Guide

Objective-

Our goal is to collect contact information for the key staff members at every parish in the USA. Over the past several years, we have compiled this list of almost 20,000 places and 50,000 people. We need to continuously review and update this data to ensure our database remains current. 

What we are collecting-

You will primarily update the names and email addresses for key parish personnel. We will assign you a few dioceses at time and you can work on your own schedule. The staff positions we consider "key" include:

  1. Priests
  2. Deacons
  3. Secretary/Office Managers
  4. DRE (Director of Religious Education)
  5. RCIA/OCIA/Faith Formation
  6. Business Manager/Bookkeeper
  7. School Principal
  8. Communications Staff
  9. Evangelization

Also, you may need to update information about parishes or churches that may have changed. This includes:

  1. Mailing address
  2. Website URL
  3. General email
  4. Closure/Merger status

Parish closures and mergers- 

Over the last several years many dioceses have closed, consolidated and/or merged parishes. As a result of this, there may be several physical churches administered by one common staff. You will find that each diocese has implemented this in a different way so the structure and naming convention is not consistent from diocese to diocese. Here are some examples of how this is typically done, and how it impacts our collection of contact information:

Let's say there are three individual parishes-

figure a

You may see them referred to as a group or family. This doesn't change anything for our purposes of gathering data as they each retain their individual identity and personnel.

figure b

Next, you may see some parishes in a cluster. This was very popular for awhile, but has fallen out of favor recently as it relies on a single priest serving multiple parishes. This too doesn't change much for our data gathering except noting the priest and potentially other staff members are serving multiple parishes. 

figure c

Finally, there are merged parishes. There are generally two ways parishes are merged. The first is to create a new parish identity and place several parishes under it. The former parishes combine into the new parish and the buildings may remain open keeping the name of the old parish. 

figure d

The scenario is where one or more parishes merge under an existing parish. The existing parish retains its identity and the other parishes become churches under the single parish. 

figure e

For our database, we would like to indicate merged parishes. This may involve creating a new parish and tagging the former parishes below. Since the merged churches share a common priest and staff, it is not necessary to look up contacts for the other worship sites. 

Verify list of parishes for a diocese-

Once you have been assigned a diocese, you can work directly from the manage places page . At the top, you can filter the list to only show a single diocese. We have found it is best to check the overall list of parishes for accuracy before attempting to update the individual parish data. You should compare the list in our database to a list on the diocese website and make any changes as needed.  Here are the best places to verify the listing of parishes:

  • Diocesan website - check these first when beginning a diocese
    • PDF file of diocesan directory
    • Parish directory pages
    • Priest directory pages
    • Pastoral planning or other office page relating to parish consolidation 

Adding a parish - 

To add a new parish, hit the +Add new place link on the manage places page. Add as much information as possible. 

What to do with a parish/church that has closed - 

Tick the box on the right hand side of the edit place page that says "Parish/Church has closed"

Updating parish data-

For this step, we recommend working from the diocese page. To access a diocese page, click on a diocese name here. From here you have links to each parish website and to edit the parish contacts.  Here are the best places to look for parish information: 

  • Parish website
    • Staff page
    • Contact us page
    • PDF file of parish bulletin
  • Diocesan website
    • Diocesan directory PDF

Steps to follow when updating a parish-

1. Name - Check that the name matches what the diocese has listed

Name

2. Type - Select the "type" of place - Parish, Church, Chapel, etc.. (If you are unsure, set as parish)

type

3. Relationships - If there are other worship locations under the parish, expand the relationship section and tag the other sites under children

relationships

4. Website - Visit the website and verify the URL is still correct. If not, google search to find the current website and replace the URL

web

5. People - For existing people, verify that they are still with the parish and the email is correct. Click edit and check the "Updated/Verified 2021" box for each. If they are no longer there, simply click "remove"

For new people, click "Add new Person" Fill in Name, Email, Title/Role and Diocese. Also, check the "Updated/Verified 2021" box.

person

If a person works for multiple parishes, you can select the "Add existing person" button and look them up. Please avoid creating duplicate people. 

6. When Finished - Check the "Updated/Verified 2021" box for the parish on the right side. 

If you could not find any contact info, or if the parish/church has closed, check those boxes as well. 

info