Parent Retreats

Evaluation Results

The results of the Parents' Retreat evaluations were done using the Likert scale to reflect the responses. This instrument was utilized to examine the overall performance of both retreats. We wanted to find out the impact the retreats had in the participants as well as ways to improve the retreats in the future.

In the English Retreat, the results were: 50% excellent, 29% good, 16% outstanding, 5% fair, and 0% poor. Whereas in the Spanish Retreat, the results were: 40% excellent, 29% good, 18% outstanding, 10% fair, and 3% poor.

The following are samples of approximately 20% of the subjective open ended questions and they were categorized according to the subjects' responses:

ENGLISH RESPONSES	SPANISH RESPONSES
How did God touch your heart?
Gave me happiness: 3 It made me see myself: 1 Felt God's presence: 4 Sharing personal stories: 3 Seeing other people: 1	Made me forget personal problems: 1 Gave me happiness: 10 Gave me love: 4 Through songs and praises: 4 Felt God's presence: 2 Sharing personal stories: 5 Seeing other people: 2 Felt a change: 1 Be more generous: 1 It made me forgive: 1
What are your suggestions for next year's retreat?
Retreat should be all English: 1 Want priests: 1 Retreat was okay the way it was: 4 Keep the chorus: 1 Be better organized: 2 Retreat should be longer: 1 Have agenda available for everybody: 1	Retreat was okay the way it was: 4 Share with the children: 1 Retreat should take place in a different location, mission, outdoors: 2 Keep the chorus: 1 Be better organized: 7 More respect when eating: 1 Have the public participate more in the presentations: 1 Less time for lunch: 1 Work in groups more: 1 Keep doing retreats: 1 More time for the transitions: 1 Themes be more emotional: 1 Chorus should lower the volume: 1 Need air conditioning: 1 Have agenda available for everybody: 1 Better communication: 1 Have better speakers: 1
List some ways you can do good in your parochial community
Help in the church: 4 Help one another: 2	Lector: 1 Dedicate more time in church: 1 Help in the Liturgy: 2 Help in the church: 5 Motivate others to come to church: 1 Love my neighbor: 1 Help during the carnival: 2 Help one another: 2 Be more united with other ministries in the church: 1 Welcoming people at church: 1 Give more generous donations to the church: 1 Receiving the Eucharist: 1

Conclusions:

In the English retreat, the participants felt that the overall work done by coordinators and the director was excellent by 50%. The majority of the participants answered that they felt the presence of God by 34%. The majority of the answers for the second question, What are your suggestions for next year's retreat? were that the retreat should be kept with the same format by 34%. The majority also stated that they would like to help more in the church, 67%. Therefore, the objective "Facilitate parents to open up their hearts to God and fill it with love to the service of others" was met in the English retreat.

In the Spanish retreat, the participants felt that the overall work done by the coordinators and the director was excellent by 40%. The majority of the participants answered that they felt happy by 33%. The majority of the answers for the second question, What are your suggestions for next year's retreat?, were that the retreat should be better organized by 26%. The majority also stated that they would like to give more time to the church by 67%. Therefore, the objective "Facilitate parents to open up their hearts to God and fill it with love to the service of others" was also met in the Spanish retreat with the need of more improvement in the retreat's organization.

For more information, please contact Vicky Cipres at (323) 463-9820.