Comb Your Parish Experience Through the Eyes of a Visitor

Have you ever considered putting yourself into the shoes of a visitor and evaluating how visitor-friendly your parish is? Here are a few areas to examine when contemplating how to better equip your parish to welcome visitors all year ‘round. 

Disability Accessibility 

Some churches might be tempted to say, “We just don’t have many people with disabilities at our parish.” If this is your first reaction when thinking about disability access for visitors, you might be surprised to learn that 1 in 4 adults in the U.S. has a disability. It is very possible that, if you aren’t seeing people with disabilities at your church, it may be because you don’t have the resources available to make your community feel welcoming and inclusive to those with disabilities.

Increase disability access for visitors by doing the following —

•  Make sure those serving at Mass, especially greeters, are trained to offer resources to those in need and have some sort of ongoing sensitivity training.
  
  
• Have signage clearly visible near the entrance to your sanctuary and other buildings for resources like a quiet room or hearing aids and any other support you provide to visitors. Include this information on your website homepage as well.
  
  
• Make sure Mass and event announcements occasionally include information about these resources and are also used to educate your parishioners about how your church community expects its members to treat those with disabilities.
  
  
• Provide printouts or digital slides on screens in the sanctuary of prayers, the order of the Mass, and words to songs for anyone deaf, hard of hearing, or who might have trouble processing audio quickly.
  
  
• Continue to invite and assure parishioners that their family members with disabilities are welcome to Mass, youth events, and more! Even better — invite families with disabled members to share their needs with parish leadership.
  
  

Mass

When it comes to a visitor walking through your sanctuary doors for Mass, are they able to easily find where to sit? Is it easy to find the bathroom or nursery if they need? Did they know the correct Mass times because they are posted clearly online, somewhere on a sign on your campus, or near the drive? Is there clearly marked first-time-visitor-parking to make them feel like they are already accepted and wanted? Do newcomers get any material about the church when they walk in from the greeters at your front doors? Does Father welcome those visiting at every Mass and tell them where to find more information or how to get connected? 

Youth Programs

Some things to think about when it comes to youth programming — Do you encourage youth to bring friends to the program? If so, is there a form for them to fill out when they arrive so that you have safety information about that child and their parent’s contact information in case of an emergency? Are their parents contacted by the program leader at some point during the event to just touch base and introduce the program and themselves? How do you welcome new youth or new families to the programs you have and connect them to the larger church? Are your programs accessible to children with disabilities? Do families with disabled children know about this access and extra support? 

Sacraments

The celebration of Sacraments always brings visitors to your parish. Aunts and uncles, grandparents, friends, and all sorts of other connections walk through your church doors to attend Baptisms, First Communions, Marriages, Confirmations, and even funerals. Sacraments are a great place to build some strategy around how you want to welcome visitors. Having a printed worship-aid that also explains some of our Catholic customs in more depth can go a long way when it comes to welcoming newcomers to these types of events. A recognizable and welcoming person making a few announcements before the ceremony explaining where different facilities are and how to get connected to resources in the church can be helpful. It’s a bonus if the same person doing the welcome announcement can stay after the event for a little while as a point-person to chat with anyone who might have questions. Some parishes make sure to have small gift bags with parish information and a little gift inside for visitors during Sacramental events. These can be handed out by the greeters to anyone who self-identifies as new or visiting. They can even be left out on a table after an announcement telling visitors to pick up their gift on their way out.

Website & Digital Presence

A well-designed website and intentionally curated social media presence can go a long way toward making visitors feel welcome. Often the very first thing someone will do before even deciding to visit your church is seek out your parish website. Some things that might deter a potential visitor from choosing your church as a place to visit are —

• A homepage that is difficult to navigate. For example, if visitors have to click around a ton just to find out your Mass times or basic church information, you will lose them before you start. Inviting homepages make a big difference.
  
  
• An outdated website design. Think about it — if the website for any establishment is outdated and unprofessional, the establishment may also be outdated and unprofessional. We can help you avoid this with our easy-to-use, powerful website builder, WeConnect. Learn more here!
  
  
• Imagery on your website that shows only your architecture and empty interiors. Remember, people are attracted to communities that they can easily envision themselves in. You can solve this problem by simply replacing images of buildings and statues on your website with a plethora of alternate images showing off the smiling faces of people in your community, your church staff, fun events, and cultural celebrations so that potential visitors can see how vibrant your church is. Not sure where to start? Here are 5 example of photos that every parish needs. 
  
  
• Social media post and profiles that are unresponsive to messages. Some people use social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram to message organizations when they have questions. Inquiries about Mass and event times, Sacraments, and more might be sent through an app like Facebook and if nobody is there to respond, the person messaging your parish may just give up and look for a more responsive church. Does your parish have a point person in charge of regularly responding to comments and questions coming from your social media profiles?

Newcomer Gatherings

Lastly, don’t forget the power of the newcomer gathering! This is a fantastic type of event to help people get introduced to your lovely parish, staff members, and to connect with other parishioners and ministries. These monthly or quarterly gatherings should be regularly advertised in your bulletin, Mass announcements, and on your website and social media.

Updated on 03-13-2024