Schools

Latin Mass Communities

May 16, 2022

In early May of 2022, Pope Francis spoke to instructors and students of the Pontifical Liturgical Institute in Rome and reiterated his concern that the Latin Mass communities were divisive to the Church, opposed to the reforms of Vatican II, and are politicizing the liturgy. In order to gain some perspective on his comments, let’s take a look at the history of the Latin Mass in the last sixty years and what we know data-wise about the Latin Mass communities.

Here is a timeline of the Latin Mass. The Tridentine Mass was approved in 1570 after the Council of Trent which was convened to respond to the Protestant Reformation. All the reformers had called for the language of worship to be the spoken language of the people. The Tridentine Mass was celebrated throughout the church up to the Second Vatican Council, 1962 – 1965.

1963 – Bishops at the Council called for a revision of the liturgy which could be celebrated in the local or vernacular language of the people

1970 –The New Order of the Mass (Novus Ordo) was approved in Latin for translation into local languages. The celebration of the Tridentine Mass was banned.

1988 – Pope John Paul II approved the use and expansion of the Tridentine Mass. Every diocese was to establish at least one site for the faithful to attend a Tridentine Mass.

2007 – Pope Benedict XVI allowed for even greater expansion by permitting individual priests to respond to the need for Tridentine Masses at their parishes.

2021 – On July 16, Pope Francis issues a document, Traditionis Custodis, which revokes the previous guidelines and gives the local bishop the authority for permitting Tridentine Masses only under very special circumstances. Any priest offering a Tridentine Mass must receive permission from his bishop. The scriptural readings must be in the local language. The sacraments of Holy Orders and Confirmation must be celebrated in the new rite. The details are still being worked out in individual dioceses.

The great concern about the Tridentine Mass arose because of fear of a schism in the Church. There were certain bishops, primarily in France, who refused to accept the new order of worship and most of the decrees of the Council. After years of dialogue with these bishops and the communities which had formed, a kind of middle-ground was determined which allowed for the Mass in Latin to continue to be used. An official schism has been avoided so far. The Tridentine Mass was looked upon in a way similar to other, older liturgical rites which have remained in union with the Roman Catholic Church.

Here is what we know about the Latin Mass communities throughout the world.

40% of all the Latin Masses in the world are celebrated in the United States.
20% are celebrated in France
15% are celebrated in Canada

These three countries represent 75% of all the Masses in Latin throughout the world. This should not be viewed as a worldwide phenomenon.

In the United States, this is what we know about the Latin Mass communities:

150,000 Catholics or 1-1.5% of all Sunday Mass attenders do so at a Mass in Latin
489 churches offer at least one Mass in Latin which represents about 4% of all the parishes in the United States
1% of the household income is the average parish contribution of Catholics
5-6% of the household income is the average parish contribution of Latin Mass attenders
99% weekly Mass attendance among Latin Mass attenders

The question is whether these communities are growing in number, maintaining or in decline. Unfortunately, the answer depends upon whom is asked. Proponents of the Latin Mass point to the increase in sites and the number of young families who are joining. Some would even say that the Latin Mass is “the wave of the future.” There are some limited studies which, in contrast, show that the number of Latin Mass attenders remains steady with younger families (usually children of Latin Mass families) replacing those who have died. In reality, even if the number of attendees was to double, that number would represent a very small percentage of the total number of Catholics in the United States.

So far, an official schism has been averted. No matter what the future months bring regarding the latest Vatican pronouncements, there are and always will be communities within the Catholic Church that view discipleship and spirituality in different ways.

Dr. Mark Kemmeter

photo credit: Andrewgardner1

10 Key Metrics for Your Parish

May 2, 2022

Finance councils have become adept at reading financial statements and determining courses of action based on the numbers. Parish pastoral councils need to become as proficient with the use of parish data points. Most parishes will discover that they have a wealth of information at their fingertips from reports which are submitted annually to the diocesan offices. Some parishes will discover that even more data can be available if attention is paid to gathering it. Here are ten “key” metrics which parishes can use to determine a level of vitality and sustainability.

Mass Attendance – This data point is the greatest indicator of parish vitality. What percentage of your membership attends Mass on Sundays? Households can be converted into members by using the average household size of the parish, locality, or state. Divide the number of attendees by the number of members and you have the percentage. The smaller a parish, the higher the percentage. Many parishes will be in the range of 33% attending Sunday Mass. That percentage can double on Christmas and Easter.
Seating Capacity – Seating capacity and how many seats are filled on Sundays is important information. The percentage of seats that are filled can help a parish determine if they have too many Masses or not enough. Most dioceses recommend that at least half of the seating capacity should be filled to justify a Mass time. Architects indicate that if a church is more than 90% filled, people will go elsewhere. Capacity is also important for preparing for holiday Masses.
Household Trends – If we take the missionary command of Jesus seriously, the more households there are in the parish the better. However, every parish’s membership is smaller than reported. It is better to be growing than declining. Many parishes pay little attention to membership trends. Are more people joining the parish than leaving? People do not often communicate when they leave the parish, so parishes need to monitor deaths, stewardship activity, and changes of address.
Baptism to Funeral Ratio – One key indicator of potential growth is the ratio of baptisms to funerals. Church planners look for at least a ratio of two baptisms for one funeral as a sign of organic growth. Numerous parishes today have more funerals than baptisms. Additional ways for parishes to grow need to be studied and implemented.
Sacramental Reception Trends – Numbers for all sacraments reveal a level of spiritual vitality in the parish. Are the numbers rising or falling? Is the parish gaining new members through the RCIA process? Low sacramental reception numbers reveal parishes with few children and teens as well as minimal evangelization activity.
Enrollments in Faith Formation – Enrollment trends for children and youth tell a story about the ability of the parish to attract and retain young families. They also reflect the quality of the formation programs. Parishes need to do a better job of documenting involvement in adult faith formation sessions. Parishes with outstanding opportunities for adults are helping to form intentional disciples and creating a high level of vibrancy.
Ministry Engagement – Matthew Kelly contends that the average parish engages about 7% of its parishioners in some form of ministry. Parishes should record numbers involved in ministries. Use that number and divide by the number of adults in the parish. Kelly suggests that parishes set a goal of increasing adult involvement by 1% each year. Parishes should also review how the parishioners are engaged. If the majority of those involved comes from parish festivals, fish fries, or dinners, there should be a conversation about how to engage parishioners more actively in the mission of the Church.
Parish Stewardship – The average Catholic household in the United States contributes 1.1% of the annual household income. This percentage is lower than all other religious denominations. However, many parishes have no idea what their potential contributions at 1.1% may be. Because household income is public information, there are sources which can provide this information based on the parish census. Keep in mind that the 1.1% is also a bit misleading. Not every household in a parish contributes that percentage and so many Catholics are contributing more to offset those who do not contribute or who are unable to contribute even the 1.1%.
Matthew 25 Ministries – When the topic of parish outreach to those in need arises, numerous parishes respond by saying, “our St. Vincent De Paul Society and Knights of Columbus take care of that.” The Gospel of Matthew, chapter 25, is quite clear that all of us must be involved in caring for our neighbors. Parishes should not delegate this responsibility but should encourage members to be involved. These ministries can be coordinated with other Church and civic organizations but the quality and degree of involvement of parish ministries are essential signs that the parish is taking Matthew 25 seriously.
Funding the Ministries (Budgets/Capital Campaigns) – Parishes are non-profit organizations. With that said, some years there will be a surplus and other years a deficit. On average, most parishes will have two small deficits over a ten-year period. Parishes should not regularly balance their budgets by draining their reserves or selling buildings or properties. This limits the ability of the parish to conduct ministry and moves the parish closer to becoming a place for Sunday Mass only. Every 10 years or so, parishes should consider a capital campaign to improve, replace, or add to their facilities for providing ministry. As a rule of thumb, parishes can raise up to one time their annual contributions. Two or three times the annual contributions can be raised if the case is extremely strong. Even more can be generated if there are major donors to the campaign. Deferred maintenance and inadequate ministry space are two of the greatest factors which can lead to parish mergers and closures.

After reviewing these “key” metrics, it is clear that a picture can be painted which tells the story of each parish. The picture is never complete because the Spirit cannot be quantified but it does provide insight into the vitality and sustainability of each parish.

Trends in Catholicism

March 29, 2022

The largest study in the United States of religious belief, behavior, and practice is conducted every 4 to 5 years by MissionInsite. MissionInsite is a technology-based research group that provides data to thousands of organizations, mainly religious ones, around the country. They operate under the premise that “to love your neighbor, you must know your neighbor.” What follows is some key national research that impacts Catholicism. To benefit most from the research, it needs to be compared with the local situation. The results are from their 2022 study.

Religious Preference as Catholic

2012 – 23.1% of all Americans considered themselves Catholic
2022 – 24.9% consider themselves Catholic for an increase of 1.8% over the previous 10 years. The gain was greater for Catholicism than any other religious preference.

Observation: After a lengthy decline, the number of Americans who self-identify as Catholic is increasing. That does not mean, however, that the number of Catholics registering in parishes is also increasing.

Nones/No Religious Preference for a Congregation or Community

2012 – 23.6% of all Americans considered themselves “nones” or had no preference for a religious congregation or community
2022 – 20.8% consider themselves “nones” for a decrease of 2.8% during the previous 10 years. The decline was the greatest for all religious preferences.

Observation: After many years of increases, the number of nones is decreasing. That is a good sign but it is too early to determine what the ramifications may be.

Non-denominational/Independents (this includes many of the so-called “Big Box” churches)

2012 – 8.7% of all Americans considered themselves part of a non-denominational or independent religious community
2022 – 7.7% consider themselves part of a non-denominational community for a decrease of 1% during the previous 10 years.

Observation: For a period of time, non-denominational churches were making large in-roads among Catholics and mainstream Protestant denominations to the extent that they had become the second-largest denomination. That trend appears to be changing.

Baptist

2012 – 7.8% of all Americans considered themselves Baptist
2022 – 8.4% consider themselves Baptist for an increase of +.6% over the previous 10 years.

Observation: Not only is the number of Americans who self-identify as Baptist increasing, but all mainline Protestant denominations are also increasing. It seems that there is a trend away from being nones as well as joining non-denominational churches.

Percentage of Involvement of All Americans in a Religious Congregation or Community

4% are involved
6% are not involved

Observation: While there are some encouraging signs from this study, this data point is still cause for concern. Only about 1 of 3 Americans are involved in a religious congregation or community. This finding reinforces the need for Catholics in the United States to become more active in evangelization efforts. As the largest denomination, the Catholic Church is the only denomination with the size and resources to bring about a significant change and not just by focusing on Catholics or other denominations.

Trends Among Those Actively Involved in a Religious Congregation or Community

5% have made no change and are likely not to make a change
7% are likely to have ceased to be active
8% are likely to have become active again.

Observation: This finding can provide some helpful insights into the dynamics of a parish community. The vast majority of parishioners are stable in their connection to the parish. About 1 in 8 are thinking of either leaving the parish or becoming inactive. Another 1 of 25 are ready to become active.

Significance of Religious Faith to Life to All Americans (How important is faith in your life?)

23.5% no significance
15.9% minor significance
20.1% moderate significance
20.5% considerable significance
20.0% utmost significance

Observation: About 60% of Americans see faith as having a significant impact on their lives at least to a moderate degree. These populations can be reached to deepen their faith and to be motivated to a greater level of awareness about faith and life. The more difficult challenge from this survey point is to discover how to help people recognize the connection of faith with life so that there is a realization that faith can influence one’s life. This seems to be the survey area which indicates the influence which science and technology can have on faith.

Other research groups may arrive at different conclusions, but MissionInsite’s research is the largest and most in-depth study. What their research tells us has many implications for community life, community building as well as evangelization. The best way to use this research is to compare it with your own parish or diocese.

Dr. Mark Kemmeter

Fourth Source Funding for Schools

March 15, 2022

In Catholic schools, like other schools affiliated with a religious congregation, revenue comes from different sources. Primarily, tuition supplies the cash needed to operate a school. For elementary schools in particular and some high schools, parishes affiliated with the school provide subsidy to cover the gap between expenses and tuition revenue. This is the traditional second source of revenue. A third source of funding came from various contributions, such as extra collections at Sunday Mass aimed at the school or annual fundraisers in which parents and neighbors were invited to purchase candy, pizzas, and wrapping paper.

In the past decade or two, tuition has been stretched to the limit of some parents and is causing questions related to the school’s value proposition, that is, Is the school worth the cost? Subsidy from parishes in many cases is being capped, reduced, or even eliminated because parishes themselves are experiencing financial restrictions. An unfortunate result of the limits of the first two sources of funding is a dramatic expansion of fund-raising activities. The extra work involved in supporting their child’s sales activities, from “inviting” co-workers to buy this event’s item to simply buying enough items themselves to reach the child’s quota, has the potential to dissuade some parents from enrolling their child in a Catholic school. And the extra work for the school staff related to organizing and participating in these fundraisers is often exhausting and, frankly, unrelated to educating our youth.

Third source funding evolved and expanded, initially at the high school level, to emulate the development approach colleges were using. Creating a “case” for additional funds, such as tuition assistance, technology, upgraded facilities, etc., and presenting that case to philanthropic individuals or organizations resulted in more money for the school and less work for the parents. Elementary schools soon joined in this move to development and began reducing the number of fund-raising activities.

All of this fund-raising is independent of capital campaigns. Those are large projects aimed at building, expanding or renovating a school building. The money collected is aimed at a project and not at the annual operating budget. But a piece of many capital campaigns might have the potential to be spun off and reformed into what we are thinking of as a fourth source of funding.

In the 1980s and 90s, Catholic high schools and elementary schools looked to colleges for new ways to increase revenue and found development activities. Perhaps we can look again at colleges and see that they have another source of funding for annual budgets – endowments. While endowment contributions are often added to the case statement of capital campaigns, it is usually considered a low priority, as in “If someone wants to contribute to an endowment, we won’t say no.” One reason for this is that an endowment is hard to establish and takes years, decades really, to grow to a point where it can help the school. Assuming a school had a $100,000 endowment and was allowed to take 3-5% out annually, that would produce $3,000- $5,000. A $1,000,000 endowment would produce $30,000 - $50,000. While helpful, these amounts will not take care of six-figure deficits. An endowment must total in the millions of dollars to be truly effective. At this point school administrators and board members throw up their hands and say it can’t be done. That is correct in the short term. Without an extraordinary contribution, endowments take many years to grow to a sufficient level to be effective. But if we don’t ever start trying to establish a functional endowment, it will never happen. If we start now, the next generation of school administrators might be able to maintain the school’s viability.

When we say that endowments, independent of capital campaigns, are potentially a fourth source of school funding, we mean for those who follow us in years to come. If we don’t act now to secure the future of our Catholic schools, our legacy to that future might be only photographs of what once was.

Rick Pendergast

The Role of Ministry Committees and Teams

March 1, 2022

Over the years I have heard pastors comment on their councils with words similar to these, “our parish council is all talk and no action.” The pastoral council’s role is to assist the pastor with planning for pastoral activity. In order for them to plan, the council needs working groups. Councils are not working groups. They make the work of the people involved in pastoral activity easier and more effective.

Councils need committees or ministry teams and not just the pastoral council. Effective finance councils should also have established committees that carry out special tasks entrusted to the finance council. Every finance council, for example, should have a buildings and grounds committee. How can the finance council possibly monitor everything that needs to be done to the facilities and property which make up the parish? They need experts or qualified people in these areas as well as a committee or team which can devote an entire meeting to that area of administration.

If a parish has staff members, there should be a personnel committee that develops a manual for employees, reviews and determines benefits, works on salary ranges and job descriptions, and assists the pastor with job interviews as well as personnel issues. It is difficult to imagine in this digital age that a parish would not have a technology committee. Who is monitoring the update of the parish’s current technology, setting up a rotation for the introduction and replacement of computer systems, and studying and recommending new technology? Some parishes have other committees for investments, legal matters, and endowments. A finance council simply does not have enough time or expertise to do all these things plus review and monitor the parish finances.

Pastoral councils should have several essential committees or ministry teams based on Avery Dulles’ classic work, Models of the Church, which is rooted in the Acts of the Apostles 2:42-47. All institutional matters are addressed by the finance council. Pastoral councils should have an evangelization and catechesis committee, a worship and spirituality committee, a social concerns and pastoral care committee, and a community building and communication committee. These four areas address the mission and ministry of the Church. Parishes often do well with the first three areas but are short on the fourth. If a parish is not community building, the parish cannot grow in size or in vitality.

It is possible to have specialized committees under each area of mission. However, any specialized committees should report to and be coordinated by the overall committee. The overall committees should meet on a regular basis with the respective council so that there is not only good communication but opportunities to evaluate the ministerial efforts and to work together on matters of pastoral importance. Too many parishes maintain ineffective programs for too long with the hope they will improve next year or completely overlook major trends among the parishioners.

There are parishes that have eliminated committees because they have hired staff and staff suggest that “the committees are all talk and no action.” Committees or ministry teams need to be made up of parishioners who are working in the ministries. If staff is working mostly on their own, that is problematic. Staff should minister to the ministers. If a parish entrusts a ministry solely to a staff person, that is also problematic. Effective ministry is best achieved through collaboration. If parishes are trying to establish consistency in their ministries, there must be parishioners who know all the ins and outs of the ministry in the eventuality that a staff person leaves or retires.

Parishes may disagree about what these groups should be called. Are they commissions, committees, or ministry teams? What they are called is certainly not as important as having them in place. How they are named, however, does help parishioners understand their importance, role, and connection to the organization and mission of the parish and the Church. These committees or ministry teams should be formed from the people who are really making ministry happen in the parish.

Dr. Mark Kemmeter

Schools

photo credit: Andrewgardner1

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