Portsmouth diocese is working with St Mary's University on the scheme called "share your story".

The survey will be conducted between October 1 and January 1 and will ask questions such as whether people agree with Church doctrine or not and whether they felt welcome or not.

The survey takes 15 minutes and can be done anonymously.

Bishop Philip Egan of Portsmouth said he hopes the survey will help enlighten priests and laity about the challenges the Church faces in the contemporary world.

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In June, Bishop Philip Egan of Portsmouth assigned St Mary's, Gosport, to the Franciscans of the Immaculate.

Since then, parishioners say people are required to kneel to receive Communion and women are asked to cover their heads at Mass.

Dr Amanda Field, a convert to Catholicism, says she has stopped attending the church after six years.

"We used to have something really special here. The church was packed; people had to stand in the porch.

"But since the friars came we've been plunged back into the days before Vatican II," said Dr Field.

Jean Watson, who has been serving the parish as a catechist and music-leader for 30 years, also described a "reversion" since the friars' arrival.

"I was a child in the parish before Vatican II and it wasn't even like this then," said Mrs Watson.

There have also been objections to the use of some Latin at Sunday Masses.

A parishioner said she has considered leaving because of the changes.

The parishioner said: "I have been going to this church for years and these changes aren't wanted. Part of the service is in Latin which I don't like."

"It seems the Bishop of Portsmouth does what he likes without thinking of the congregation.

"I know some of the older members of the church like the changes because it is what they grew up with. But as a younger member, I don't like it."

The Franciscans of the Immaculate attracted controversy in 2013 when Pope Francis dissolved its general council and forbade the friars to celebrate Mass in the extraordinary form without permission.

However the Mass is celebrated in the old rite six days a week at St Mary's.

A statement from Portsmouth diocese said it is not unusual in a Catholic diocese for a bishop to ask a religious order to provide pastoral ministry.

Bishop Philip Egan said: "The friars will continue to ensure St Mary's is open for prayer, and will build on the wonderful evangelisation in which the parish is already engaged."

Sources

• The Tablet
• The News Portsmouth
• Image: Catholic Herald

The diocese says the decision, by two out of three judges in the Court of Appeal, has "far-reaching implications" for faith and other voluntary organisations.

The judges upheld a High Court decision in favour of a woman who claimed she was sexually assaulted as a child by the late Father Wilfred Baldwin at a children's home.

The priest was never convicted of any abuse and the diocese says it does not accept the allegation.

The High Court ruled that a priest is not an employee of a bishop, but should be treated by the law as "akin to an employee".

The three Court of Appeal judges all commented on the difficulty of reaching a decision. They also referred to the wide-reaching ramifications of the decision, not just for the Church but for other organisations, both charitable and commercial.

But Lord Justice Ward wrote: "Father Baldwin is more like an employee than an independent contractor. He is in a relationship with his bishop, which is close enough, and so akin to employer/employee as to make it just and fair to impose vicarious liability . . . ."

He said a similar case is due to be heard by the Court of Appeal this month.

The diocese found liable said it took the appeal "to achieve clarity as to the nature and extent of the bishop's liability for the actions of diocesan priests", not to avoid or delay paying compensation to victims with valid claims.

"This case is about fundamental legal principles involving the very nature of civil society and religious freedom," the diocese said. "It would be disastrous if, in seeking to provide redress for victims of harm, the law put intolerable new pressures on the voluntary sector."

The Guardian

Birmingham Mail

Diocese of Portsmouth

Image: The Guardian