Monday Message, May 18, 2026

KNOW

We have 10 tickets for NFCYM’s Exchange in early 2027. Please see the details here and let us know if you would like to travel with us. You (or your parish) will need to cover airfare and meals, we will take care of the rest. Email the team if you are interested.

The unofficial calendar for 2026-2027 is out. Please see this copy and let us know if you wish to host a deanery in-person meeting, a catechist meeting, or a parent of newly-baptized meeting. Email the team if you want to host.

And don’t forget to download the calendar for Confirmations next year.

Catechetical Sunday materials are now live. See more here.

LEAD and MINISTRY PLATFORM

By now, many of you have seen the capabilities of Ministry Platform and have received training on using it for faith formation registration.

If you are in waves four and five, you likely have not seen anything and will therefore continue to use the registration system currently in place.  We are writing to let you know about some updates to LEAD so you can make an informed decision about registration.

If Ministry Platform works for you, please proceed.

If you would rather use LEAD for formation registration, here are some changes that might be useful to know:

1. Payment – we currently offer tiered or fixed pricing. Tiered pricing works if you charge more for one child, and then change the price based on the number of children. Fixed pricing works if you charge the same no matter what.

   1. NEW – Right now, if you choose fixed pricing, you can allow the person to pay in multiple installments. That feature will be added to tiered pricing by June 10th.

   2. NEW – All payment methods will include an option to generate an invoice that can be printed and brought to the office with payment. That feature will be available on June 10th.

   3. The important thing to note is that a parent at checkout can choose to pay now, pay in installments, or be invoiced. They won’t be able to select pay in installments and send me invoices for those installments.

2. Groups – currently, when someone registers, they choose from the group you set: Grade 2 or Level 5. There is one choice per participant.

   1. We already have a feature that allows a parent to choose the group (day of the week, for example), and then, as a local leader, you can move those people to any other groups you wish (classes on particular days of the week, for example). This feature will also go live on June 10th.

   2. You can sort by group, email, or text that group, and manipulate the people in that group into subgroups.

3. Classes – local leaders can currently create classes. You can indicate multiple sessions, add participants, limit class sizes, communicate with each class via email and/or text, and more. Leaders do this once, then duplicate the class for all other grades or levels.

   1. Later this summer, we will enhance the ability to track attendance for each session.

   2. We will also create the ability for you to choose from your catechists (provided they are enrolled in formation) to add them to each class.

   3. We will add the ability to print rosters for each class.

4. Language – we will add instructions in Spanish as necessary. The consent and release form is already available in both languages.

Using APIs to “drop” information from LEAD into the Ministry Platform is in progress, but you do not need that ability yet. The urgency is more about getting registration up and running, so that is our focus.

If you would like to use LEAD for registration, here is what you need to know:

1. We strongly encourage you to establish a single fee structure. Do not charge additional fees for sacraments, books, robes, etc. This sends the wrong message to families: that sacraments cost money. This feature (additional fees) is not available in LEAD.

2. The consent and release form is automatically part of your registration. If you use MP, please do not change anything in that form, as it has already been reviewed by our lawyers and insurance company. With LEAD, you may add more forms if you have additional questions. That feature is not yet available in Ministry Platform.

3. Emails from LEAD can be customized with your logo, parish name, photo, etc.

4. We can help you set up registration, and you can set up the classes on your own.

5. Once you set registration up in LEAD, you do not need to switch to MP in future years. All the data will be shared with MP, including payment.

If you have questions or wish to see some features, please email us, and we will send you an invitation to join a webinar or an in-person session in the coming weeks.

Please note that during this transition period, you may need to delay your registration. The new feature will be available on June 10th.

LAUGH