Schools

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.”

Mark Kemmeter

Establishing an Enrollment Management Program

March 1, 2021

Establishing an enrollment management program is one of the most important steps a Catholic school can take. Be sure to establish clarity of your mission, form an enrollment management team, and then create your enrollment management plan that is specific and measurable. We can help you get there.

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Does your planning use a roadmap or a compass?

February 25, 2021

In a recent webinar presented by our partner, Ruotolo Associates (“Foresight 2021: Leveraging Lessons Learned”), they discussed lessons learned regarding philanthropic giving during this past year of the pandemic. In their presentation, I found an interesting idea that poked at my thoughts and led me to a different take on how we sometimes approach planning. And better yet, how a change in perspective could bring about a potentially better result.

We often hear and even use the comparison that strategic planning is like using a roadmap that will lead us to the vision we wish to achieve. Like a roadmap, the plan has a starting point and provides a route or multiple potential options of moving toward our vision, which is our end point. Nice and easy.

As we set out using the map, the path is clearly established. Maybe it’s well-worn from those who have gone before us; perhaps it’s new and possibly exciting. There are a variety of opportunities – things to see and consider, perhaps a side trip to look at something new, but usually not too far off the established route. Usually the challenges on the road – detours, potholes, and delays – are presented to us early on, especially if we have our GPS activated. Even with these challenges, we are usually able to anticipate them, choose a different proscribed route, and see other paths that we could consider on our roadmap.

But what if planning were more like a trek using a compass rather than the proscribed routes presented to us on a roadmap? What if we were to approach planning with a “direction” we would like to go, a vision that sets a big, bold future for our schools and parishes that is not always well-defined and easy to find on a map? What if we have the big picture and then use the compass to find our way? It would certainly be more challenging. We can’t always see or even find the “right” path, and we may not be able to anticipate the potholes, detours, and other challenges that may arise. Yet, what we may gain is a new level of innovation, flexibility, adaptation, resilience, and an openness to the yet undiscovered.

Interestingly enough, both approaches to planning can work, using a map or a compass in looking to the future. The questions are what are we looking for, are we open to the unanticipated and undiscovered, and will we truly enjoy the journey to what we want to be? Jack Dixon, the Welsh rugby player has an interesting quote: “If you focus on results, you will not change. If you focus on change, you will get results.” Sounds like a compass kind of guy with an interesting perspective that can apply well to how we undertake planning with our Catholic schools and parishes.

Tom J. Heding

Meitler Minute

February 16, 2021

A broad-based funding plan that looks beyond tuition and typical fundraisers is the best way to achieve long-term financial stability and sustainability. Developing this kind of long-range financial strategy is a part of our planning process when we engage with schools.

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A Delicate Balance

February 8, 2021

"About 150 Catholic schools have closed, said Kathy Mears, the director of the National Catholic Educational Association, equal to about 2 percent of the 6,183 schools that were up and running last year. The number of closures is at least 50 percent higher this year than in previous years, Ms. Mears said.”

(New York Times, 9/5/2020)

This school year 2020-21, like years past and even more so now, Catholic schools have been experiencing an enrollment decline, particularly at the elementary school level. In a number of dioceses and schools, there has been the “COVID-bump” increase in the number of students. There is hope of retaining these new students and their families for the long term. However, the overall reality is that we continue to lose students and lose schools, too often in geographic areas where they may be needed most.

In our work at Meitler, we are seeing the impact the elementary school enrollment trend is having on Catholic high schools as this traditional feeder system shrinks in size. High schools have begun to reach out and recruit from a broader market area and, in many cases, are now enrolling more students from public and other private elementary schools rather than from Catholic elementary schools. Despite these efforts, it is still a significant challenge to remain viable.

Throughout the country, some high schools have considered expanding their reach to include middle/junior high school grades to not only sustain their enrollment but to also provide another Catholic educational opportunity for those critical years when many elementary schools have fewer students, programs, and resources. And thus begins the delicate balance of changing the grade structure of a Catholic high school at the potential expense of Catholic elementary schools.

A key concern when a high school is considering expanding grades into middle school is the impact on those grades in local Catholic elementary schools. Such a move not only has a potential impact on the elementary school but the parish community as well. It often puts the parish, its elementary school, and the high school in a tense situation and often at odds with one another. This creates what we often refer to as “ecclesial Darwinism” where the one with the most students wins, a situation everyone wants to avoid!

However, some Catholic high schools that have added a middle school present a positive perspective to this situation. What if integrating a middle school program with the high school were to attract more students who are Catholic and were not attending a parish elementary school? What if the impact on the Catholic elementary schools were minimized? What if the impact was actually beneficial, allowing the elementary school with low enrollments in seventh and eighth grades to focus on the higher enrolled primary grades? Could an opportunity to sustain Catholic school education at both the elementary and secondary levels be achieved in a different fashion?

Recently, Meitler conducted an expansion study with Pope John Paul II High School in Hendersonville, Tennessee, Diocese of Nashville. A comprehensive data study and broad-reaching market research survey was conducted to assess the possible enrollment and its potential impact on Catholic elementary middle school programs. Listening sessions were conducted with pastors, principals and parents of the parish schools to provide them with the opportunity to share their insights and concerns as a key element of the study. Needless to say, some pastors and school administrators were highly skeptical of what the results could be.

Interestingly, the feasibility of adding the middle school grades at Pope John Paul II High School found that a majority (62%) of survey respondents’ students would come from area public schools and other private schools. The potential impact of the Catholic schools would be minimal in most cases as many families expressed their loyalty to their parish program. “A good number of families with children in public schools and other private schools in this area … would prefer a Catholic (middle) school option,” said Rebecca Hammel, superintendent of schools for the diocese. “We hope to offer those families this option.”

An essential component in this process is transparency, sharing a rationale, and including key stakeholders such as pastors, elementary school principals, school leaders, diocesan leaders, and parents throughout the study and planning. Building an understanding among the parish, elementary school and high school communities backed up by the data can show a different perspective and provide an opportunity to reach out to more families, Catholics in particular, who are not enrolling in the parish elementary school, but would consider a Catholic education at an integrated middle/high school.