Parish profiling about to start

All parishes under the Archdiocese of Cebu will undergo profiling within the year to determine each locality’s immediate needs.

Under the Parish profiling program headed by the Basic Ecclesial Communities (BEC) and the Relief and Rehabilitation Unit (RRU), volunteers will conduct a survey among parish priests and parishioners.

The data to be gathered would include the demographics of the parishioners, their religious preferences, the number of religious events held in a specific parish, the religious preferences of parish members, the money collected from tithes, and the state of parish-owned infrastructure projects.

Bag-ong Lungsoranon, the official publication of the Archdiocese of Cebu explained that the program was in response to the call of Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma, in a pastoral assembly last year, to create a systematic way to guide the parish administration and its programs.

Palma said that training sessions for volunteers who will implement the profiling have started last August 25.

326 volunteers from the vicariates of Asturias, Toledo City, Santander, Sibonga, and Cebu City have already undergone training.

They were taught a format called “kobocollect appli-cation,” which will be used to gather inputs from survey respondents.

The same training will also be given to the vicariate of Lapu-Lapu City on September 16.

Aside from the survey, Palma said that the RRU team will also coordinate with the barangay offices to gather data on their constituents.

“These are needed for an effective pastoral program so that our priests and parishes will be more systematic on managing their parishes,” Palma said. /\