Analysis of
Church and Parish Data
Reasons given by the archdiocese for closing (see http://www.rcab.org/Parish_Reconfiguration/reconfigurationReport.html ) did not seem to fit the profile for many churches, particularly those with vibrant parishes and many groups dependent on them for both spiritual and financial support. It was a natural question to ask, “what were likely reasons that were not stated, but would be observable from an analysis of the pattern of closings ?”. Data does not attribute or imply intention or purpose (good or otherwise), so please view these as a different way of looking at the information we already have, from a different perspective.
The list of churches scheduled for closing is not final, so these will be updated as more information is available.
Study by Sacred Heart
Appeal 2004-06-17 --
Available data from June 17th was put into a software package which looked for trends in the data. Sacred Heart’s analysis is summarized here, with some backup data attached in the spreadsheet.
Study Presented at
VOTF – 2004-06-23 --
An independent study is in progress and was presented at the
VOTF meeting in
Study Updated 2004-09-01
-- ** NEW **
An update of the June
23rd data analysis has been expanded and a more detailed examination
performed: Informal
Statistical Study (Part II):
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston is stored on this web site and is available at the internet web site where
it is posted:
http://home.comcast.net/~sdoherty12/Statistics_Part2_RCABParishClosings.html
by Stan and Eileen Doherty.
Other studies and analyses are welcome to be shared with us by email sent to: data@sacredheartappeal.org – with the submitter’s permission those studies can be posted on this web site, if time and space are available to do so. Referrals to sources of demographic information would be helpful also, particularly if there are no fees required for their use. Thanks !
