Dioceses failing to report views on family cite muted response

A disappointing response to the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales’ survey on marriage and family life meant that many dioceses never submitted parishioners’ views, writes Rose Gamble.

The conference released a report last week that summarised responses from England and Wales. According to that report, six dioceses – Lancaster, Arundel and Brighton, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Brentwood and Nottingham – did not submit their findings.

 Nottingham described the 25 responses to the survey it received as “not statistically significant”. “To have prepared a report on behalf of the diocese which only reflected the views of 25 responses would have been misleading,” David Palmer, chairman of the Marriage and Family Life Commission in Nottingham diocese, told The Tablet.

Plymouth, and Arundel and Brighton, which did not submit official reports, quoted similar numbers – 33 and 50 responses, respectively. The numbers mark a dramatic contrast to last year’s survey conducted ahead of the 2014 Extraordinary Synod on the Family, the results of which remain unpublished.

Deacon Peter Lavery, coordinator for Hexham and Newcastle’s Marriage and Family Life department, said that this year it received a “fraction” of the number of responses submitted to the 2014 questionnaire. “I think people were sceptical, having not had their responses listened to last time around,” he said.

A spokesperson for the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales said they were satisfied that the feedback received from the 16 dioceses adequately represented opinions across the country.