March 13, 2002

                                                                  NEWS RELEASE
                                                                                                                   FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
                                                                                                                   For More Information, Contact:
                                                                                                                   Deacon Thomas Gornick
                                                                                                                    (503) 233-8373
                                                                                                                  tgornick@archdpdx.org

DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION BEING SENT TO PARISHES

        On Friday, March 16th, the Department of Evangelization will begin releasing detailed
demographic information to parishes participating in Disciples in Mission. The reports,
prepared for each parish, will be distributed to Pastors, chairs of parish and administration
councils and the coordinator of Disciples in Mission.

        Disciples in Mission, now in its second year, begins to focus the parish on outreach to
Catholics who have wandered away, those seeking a faith community and those who have not
heard the Gospel. For many years the business, commercial and government sectors of our
communities have used information tools to better understand the people they serve. Most
recently Christian churches have started to use the same information to better interpret the
signs of the times for ministry to their neighborhoods. By example, on Thursday, November 26,
2001 over 200 Christian Churches sent representatives to a day-long seminar that included
strategies to use census and other data to do outreach. Deacon Thomas Gornick, Director of
the Department of Evangelization, attended the conference. "The information can bring a new
energy, experience and focus to parish planning," says Deacon Gornick.

        The Department of Evangelization is now bringing this same kind of information to each
of our parishes involved in Disciples in Mission. The data is being provided by Tactican
Corporation. The firm gathers and reports information from the U.S. Census and other
nationally recognized data collection instruments to profile a geographic area.

        The parish reports will include comparison information from the 1990 and 2000 census.
In addition the report will include a MOSAIC report. These reports developed by Experian, Inc.
are based on the premise that people tend to gravitate towards communities with other people
of similar backgrounds, interests and means. The parish information creates a profile for areas
around the parish from one half mile up to five miles for non-urban parishes.

        During the Easter season, Disciples in Mission parishes will gather for their second
parish reflection day. The Archdiocese hopes the demographic information will enrich their
discussion and assist in setting priorities for the next year. Pope Paul VI wrote in
Evangelization in the Modern World, "The Church would feel guilty before the Lord if she
did not utilize these powerful means that human skill is daily rendering more perfect."
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