Schools

The State of Parish Reform

April 7, 2021

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 any pastoral action that is limited to the territory of the Parish is outdated, which is something the parishioners themselves observe when their Parish appears to be more interested in preserving a nostalgia of former times as opposed to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.”

Mark Kemmeter

Program Reflections with Principal Teresa Matetich

March 25, 2021

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.

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Meitler Minute

March 15, 2021

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.

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Leaning on One Another

March 8, 2021

What started out as a project to assist a transformational group of principals to create an enrollment management plan for their Catholic school communities expanded into a cohort of school leaders who both leaned on and supported one another during what may be the most challenging year in their careers as school leaders.

The press release, Eleven Catholic School Principals Selected for National Mentor Program Year-long Pilot Program to Provide Ongoing Coaching and Mentoring issued by Foundations and Donors Interested in Catholic Activities (FADICA) sums up well the original purpose of the National Catholic School Mentor Program. Eleven Catholic elementary school principals from across the nation who demonstrated strong transformational leadership skills were nominated by their superintendents to take part in the National Catholic School Mentor Program developed in correlation with the 2016 research on parental perceptions of Catholic schools, The Catholic School Choice: Understanding the Perspectives of Parents and Opportunities for More Engagement. The program’s intention was to equip principals with the skills and resources needed to apply the research and positively impact enrollment and retention in their respective schools. The culmination of the yearlong coaching and mentoring resulted in each principal creating a comprehensive and practical enrollment management plan for his/her respective schools. Per the press release, the program’s generous sponsors, FADICA, and the National Catholic Educational Association “selected the professional consultants at Meitler to lead the initiative. As experts in Catholic school planning and operational strategy, Meitler coordinated the Leadership Institute and will continue to provide ongoing mentoring and coaching to the principals throughout the 2019-2020 school year.”

While the deliverable was achieved as an actionable enrollment management plan consistent with the research on what parents desired from the Catholic school, the byproduct was a cohort of school leaders who relied on one another and the Meitler team to walk together through a year dominated by the challenges of running schools during a pandemic. Our monthly conversations turned from asking the question, what are your enrollment goals, to asking the question, how are you holding up, are you still virtual, have you had any cases and what can we do to help? Principals took turns sharing resources and strategies with one another and soon a clear picture of the variety of approaches taken to education during a pandemic emerged depending upon the area of the country and the diocese in which a school was located. The principals, along with the team at Meitler, FADICA, and NCEA, soon became connected by our common commitment to Catholic education in a tumultuous time in our country’s history.

Fast forward and we are now entering into year two of this program with 8 of the 11 principals committing to a second year. Our focus is on assisting the principals in the implementation of their enrollment management plans, providing resources to support their work, and continuing to support one another in a time in which much is still unknown, yet the future of our Catholic schools remains bright.

Jackie Lichter, Ph.D

Please note: The photo was taken pre-pandemic.

The Pandemic’s Impact on the Parish

March 3, 2021

The first anniversary of the lockdown for COVID-19 is upon us. As we all struggle to adapt to a new sense of “normal” in our personal lives, how has the pandemic impacted parishes?

CARA (Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate) has been studying the effects of the pandemic on parishes and dioceses in the United States. Here are some highlights on financial contributions, Mass attendance, sacramental celebrations, ministry, and diocesan assistance to parishes from the 1964 Blog on the CARA website.

Financial Contributions

Parishes indicate that school funding, fundraising income and visitor revenue has declined considerably. Even outreach funds have diminished at a time of greater than normal need. What about regular stewardship?

About 76% of parishes benefitted initially from federal and/or state sources to fund staff salaries.
About 50% of parishes are now allowing for online giving. CARA estimates that 45% of Catholic households contribute regularly to the weekly collection. 48% of those prefer to give in-person.
About 22% of parishes have furloughed or laid off staff, closed their schools or eliminated programs.

Mass Attendance

The most visible sign of the pandemic’s impact nationally has been on Sunday and Holy Day Mass attendance. Here are some examples.

Easter of 2020 Mass attendance was 15%. 48% of the Catholic population attended the year before.
Christmas of 2020 attendance was 20%. The Christmas past saw 64% attend Mass.

Sacramental Celebrations

These have been impacted in varying degrees.

Confirmations across the country are down by 80%.
Funerals have decreased by 54%.

Ministry

The total impact is difficult to measure but there are some ministries which have faced significant changes.

Religious education on all levels has moved more and more to a virtual format.
Parish outreach programs are not only struggling for funds but are encountering difficulties in delivering services. Bishops have noted these same issues on the diocesan level for Catholic Charities.
Pastoral care to health facilities and home visits require personal protective equipment and prevent most lay volunteers from assisting in the ministries.
Staff morale has been diminished because of all the changes, demands and frustrations to ministry which have been encountered. Bishops have also noted a decline in staff morale at the diocesan level.

Diocesan Assistance to Parishes

The pandemic, in many locations, has provided an opportunity for the diocese and the parish to work more closely together. Dioceses have notably assisted parishes in these ways:

Many dioceses advocated for and assisted parishes with applications for federal and state aid.
Some adjusted diocesan assessments to ease the financial burden for a time.
Some have helped parishes and Catholic schools acquire the technology for online Masses and distance learning.

What Should Parishes Be Ready For When the Pandemic Ends?

Financial giving and Mass attendance are likely to gradually return to levels similar to the pre-pandemic ones. The same can be projected for sacramental celebrations and ministry. Here are a few specific areas for consideration or planning:

There will be some pent-up demand for sacramental celebrations.
Many parishes will need to re-establish communication with all parishioners, update them about “return to normalcy” plans, and invite them to engage when it is safe to do so in larger numbers.
People are now familiar with virtual technology which can be incorporated into ministries and regular parish meetings.
There may be some ongoing safety practices regarding liturgical interactions with the assembly.
The focus on sanitary supplies and sanitizing is likely here to stay.

If the past is a prelude to the future, according to the PBS documentaries on the 1918 pandemic and the 1930s through the 1950’s polio scares, people, will quickly put the COVID pandemic behind them and embrace a new “normal.”