What is a parish audit?

What is a liturgy audit?

The purpose of an audit is to provide a way of looking at how the parish celebrates overall, or how effective different ministry groups are.

A parish liturgy audit can

• concentrate on the entire way in which a parish celebrates its weekend liturgies
• focus on one particular area, such as music, readers, etc, or several areas.

The diocesan Directory of Liturgy will come to the parish on one weekend or over several weekends, or return several times over a period of months. He will sit in on one Mass or all of the weekend Masses, as required.

For a full-parish audit, he should be invited by the Parish Priest or pastoral supervisor, or by the Chair of the Parish Pastoral Council. For work in a particular area, he can be invited by the person responsible for co-ordinating that area. It is always a good idea to keep the Parish Priest informed as to what is proposed.

Feedback may be given - direct to the Parish Priest, or to the parish liturgy group, or to others, as requested. Feedback can either be verbal, or in the form of a written report, or both.

If the audit has been requested with a view to focusing on a particular area, feedback may not be necessary. The Director may have been invited in, for example, to witness the parish musicians at work so that he can more effectively work with them at a later date ,or to observe the parish readers, lay ministers of communion, etc.

Different kinds of liturgy audits

Parishes which have previously had an audit

Contact the Director of Liturgy