4. What might be done to increase attendance at OSM-sponsored events? Responses to Question #4 I will have the time to attend OSM sponsored events in 2008. In the interim, please send me the e-link so I can stay abreast of and advocate the issues. 1. Pastors to invite/encourage us to attend. 2. Evangelization witness at Mass with event sign up to get a commitment and spread the word to those who do not have internet. 3. Have parish members be OSM advocate(s) and become companions for the journey atleast on the first OSM event until the person becomes confident to go alone or help someone else come and see. 4. Follow up articles about how this event caused a positive change in an observer or participant life. Inform all parishes via fax and encourage them to post or insert announcement in the Sunday bulletin Have more on the weekends or in the evening Adequate notice. Limit the number of events. Provide visual calendar of following months events. More male oriented gatherings. They seem to only attract Clergy and women. Protestants are much better at bringing out men. More visibility in local parishes (events etc. in weekly bulletin) Prayer and continued encouragement. Have parishes continue to advertise e-link monthly. As with E-link --- just keep on sponsoring them -- eventually "they" will come!!! Sometimes the events mentioned are already past the date or the same day or a day or two after receiving the e-link iNFORMATION ON TRANSPORTATION OPPORTUNITIES SUCH AS BUSES, COASTER, AMTRAK, RIDE-SHARING,BUS ROUTE NOS. TELEPHONE NUMBERS FOR INFORMATION. Spend more time and effort promoting e-link at the parish level - bulletins, handouts, speakers, etc. Health problems and price of gas prevent me from getting to San Diego. Must provide transportation to those who is not able to drive such those: (1) wheelchaired, (2) senior citizens and. (3) dont have transportation/license, (4) etc.etc etc. Offer snacks, potluck meal, or brief social time for conversation among participants. As a deacon, I publicize the events to those that I think will attend. However, my time is limited and I still work full time. More notice time of events. Also, it's hard to attend with small children at home, too. Maybe event times that are easier to reach with small children's schedules also considered? put an extra day in between Friday and Saturday or Saturday and Sunday... seriously, working and commuting takes up MOST of the week and Sunday is for Mass and a little family time, so Saturday events would be good. More publicity, maybe individual email alerts on the one event, announcements in church bulletins, So Cross ads notify us at least one to two months ahead of event so we can make plans to attend/change other plans if we need to Educate parishioners - through pulpit if at all possible, adult ed classes, or bulletin - not just of events but of how they are opportunities for us to live out our faith. Put in Parish Bulletins & send in Pastors packets. Send separate notices beyond this e-link message gas money :) parish announcements Just keep scheduling them and promoting them--it's just a question of my availability at the times of the events. Strong Nationally known speakers. Survey readers on best days of the week and times for them to participate in events. More interesting emails with graphics or photos More awareness at each parish. ? Church bulletins trough coordinators, or contact pastors directly. lighten my schedule get my family interested post in parish bulletins to reach others (ours often has info) Eucharistic celebrations! Schedule a closing Mass to draw people to an event. Perhaps schedule events at parishes throughout the county (Everything from Encinitas is a drive for me ...). Continue to build a Culture of Life. Emphasize JPII's "Theology of the Body." Get individual churches to put announcements in their church bulletins and give "pulpit plugs" for local events. Unfortunately, the church I previously attended refused to do this and I'm now attending St. Thomas More in Oceanside where "communications" is great!!! No time to attend due to being so involved at the parish level, but I like to at least be informed about what diocesan wide events are happening and how they went. Depending on the event, diocesan wide publicity might be appropriate (bulletin announcements in each parish's bulletin). If we are talking about the Culture of Life ministries in each parish, I know we don't attend many because we have family and more than one ministry in which we are involved. On number 5. below, it doesn't matter whether we have attended or not, the information is still good to see (photos) and read. Organize carpools from high attendance parishes with reliable respect life leaders. Not for lack of support/interest, but other time commitments More long range planning, ie. the worker's rally in Oceanside was on Palm Sunday. As a deacon, I attended four masses that day, including our 12 noon Spanish speaking mass. That event casted a dark cloud over our recent stated diocese' primary mission statement to increase attendance and improve the worship of our Sunday masses. This was no small problem in our Spanish speaking community. They had to make a choice to go elsewhere or stay home and go to church. While I completly support the OSM sponsored activities, I'm just saying that more careful consideration be given to "not separating" our people, even for GOOD THINGS. I hope this isn't a critical statement, as that is not my wish. You are always in my prayers. Relate things more to peoples lives and let them know how to apply it!!!! More church bulletin notices Nothing. How can you make our lives less busy? By more advance publicity in the Union Tribune. some events get lots and lots of publicity. Others less so. Continue to publicize the success of the individual events with photographs and brief articles afterwards. the whole focus of the OSME-link for me is lopsided. Social Ministry/Justice is the seamless garment and the culture of life encompasses: To be Pro=Life in ALL PLACES. this ethic involves an opposition to abortion, sexism, warfare the use of nuclear arms, the death penalty, economic deprivation, and the active killing of the sick and disabled. Are the events announced at Sunday Mass or in the parish bulletins????? Pray that our people "Wake Up!" Vary the location as most seem to be offered/ take place in San Diego proper or far from the northern part of the county. The advance notice is always helpful Announcing them in the bulletins/messengers at all the parishes. Additional email reminders to subscribers. Email sample bulletin announcements. Promote this at local parishes. To answer the question I would have to look at each event individually and see the potential impact on the community or policy in relation to advancing the culture of life- then we can share the vision with the church. People want to put their time to effect change and if the change is slow they need to understand estimated timeline. So, basically a timeline for change and how each event plays apart in this. And of course discernment, asking the Lord where we are to put our time- what is his plan for victory and following it. have pastors relate the Gospel to these topics and show that charity and justice must meet. We are tall on specifics and short on processing. the pulpit must be used to educate generations of poorly-formed Catholics. Pope Benedict's encyclical stresses that "before all else" a "formation of the heart" involving encounter with God in Christ must accompany and penetrate social action because and insofar as human reason and nature in their concrete history always stand in need of purification and (re-)formation. First things first. I live in San Diego 5 months only. Start adhering to the teachings of Christ and the historical Catholic Church and promote personal responsibility, and stop promoting "social justice". The spread of socialism, masked as "social justice" needs to be stopped! Just ends up being a day when we have another activity, busy people--have too much going on. To increase attendance have local sites instead of just one in North County or downtown... unknown-Contempletive Outreach Don't know...those who want to attend will attend. Sometimes it is difficult for people far away from the office because it takes over an hour to get there and another hour to travel home again. have more in the North County area Breakfast or lunch meetings Have a wine tasting and Mexican food event Use key locations: SD Mission, Old Town, Hotel del Coronado Hold joint events with Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Father Joe, St. Augustine High School, OLP, etc. More communication & marketing May be by putting an attention-getting notice in every San Diego parish church Sunday announcement would do the job. During the week my work generally keeps me at the office late. This interferes with attendance at weekly events. Other events on weekend depend on location. Could you have a link to a monthly calendar which would show all events for the next 2 or 3 months? I find it hard to keep track of everything and don't always remember or have the time to go back and find the date and place of an event in the e-link. publish a calendar as far in advance as possible Make them parish based. haven't been to our parish since I registered as far as I know. It's difficult because they are all good events, it's just that between my family and my ministries at Church, I don't have the time now to go to other events. I am just returning to the area, so my involvement is new. Complementing the event in all bulletins Grass-roots visitation to the various parishes in SD county. do workshops in parishes with e-link being central to the message. Increase the membership of e-link. Numbers will translate into numbers. Conflicts with working schedules is reason for not attending. Get the parishes to advertise at the pulpit or in the bulletin. Good speakers, events with a firm purpose, regularly scheduled events. You can't be an advocate for every issue. Numbers are small sometimes because advocate stands are for the minority. When it comes to social update and charity more can participate. Numbers are not an issue with me. Diversity in events. I enjoyed the anti-death penalty events and the justice events. Nothing. I just don't have time to attend these events in addition to everything else I need to do. A Spanish translation needs to be done. No ideas, sorry. ....move me back to san Diego.......hi guys..... keep up the good work......Jo not that my presence would increase attendance from others, just "my" presence, as in one more "body." :-) I find most people need a personal invitation. Time consuming but it does work.