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 on Christmas/Easter/ and other weekends 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 reach several times with no response. Phone calls go unanswered. Mailings come back as no longer living there, but don’t know where they’ve moved to. They have told you they wish not to participate at your parish any longer. They are not active participants in the Mass, RE, School, or ministries of the Parish. (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. If you know a family has moved but don’t know where they moved use Inactive.
New Register – A family that has registered through the online portal, in person at the parish. This status 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 moved by staff to an active status. (Families pulled into your parish initially appear as New Register as well.)
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 – Can be used for a non-Catholic staff person or a family for the purpose of including 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 at another parish which shares Religious Education resources with your parish. Use Religious Ed Only as a family status in order to manage the RE students for the Religious Ed program module.
Sacrament Only – A family that has come to receive the Sacraments only. 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.
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.
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