Inform Survey: Positive and Thoughtful
by Ken Joblin - Inform Editor
In our June 2024 edition, you, our Inform readership, were invited to fill out a survey, in either hard copy or online. We wanted to gain data and information on the current and future effectiveness of Inform, as a critical publication of the Christchurch Diocese.
You were given July and August to fill in and return your surveys. This you did, with over 200 responses received from laity and clergy alike. We received two thirds of your surveys online, with the remainder in hard copy. We were very pleased with your response, as you gave us a large enough sample from which to gain insight.
ou helped us to determine our areas of strength, and you offered thoughtful ideas for the future.
You were asked: “What do you like most about Inform?” You told us that it does what it aims to do. It keeps the Diocese informed and strengthens Diocesan connections. Inform reflects a diverse Catholic community. In reflecting a general sentiment, one of you observed that Inform “Makes me feel part of a community of thoughtful, decent, diverse people, religious and lay.”
You told us that you find Inform to contain very helpful local and regional content, and a great range of articles. One of you observed that “Articles provide such an antidote (and an answer) to the grim news of the day.” Your responses tell us that you appreciate our high quality photographs.
You support Inform remaining a freely available magazine in hard copy, but with easy online access. You find Inform offers useful information from our Diocesan headquarters. The survey finds that we provide sound theological and spiritual content, often from good local specialists. You appreciate the coverage we offer on our religious communities. You see Inform as a great record of life in the Diocese and a good source of historical material.
We were interested to see that Inform retains long-standing, loyal readership; that we are holding the interest of this group and doing so through consistent, high standards. Around a quarter of you began reading Inform within the last five years. On the basis of the survey at least, it seems that twice as many women read Inform as men.
We often encourage our readership to share Inform with family members and friends, particularly those who have yet to deeply connect with the Church. We encourage you to become more conscious of Inform as a way to bring people closer to Christ. This means taking copies and giving them to people, or sharing the link to Inform online more widely among your own communities. There is room for improvement in Inform being seen as a useful tool in re-engaging inactive or prospective Catholics.
We asked you how we could improve Inform. We were gratified that many comments indicated a high level of happiness with the status quo. You would like our parishes to share the Inform online link on their websites and newsletters. You would like more theological, spiritual, ecumenical, and diocesan historical and archival content.
You would like more personal faith, religious, parish, and priestly profiles. You are keen to see more articles reflecting our Catholic cultural diversity. You would like to read more from our Catholic school community, our youth and tertiary students. You made a number of practical suggestions about our design, to assist you in readability.
Your survey responses were collated into a report and offered to our bishop. With the assistance of your response, Bishop Gielen is pleased to retain Inform in hard copy and online, as an effective, high quality, quarterly publication of the Christchurch Diocese. It will remain a vehicle to form and inform its readership and be reflective of Catholic life in this diocese. We will consider its relationship with our other Diocesan platforms for communication. We will look into effective ways of reducing the cost of publication, without reducing quality. To this end, we are moving to a less expensive, more environmentally friendly paper in 2025. We will be calling together those of you who are interested in our communications to assist us in how we might better reflect youth and young people, and those more recently arrived in the Christchurch Diocese.
There is always more we can do to reflect the richness of the Catholic community in the cities and regions which make up our diocesan family. As Inform Editor, I thank you for your survey responses, which are both encouraging and helpful for future editions. Please continue to share stories with the wider Catholic family. We can see how much it encourages other readers to redouble their efforts to place Christ at the centre of their lives and of the wider community.
