pipe work that meets our specifications, and that has delayed the project for three months already. Our new facilities employees are working hard to break that dam.
Unfortunately, the upper limit on this project has ballooned to $300,000. Our new facilities folks are also looking at alternatives to contracted work to see if we can bring that number down. - Painting Project / Liturgical Improvement: No work has been done in this area, beyond the initial rendering, because we wanted to have our ducks in a row in the first two projects first.
Decision
Based on feedback and developments, I have decided the following:
- We will decouple the projects and fundraise for them separately.
- We will finish the organ and steam system projects and reevaluate our finances before embarking on any beautification projects. The $90,000 designated for liturgical improvements will sit unspent for now, until we have a better handle on what might be possible for our community.
Fr. Moore 