Uncensored Survey Results- a guest post written by 100+ readers

 My survey can be found here at survey monkey- http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/DWZSCDW

1. What religion do you practice?

Catholic, Roman-rite      55.3%   
Catholic, Byzantine-rite    30.3%   
Catholic, Eastern-rite other than Byzantine    0.0%
Orthodox    9.2%   
non-liturgical Christian (such as Baptist, non-denominational)    5.3%   
liturgical Christian (such as Lutheran, Episcopalian)    6.6%   
non-Christian (please specify in comments)    1.3%   
no religion (elaborate in comments)         0.0%

2. How often do you attend religious services?

never         0.0%   
once or twice a year    1.3%   
once or twice a month    4.0%   
once a week    64.0%   
twice a week    17.3%   
more than twice a week    17.3%

3. Why do you attend religious services?

habit    22.9%   
cultural/family/work obligation    12.9%   
good feeling    31.4%   
learning new things    25.7%   
oasis from a busy week    22.9%   
love for God    94.3%   
love for community    31.4%   
family time    21.4%     

4. What is the best thing about your faith community?

--Small churches are usually more closely knitted.
--We really love each other, and God.
--the people
--the variety of activities offered for the different ages and stages of life
--Very small and close knit, and very Orthodox (no Latinizations)
--Our care for one another and for the Liturgy.
--Our liturgical prayer.
--we are very thankful to have a priest. it's a growing parish even though it is small (100 families) I like knowing just about everyone that I worship with; lots of young families with children; wonderful people; you can count on people to pitch in to help with various jobs to keep the church running.
--Very small, but devoted, parish
--Small and welcoming
--It is very faithful to the teachings of the Catholic church. Many of things I read on the internet about other people's churches or dioceses are surprising to me. My church is full of faithful people and our priest is an amazing man of God who is not afraid to "preach the issues" from the pulpit. ;)
--Devotion to theology
--the love that is shared
--Our parish was open and inviting. It became our family.
--Finding others like myself/my family to share life, faith, fun with
--The True Presence of Christ and the assurance of standing on the Rock of Peter.
--Very welcoming.
--steadfast truth! (runner-up: architectural, musical, and liturgical beauty)
--We come together on Sunday to pray, but we also stay afterwards, share a meal, and get to know each other.
--Catholics - the lay faithful are friendly, welcoming and fun. Orthodox - again welcoming. The clergy also have a real commitment to serve.
--friendly + good priest
--Nothing...the community is dreadful, I go to Mass because of my faith. If I was going based on community (around here), I'd have to be a Muslim.
--Jesus Christ
--Welcoming, loving, ready to serve
--Community
--The generosity to the community
--The Mass is the same everywhere so even if you are travelling you can usually feel at home
--lots of family functions, but it has a lot of cons so I'm looking for a new parish
--It's universal!
--Acceptance
--It's small, cohesive and I know everybody there
--We believe and are united.
--liturgy, music, homilies
--As a whole? The all-encompassing, familial nature of it. My local community in particular? Its sincerity.
--They help me be a better person.
--The music and the fellowship and the opportunity to discuss religion with other Catholics
--Specific to my parish, it's a place where people are friendly and welcoming, and it's so nice to spend time with people who share our faith. Regarding the Orthodox faith in general, it's the One True Church, and I'm honored and humbled to be part of it. (No offense intended to the Catholic Church, which I regard with love and respect.)
--It was begun by Jesus Christ.
--The community as family. (and coffee hour)
--Reverent and faithful to the magisterium (no liturgical abuses, no dissent from the pulpit, etc)
--Good Priest
--Orthodox (that is, faithful to the Magesterium) teaching. I never have to worry about hearing heresy from the pulpit.
--They are serious about their faith.
--The family atmosphere
--The liturgy
--How supportive everyone is.
--Common identity with Christocentric emphasis.
--Like-minded people
--a good 'orthodox' Liturgy

5. What is one thing that could improve your faith community?

--Evangelization of non Catholics.

--More small groups

--more opportunities for socialization
--more priests
--Younger families
--More attention to adult formation.
--I wish it were closer to our home! We drive 1.5 hours to get there.
--If our children and teens would come to church on a holy day. We have very poor attendance on holy days, and rarely any children. As our pastor has remarked: "Where are the kids? They are going to grow up not knowing what a holy day is." Being a church that serves 8 suburban areas may be a reason. It's a different world than the 60s when I was a teenager living in a small town.
--Evangelizing & bringing more families in
--Maybe some more groups for study and such
--Hmm. Lukewarm Catholics falling in love with Jesus and really appreciating and understanding the amazing gift of the Eucharist.
--Always better organization, more involvement by all members and better fellowship.
--the aesthetics of our building. It's an ugly early 90's, very utilitarian church. I wish we had the physical beauty to go with all the love that is shared by our church family
--I have no idea.
--Placing more importance on fellowship
--Everyone could be orthodox and dedicated.
--More orthodoxy.
--a priest I wasn't scared of (runners-up: way fewer songs by marty haugen and a redecorated sanctuary)
--I wish that there were more of us, and that we lived close enough to one another and to the parish to be more of a "family" to each other outside of Sunday. Some members of our parish drive 2-3 hours every Sunday, so it is not practical for them to come to midweek events, whether it is church services, fundraisers, bible studies, etc. I also wish we had enough people to be able to support our priest without his second job.
--Being permitted to have our own bishop. When the clergy gathered together to elect a bishop (there hasn't been one since 1960), the Vatican intervened (the last Pope personally) and put a Latin Polish bishop to administer the Rite.
--a better choir!
--Create one? Sarcasm aside, people here in the UK need to prioritize our Catholic community at a parish level. We need to have more regular events, but without prioritizing creating a Catholic community, all the scheduled events in the world won't help.
--More people.
--Catechesis
--Fellowship, more information about pro life issues
--Welcoming people after Mass, especially newcomers
--it feels impersonal
--More appreciation for the various approaches to worship: i.e. charismatic, orthodox, etc.
--if they were closer to my home so I could go more often
--More outreach and activity
--More reverence while in church
--sometimes people come and the church is so big, they feel outsiders.... once they join a group, it's fine.... we have good greeters and friendly clergy, it's just a very big parish
Again- as a whole: being willing to acknowledge and connect with members from different parts of the spectrum. Locally: dealing with tension between the regular service and the children's service.
--If there were 3-4 well connected people in the parish who would take new people under their wing and introduce them around.
--Better outreach to those who aren't Orthodox.
--More holy boldness by clerics and lay persons (including myself).
--Everybody speaking the same language.
--Improved adult faith formation.
--more participation
--Some silence before and after mass. Usually easier to say one's prayers while sitting in the church's parking lot before entering the church
--More opportunities to get to know one another and fellowship together
--Just one? :( More people around mine/DH's ages, more social opportunities, closer to home.
--Get more people singing!
--The lack of a community itself. Yes, we are all there, and yes, I know people, but we aren't a community.
--More people participate fully in the life of the church.
--Attendance.
--more welcoming
--Its over an hour away
--a spiritual renewal

Thank you to all readers that took the survey 

(If you had trouble getting that site to work when it was imbedded in the old post, click on the link above & provide responses if you like)....I will write some commentary on the survey's findings for Monday and my 'quick takes' for this and next week will be answering some of the questions at the end of the survey.