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2021 Survey

Of parish websites, bulletins and online Masses in the Archdiocese of Hartford

Includes a table of collected data for all parishes

As of the first Sunday of Advent 2022, November 26/27, Archbishop Blair has directed that a prayer for vocations replace the praying of the St. Michael prayer after Masses. He hopes that we will pray the St. Michael prayer privately. The letter is read in this video.

Masses are public worship, for which obligatory information is also public.
As such, this survey is a reminder that we are accountable to one another, to the Church and, ultimately, to God for faithful liturgies. We can do better.

Why another survey?

I didn't publish specific data from the 2020 survey, although I did report some specific grave abuses to Archbishop Blair. He wrote, in a letter dated December 31, 2020, "I am aware of the fact that there are priests who in varying degrees do not always follow the texts and rubrics in the Missal as they are obliged to do." He wrote that he would "look into the more serious breaches of liturgical discipline..." Now, a year later, I have only seen one slight, but still incorrect, change in the abuses I reported. Why? 

 

Fr. Bill Peckman, a priest from Missouri, in a Facebook post on  February 26, 2019, wrote: “...some type of evaluative tool needs to [be] developed to judge a cleric on his execution of duties based on the criteria of the teaching Magisterium and pastoral necessities of the Church. Being a pastor is the only position I have ever held where I am never officially evaluated for execution of my duties. There are neither bonuses for desirable behaviors nor punishments for neglectful or incompetent behaviors. Clericalism breeds in such an atmosphere. Knowing someone cares enough to watch makes a big difference.”

What did the survey look for?

This updated and expanded survey checked for compliance with the Archbishop's Decree of September 11, 2018 to pray the St. Michael Prayer and to have weekly Adoration in each parish. In so far as I could, I checked for the following requirements:

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  1. Restoration of the practice of praying the traditional prayer to St. Michael.

  2. To be said after all scheduled Sunday and weekday Masses.

  3. To be said by the celebrant and the people.

  4. To be said after the Dismissal and before the recessional hymn.

  5. That each parish (not church building) devote at least one hour a week to public Eucharistic Adoration.

  6. Eucharistic Adoration should be "widely published in the parish." (I defined "widely published" to mean that the information can be found on the parish website and in the bulletin.)

 

I also noted (in the last column in the table below) some grave, habitual or other abuses. Also noted there are other factors which could effect the results, such as language, parish mergers, new websites, etc.. 

More about the survey...

This survey is based on the  Archdiocesan website's directory of parishes. The directory listed 125 parishes. One parish was found to be closed, for a total of 124 parishes in the survey. 

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The survey mainly looked at Masses and bulletins from November and December 2021. This was done so that the survey would reflect the situation after Archbishop Blair spoke to his priest at their Convocation about the importance of faithful liturgies.

2021 Survey Results

St. Michael Prayer -- Map

 

  • 50 parishes (40%*) were saying the prayer in the correct place

  • 15 parishes (12%) were saying the prayer in the wrong place

  • 3 parishes (2%) were inconsistent in saying the prayer

  • 17 parishes (14%) were not saying the prayer

  • 57 parishes (46%) were unknown/no recorded Masses

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Of the unknown parishes, in the previous 2020 survey

  • 14 parishes were saying the St. Michael prayer

  • 7 parishes were not saying the St. Michael prayer 

*All percentages are based on 124 total parishes.

Adoration -- Map

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  • 71 parishes (57%) had weekly Adoration

  • 29 parishes (23%) were widely publishing Adoration

  • 42 parishes (34%) were NOT widely publishing Adoration

  • 50 parishes (40%) had no published Adoration

  • 3 parishes (2%) were unknown

results

The table below is searchable with the below key codes. Numbers in parenthesis are the number of parishes in each category.

St. Michael Prayer

1YM   = Yes, said after the Dismissal (34)

1WM  = Yes, said, but in the wrong place (15)

1IM     = Yes, said, but inconsistently (3)

1NM   = No, not said by the priest and the people (17)

1UM   = Unknown. No recorded Masses available (57)

1YSM  = Unknown. Yes in 2020 survey (14)

1NSM = Unknown. No in 2020 survey (7)

Adoration

2YA   = Yes, there is widely published weekly Adoration (29)

2IA    = Yes, there is weekly Adoration, but not widely published (42)

2NA  = No, there is no published weekly Adoration (50)

2UA  = Unknown. No information available (3) 

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