Family Status

While canon law requires a person register at only one parish, we know many people have different connections to multiple parishes. Our ChMS only allows families to be registered at one parish, reflecting that reality of canon law. But we also allow families to have a Family Status that functions separately from their registration and is specific to the church, allowing each parish to denote their unique connection to the family. The ChMS also includes a Member Status that, in most cases, functions independently from Family Status to mark each individual family member’s participation in their faith community.

Family Status

The ChMS has a variety of Family Status options, but it can be challenging to sum up a family’s relationship with a parish in just one word! Below are the list of Family Status options within the ChMS alongside brief descriptors of each status. These descriptors are simply our team's perspective but they are open to interpretation! Please use the status options in the ways that make the most sense for your parish. What is most import is connecting with your parish staff to ensure consistency in how all staff members are using these status options throughout your database.

• Active – Selecting this option ensures the most functionality for this Family Record within the database. Consider this option for families who are regularly involved in your parish.
• Contributor – Consider this option for families who financially support the parish but are otherwise not active in the parish.
• Deceased – Consider this option for families where all members have a Member Status of deceased.
• Inactive – Selecting this option will impact some functionality of this Family Record within the database. Consider this option for families who were involved in your parish but no longer are.
  • Please review this article for information about when to change a Family Status to Inactive vs. when to mark a Family Record as unregistered.
• Moved – Consider this option for families that have moved far enough away from the parish that participation has ceased or is very limited.
• New Register – The ChMS auto-assigns this status to any families who enter themselves into the database through the Family Registration Form.
• Outreach – Consider this option for families whose main connection to the parish is wanting to receive parish communications.
• Parish Staff – Consider this option for families with one or multiple members on the parish staff but do not participate in the parish outside of their work.
• Prospective Family – Consider this option for families who have expressed interest in joining your parish but have not yet done so.
• Religious Ed Only – Consider this option for families whose only participation in your parish is limited to your Religious Education program.
• Sacrament Only – Consider this option for families whose only participation in your parish is limited to your sacramental preparation programs.
• School Only – Consider this option for families whose only connection to your parish is through the parish school.
• Seasonal – Consider this option for families where most or all of the members live elsewhere for part of the year and thus only participate at your parish during certain times of the year.
• Visitor - Consider this option for families who need a Family Record in your database (e.g. to record a contribution) but attended your parish only once/a few times.

Family Status & Member Status

While Family Status designates a family's connection to a particular church, Member Status denotes an individual's relationship to their faith community. In most cases, Family Status and Member Status function independently from one another. For example, changing the Smith family's Family Status to "Seasonal" will not automatically change Jane Smith's Member Status to "Seasonal." Likewise, changing Jane Smith's Member Status to "Seasonal" will not automatically change the Smith family's Family Status to "Seasonal."

However, there is one instance where a change in Member Status(es) does automatically change Family Status. When all member records tied to a family record have a Member Status of Deceased, the Family Status will automatically change to Deceased.

There are also some instances where a change in Family Status does automatically change Member Status(es).

• If the Family Record is connected to only one church database, changing Family Status to Inactive will automatically change all Member Statuses (of the Member Records connected to that Family Record) to Inactive.
  • The one exception is if a Member Record in this Family Record has a Member Status of Deceased. Marking the Family Status as Inactive will NOT change a Member Status of Deceased, but it will change all other (non-Deceased) Member Statuses for all other Member Records in the family to Inactive.
• If the Family Record is connected to only one church database, changing Family Status to Deceased will automatically change all Member Statuses (of the Member Records connected to that Family Record) to Inactive.
  • Again, the one exception is if a Member Record in this Family Record has a Member Status of Deceased. Marking the Family Status as Deceased will NOT change a Member Status of Deceased, but it will change all other (non-Deceased) Member Statuses for all other Member Records in the family to Inactive.