We all love to nurture things and see them grow. How can you help your parish grow? Mark Kemmeter has decades of experience and insights that can help your parish add new members without simply pulling Catholics from another parish, or waiting for new Catholics to move into town. Mark firmly believes every parish can grow! Listen to this week’s Meitler Minute to learn more.
Schools
Revisiting the Research
The National Catholic Education Association (NCEA) and Foundations and Donors Interested in Catholic Activities’ (FADICA) 2016 research on parent perceptions of Catholic schools as reported in The Catholic School Choice: Understanding the Perspectives of Parents and Opportunities for More Engagement identified four major directional priorities that Catholic schools should focus on in order to attract more students.
- Both emphasizing the strength of and increasing the rigor of the school’s academic program
- “Catholic schools need to clearly differentiate themselves from public schools in a way that also meets (or exceeds) parents’ requirements.” -The Catholic School Choice
- Demystifying tuition as many families assume they cannot afford a Catholic education
- “Catholic schools should consider a second communications effort specifically focused on increasing parents’ confidence in their ability to afford tuition at a Catholic school.” -The Catholic School Choice.
- Offering a diverse learning environment
- “Parents value diverse environments as they are seen as critical to their child’s long-term success in a global marketplace.” -The Catholic School Choice
- Taking a more integrated marketing approach
- “There is an immediate opportunity for Catholic schools to strengthen their position within an increasingly competitive educational landscape nationwide” -The Catholic School Choice
Meitler’s experience in working with schools across the country for the past 49 years confirms the findings of this research study. It isn’t unusual for schools to overemphasize their Catholicity and underemphasize their academic rigor. Yet, the research reveals that in most cases a false perception exists among parents who don’t send their child/ren to a Catholic school, that Catholic schools are really good at being Catholic and not as strong in their academic program. The reality is most are academically rigorous high school and college preparatory Catholic schools who simply aren’t equally marketing their academic programing with their faith formation programming.
Similarly, when the Meitler team runs focus groups with parents of children not currently enrolled in Catholic schools, lack of affordability is most often noted as a primary deterrent. Yet, when parents are made aware of a school’s tuition assistance program, state-sponsored tuition assistance programs, and scholarship opportunities, they are more likely to consider a Catholic school for their child. In fact, the 2016 research study revealed only one in three families who lived in a school choice state were even aware of the fact that they live in a state that provides vouchers or tax credits for Catholic school tuition.
In Meitler’s experience, surveys and interviews confirm the desire on behalf of most parents for a learning environment that is ethnically and racially diverse, serves children from a broad range of socio-economic and religious backgrounds, offers support to students with exceptional learning needs, and differentiates instruction. Too often parents perceive Catholic schools as not keeping pace with the larger society and believe it to be narrower in its teaching.
Lastly, there is a tendency in our Catholic schools to utilize a one size fits all marketing message rather than a more targeted marketing approach. With just a few simple steps, schools can better identify their target market and the best communication form to reach that market. A review of the school’s website and marketing materials is a good place to start. Do your messages contain a balance between promoting the school’s academic strengths and commitment to a Catholic culture? Do your marketing materials reflect the student experience? Are you proactively communicating what matters to parents? Do you advertise a learning environment that is diverse and utilizes modern/cutting-edge technology? While there are many more questions to consider when putting together a marketing plan, it all begins with moving away from a one size fits all method to developing a target market profile.
If you haven’t read The Catholic School Choice: Understanding the Perspectives of Parents and Opportunities for More Engagement, I invite you to do so. While the research is now five years old, our experiences show it is still relevant today.
The State of Parish Reform
In July of 2020, the Vatican Congregation for the Clergy issued a new instruction on parish reform proposing ways to restructure parishes that face priest shortages and financial difficulties. The document goes on to state,
“. . . any pastoral action that is limited to the territory of the Parish is outdated, which is something the parishioners themselves observe when their Parish appears to be more interested in preserving a nostalgia of former times as opposed to looking to the future with courage.”
What is happening around the world and, particularly in the United States, regarding parish reform which prompted this instruction? According to The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate's (CARA) “Frequently Requested Church Statistics,” in 1975, there were 18,515 parishes in the country. In 1990, the high point of parish increases in the United States, the number of parishes was 19,680. By 2019, the number of parishes was 16, 914. There are 2,766 fewer parishes today than 30 years ago and the remaining parishes look different than the typical one pastor/one parish model.
The territories of those 2,766 parishes were merged into already existing parishes or new parishes. This number tells us that approximately 14% of all parishes have merged since 1990.
CARA also tracks the number of pastors in the United States which reveals the extent to which parishes are sharing pastors. Between 1975 and 1990, 22% of all the parishes were sharing pastors. By 2019, that percentage has doubled to 44%. Another 2% of the parishes are served by someone other than a resident pastor. Most pastors who are shared are pastoring two parishes. There are pastors who are pastoring more than one additional parish. The most parishes of which I am aware that one pastor serves is eleven parishes in rural Maine.
If the percentages of mergers, shared pastors and parishes served by a deacon, religious or layperson are totaled, 60% of the parishes since 1990 have been merged, clustered or are led by someone other than a priest. More parishes have experienced reform from the traditional model of parish than have not.
It should be pointed out that these models are not uniform in their operation. There are varying degrees of collaboration, particularly in the cluster models, and the parishes differ greatly in size, the number of churches used for Sunday Mass, as well as the organization of ministries.
Parish reform is taking place all over the country and around the world. The goal is to help parishes become more effective in their evangelization efforts and not be bogged down by financial issues or a lack of missionary zeal. There are so many success stories from the parishes that have reformed that parishes contemplating reform today can view already-existing models and talk with people who have experienced the same transitions which they may be facing.
There is much more to be said about parish reform and evangelization but that will wait for future blogs. In the meantime, as Pope Francis stated in Evangelii Gaudium, "be bold and creative in this task of rethinking goals, structures, style and methods of evangelization.”
Program Reflections with Principal Teresa Matetich
The National Catholic School Mentorship Program helps participants stay more focused and accountable through regular check-ins and meetings. Hear how the program helped Principal Teresa Matetich develop and implement her school’s enrollment plan.
Meitler Minute
How will you transition your enrollment management strategy from passive to active? A comprehensive plan that includes marketing, communication, recruiting, enrollment and retention components is a powerful tool to help you reach your school’s goals. Meitler can guide you through the entire process.
