Family Statuses
The family status applies to the Family only on the Parish roster. When deciding what status to set a family to, you should ask the question, why is this family here? The family status defines your parish relationship with the family. A family can have different relationships with each parish they are associated with.
If you are using a status type to identify a particular group - like "Outreach" to denote needing a pastoral visit - the Status should be set to Active - and the member being visited would have their Member status set to "Homebound". Then a Family Tag can be created to maintain a list of those families. Click here for info on Family Tag Maintenance.
Active – A family that participates with your parish through Mass attendance, contributions, religious education, school attendance, and/or ministries of the Parish. The family you most likely will reach out to when in need of help in some fashion.
Contributor – A family that comes to Mass sometimes and and drops a check in the collection basket. They may or may not be active participants or registered at another Parish.
Deceased – A family where all family members are deceased. Retain the current family status if other family members are living.
Inactive – A family you have tried to contact several times with no response. They stopped donating. Phone calls go unanswered. They've stopped attending Mass or functions. They may have informed you they no longer wish to participate at your parish any longer. They are not active participants in the Mass, RE, School, or ministries of the Parish. Many parishes use a benchmark that if the family hasn't contributed for 3 years, they can be inactive. (If a family has no other parish relationships - making a Family Inactive will also make all the Members Inactive.)
Moved – Family that moved out of the area, especially out of the diocese. Mailings come back an undeliverable. You know a family has moved but don’t know where they moved..
New Register – A family that has registered through the online portal, or that you've pulling into your parish from another parish. New Register is meant to be a staging area for the family until they can go through the Parish onboarding new family procedure. Once they have gone through the onboarding process they should be updated to Active status. (When using +New Family they are automatically set to "Active".)
Outreach – A family you believe has left your church or the church altogether that you want to continue to reach out to thru mailings or calls in hopes they will return. They should have Inactive Member status and not currently registered at another parish.
Parish Staff – Is used for a staff person who is registered at another parish, or is non-Catholic. This status will allow you to include the non-member in your Parish Staff Standard Committee. The parish staff status is not a replacement for keeping your Parish Staff Committee updated.
Prospective Family- A family, possibly new to the area, that expressed a desire to join your church but hasn’t decided to join yet. Could also be prospective at more than one parish. The use of this status is optional. The members should be inactive and not currently registered at any parish.
Religious Ed Only – A family that is active/registered at another parish but sends there children to your parish for Religious Education. Use Religious Ed Only as a family status in order to manage the RE students for the Religious Ed program module and Students Committee. This
Sacrament Only – A family that has come to receive the Sacraments only, for one or several family members. For example, a wedding where neither the bride nor groom are active at the parish but are friends with the priest or like the location/church and would like to get married by him or at his parish. They have come to receive the sacrament of marriage only.
School Only – A family that has a child (children) in the Catholic School associated with your parish. The family is not registered with your Parish. It is intended to manage families that participate in your parish primarily because they have children enrolled in your school.
Seasonal – A family that is registered at another parish out of the area and is active or attends Mass in your church for a season, usually winter. Often referred to as snowbirds. They would be registered somewhere else and consider the other
Visitor – A family that comes to serve in various ministries and committees. The family is not looking to be registered at your parish but are more than willing to lend their talents in various ministries of the Parish.
Unknown – Please do not use - this was created for another diocese. The Diocesan perspective is that Family status is based on the family relationship to the parish, therefore if the relationship is unknown - there is no relationship. We suggest using visitor, prospective or inactive status.
Updated Pyoung 8/30/21