ARCHDIOCESE OF KANSAS CITY IN KANSAS
PROCLAIM HOPE CAFÉ EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
MARCH 30, 2014
CATHOLIC IDENTITY:
Many participants equated “Catholic identity” with visibility in the community and/or unity
among the schools and parishes, so many of the comments suggested more all-school joint
activities, more visible participation of the Catholic school students in Topeka’s community
events (St. Patrick’s Day Parade, Fiesta, German Fest, Summer Fest, etc.) or better marketing of
the schools. Many also expressed interest in consolidating the elementary schools or hiring a
city-wide youth director. With respect to Catholic identity itself, some urged that more nuns be
present in the schools and others asked that pastors talk about the value of Catholic schools more
often, including from the pulpit.
Other representative comments include:
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Do more activities together among all the Catholic grade schools to increase a sense of unity
Become one. Get everyone on the same page
Consolidate music/art instruction among schools
Somehow bring kids together as a team -- I’ve seen kids come together on a football team
and connect. How else can this be done?
Get Hayden students out to grade schools more often and get grade kids to Hayden more
often.
More parent participation
Sports -- combine parochial league for sports to compete with each other against public
schools instead against each other
Region wide youth group. Youth Mass -- regional
Branding of schools. Marketing of the Catholic faith similar to the ‘Catholics Come Home’
Going to Mass together and inviting each other to parish events
Model the monthly faith formation for teachers which all school teachers do and start doing
as a parish formation with each school parish
Common theme was identity at each individual school is OK. Area is in need of
strengthening identity among the six schools
Use technology. Need a parent association amongst all parishes. Need umbrella strategic
planning organization for entire city. Involve all parishioners; parishioners need to take
ownership to save the schools
Promote Catholic identity through press releases e.g. Ralph Hip’s 4:00 show; Include
Prayer/meditation as basis for service. Catholic students participating in Fiesta Mexican
parade. Centralized purchasing for all Catholic schools -- economizing the purchasing. Two
times a year students from Catholic schools march in St. Patrick’s Day Parade -- each school.
Catholic schools week -- 5th -8th grade.
Common Topeka Catholic: School Council, logo, youth coordinator, fund-raising
Families need to attend Mass on the weekends
Pastors need to promote the importance of Catholic education form the pulpit
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Centralized email and or website for collaboration and idea exchange. More interschool
activities. Hayden -- at a minimum, one all-school Mass each week
More connection with Hayden students and Catholic school students -- big brother, big sister
“Exit interview” with those going from grade schools to public junior or high schools
Teacher faith formation quarterly amongst all schools. Central location for information on
education offered from all churches.
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STEWARDSHIP AND TUITION:
Participants were divided about the best model for school funding: stewardship (tithing) vs. a set
tuition. Those that favored the stewardship model were concerned that moving to a set tuition
would contribute even more to the decreasing enrollment numbers, particularly after fifth grade.
Those that favored tuition believe that the stewardship model is not yielding enough money to
keep the schools afloat. Many suggested more consolidation of schools or coordinated
purchasing programs to save money. Many also suggested that more emphasis be placed on fund
development, particularly in the area of estate planning and end-of-life gifts.
Other representative comments include:
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Accountability on tithing and pledge. Johnson county model for tuition does not work for
Topeka. We are a poorer community and that does not work for us -- a more blue collar
community. Sustained commitment from KC to project a model that works for us. Too
much overhead with administration. We could utilize that money in salaries to put back in
the school
Educating parents/families on what stewardship is, what if we don’t tithe, what will happen?
Create foundation for all schools to increase the trust and end of life gifts
Ask the archdiocese to forgive the 1.7 million Hayden owes them
Scholarships, centralized school system. Trained financial managers for schools
Set a flat rate for all grade schools and then share the supplies with other schools. Have
parish councils meet with families to set levels of tuition and tithing. Use a central marketing
position to promote Catholic schools
Individual parish special collection for all parish schools. Uniform tuition cost across all
parish schools. Move to not set tuition, tithe only system
Do we have an evangelization issue? People not giving what they can or should? We want to
say stewardship model works. Market to full pay -- get the families who can pay full to do it
and that will help with those that can’t. We need communication between parishes more than
the bulletin.
Group buying power -- textbooks, supplies. No one at our table wants tuition!! Is there a
third option? Pooling finances?
Catholic education is for rich and poor. Tuition=loss of students. Educate families how
stewardship works
All parishes send a certain % to a central office to use for “city” education system. Have a
unified school board representing all parishes. Tithing based in each parish
Volunteer hours worked gives credit on tuition. Special collection for school. Standardize
tuition for all schools. Pool a certain % from all parishes to fund education and divide
equally among grade schools. Get sponsors form either outside the parish or have a
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parishioner sponsor a kid. Come together and have a community fundraiser for Catholic
school education.
Topeka unified Catholic school district run by a board representative of the region and all
parishes have organized stewardship.
CEF scholarships -- 3 parishes contribute $ to fund tuition. Debt free. Parents pay small
tuition if they can. You lose parent interest in grade 5 as they can’t fund Hayden tuition so
begin sending their kids to public school in middle school. If parents can pay only part of the
tuition that would be OK. Stewardship model is not working.
Three of five parishes operate in deficit.
ENROLLMENT:
Several comments suggested that more effort be spent on finding out why more parishioners
don’t send their kids to Catholic school: is it the cost or a perceived lack of quality in the
schools? Most of the comments favored increasing marketing efforts, both in the parishes and in
the community at large, and personal invitations to families with school-age children. Among
the barriers to enrollment, several people pointed out, is the lack of transportation (busing) for
private schools in Topeka.
Other representative comments include:
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Regional junior high. Market better to RE families. Hayden start marketing to 4th and 5th
grades -- keep them in grade schools -- get them to Hayden
Catholicism worth the investment? Families speaking with their behaviors. Parents not
making the sacrifices of generations past. Raising fees will exacerbate this!
All priests need to encourage Catholic education. More collaboration between Hayden and
elementary teachers. Public relations for all schools. Barriers: cost, transportation, academic
opportunities (Hayden), evangelization- parents are the first teachers, why are they not
choosing to send their kids?
After school activities since we have no busing
Help CCD families understand that by not attending Catholic school, they are really choosing
to home school their children in our Catholic faith
Need to work as a region to develop a cohesive marketing plan promoting Catholic
education. Need to increase the value of Catholic education and sell it
Promote the benefits of a Catholic education -- get your kid to heaven. Tuition is a huge
barrier. If we go to tuition we will have nothing but damage control to deal with
Need ambassadors reaching out to parishioners with children administrators teachers,
parents, students -- make a call, knock on a door, have a conversation with an individual who
has chosen to leave a Catholic school.
Barriers: 1. Program and opportunity- no fine arts, no athletics 2. Uncertainty- will schools
be available for all years of K-12 3. Costs
St. Matthews- classroom limitation. Busing -- promotes education to state those to obtain
services like busing school nurse. This has been done in many states- why not KS? We have
a pro-Catholic government and a faith-based legislature. Why do parents pull their kids out
after kindergarten, 5th grade, 8th grade? Is it cost or quality of product? Begin info nights in
all grades. Get varsity teams and JV teams to visit the grade schools. Recruit from RE. Have
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parent ambassadors reach out to speak to potential RE kids. Need for consulting firm to talk
to parents who send one kid but not others to a Catholic school?
COMMUNICATION:
Communication was addressed in two ways by the participants: communication among the
schools and parishes, and communication about the value/importance of Catholic schools.
Several people suggested that Catholic schools in Topeka become one body with shared
administration and finances. A majority of comments emphasized the importance of
marketing—advertising, public relations, “telling our story”—and several people suggested
hiring a regional marketing director
Other representative comments include:
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Archdiocese does not support Topeka!
Unified Catholic school district
Marketing- “beating the drum” – Sum Day – Ad of Congratulations- Budget for capital
Journal for announcements, etc. – Realtor pamphlets, academic achievements- Drew
Sweitzer, Boy Scouts, Catholic education, public service announcement, collaborative from
region, quarterly announcements
We need better communication between the parishes and school -- bulletins are old school,
joint website that is updated weekly or at the least monthly
All parishes encouraging Catholic school instead of building big RE programs -- whether you
have a school or not (Mother Teresa)
Promote pre-school as it is the freedom/pipeline to grades 1-8, 9-12. Make Hayden the
choice for grammar school parents. Create savings account for parents to save to send kids
to Hayden, begin when kids are ages 5-6. Ambassador program where high school kids go to
teach and bond with elementary school kids to build bonds/ties and interact in Hayden. We
must be better in telling our story. We have a ‘secret’ and we need to publicize
No parish should have 400 kids in a CCD program! Why isn’t that parish promoting
Catholic school education?
Provide transportation for students
Be a “community of parishes” and work together
Retreat /meeting for parents of religious ed students to promote Catholic school education,
educate parishioners that CEF is available, promote CEF
Education should be affordable for all Catholics. Suggest creating/consolidating into one
Catholic middle school and keep elementary schools. Tuition should be the same for all
Catholic schools and should be collaboratively determined.
Newsletter between schools about activities and goals Topeka wide newsletter. More
consolidation of schools investigated as a possibility
Catholic education needs to be the number one priority for the archdiocese
Same spirit shirt for all the Catholic elementary schools -- get in free to Hayden games.
Hire a marketing person whose job is to promote Topeka Catholic schools
Have a special collection in each parish -- once a quarter- to benefit all the Catholic schools
in Topeka. Making sure everyone knows that this collection will stay in Topeka
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Efforts to increase enrollment by being a servant to the community people will want to be a
part of us
Catholic spirit week t-shirts and sweatshirts with all of the Catholic school logos to show we
are one family in the same shirt. Postcards that are sent to families that don’t send their
children to Catholic schools.
Hayden -- increase fundraising, archdiocese pick up MD debt. Elementary -- transparency.
Priests need to be the biggest advocates!
FROM TABLE TOP NEWSPRINT – WHAT ARE WE MOST PROUD OF?
 Monthly Mass/Retreat with one grade from all schools
 Sacramental prep
 Family
 Open
 Teachers and staff
 Clubs, groups, etc.
 Service projects that include all schools
 Our common faith
 Coaching
 Volunteering and parents involvement
 Catholic identity
 Mater Dei: quality, faith-related atmosphere, family, academics are awesome, children are
taught to care
 Hayden: high expectations, religious ed, educationally challenging, morals, respect of the
students at sporting events, dedicated, faith tradition, parental involvement, student
achievements, prepared for college
 Diversity
 Faith formation
 Service
 Financially stable
 Great staff
 Stewardship
 Strong sense of community
 Leadership
 Academic excellence
 Letting each child shine
 Multi-cultural
 Productive after school programs -- bible club
 Our kids
 Choir school
 Unity
 Welcoming school
 Prayer 3 times a day
 Electives
 PE
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Music
Mass twice a week
Bible buddies
7 out of 10 are in top 10 placement
Pre-school
Diverse
Increasing enrollment at St. Matthews
Mater Dei -- relationship with parents and teachers, teaching how to be Catholic, service- in
and out of building and school day, respect, integrating faith through the entire day,
opportunities to develop skills and strengths, proud of academic success, involvement in
community, technology
Christ the King: teachers and staff, faith based, great facilities, service projects, religious
education, Mass 2 times a week, warm, loving, family life
Most Pure Heart of Mary: in school day care, teachers, quality, community, teachers are
more committed, faith based, children more reverent, parent involvement
Holy Family: love how involved Fr. Tim is with the kids, respectful children, better
teacher/parent relationship, classroom size smaller
Feel safe
Teacher collaboration
Being the tier 3 teacher
Alumni volunteering
Discipline
History/tradition of success
Role model
Early childhood education
Students test scores
Religious sisters teaching in schools
Christ centered
Mentoring
PTO support
Commitment
Good priest support
Environment
Mission focused
Debt free
CEF school
Curriculum
All grade level interaction
Fall festival
Small town feel
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