Leveraging Information Technology Within a Roman Catholic Diocese

Parishes within the Roman Catholic Church face many of the same concerns as any other non-profit organization. Dependencies on donations and volunteer help restrict the parish to leverage technology to gain efficiencies. Parishes have an additional concern. Although grouped under a Diocese, this hierarchical structure is not a standard, top-down directive organization. A Roman Catholic Diocese is a subsidiarity . Decisions are made at the lowest level, specifically; decisions on how to operate and administer the parish are given to the pastor or parish director of that parish. Acknowledging that leveraging technology is a way to gain efficiencies, the ability to leverage it in the current construct of the Catholic Church is difficult. Parish staff usually lacks the knowledge or time, or the parish itself lacks the financial resources to leverage new technologies. Assistance from the Diocese Information Technology department as well as from outside organizations like the Diocesan Information System Conference is minimal. Therefore, there must be a change to enable parishes to successfully leverage technology. In looking at other Dioceses within the United States, there are instances where the Diocese has stepped up and led efforts to standardize and/or consolidate services in order to gain efficiencies at both the Diocesan level and the parish level. It takes teamwork and salesmanship to implement changes. However, both the Diocese and the parishes can benefit