By Liz Henning
The week before last, I wrote about the 2018 Pew Research Center study revealing a new typology of religion in America. The typology finds three major categories, and seven types of believers within the core categories.
This week, let’s take a look at how Catholics behave within this typology. Among Christian faiths, self-identifying Catholics are most widely spread across the ranges.
No more than 25% of Catholics fit the criteria for any single typology.
So, where do they fall?
Understanding the complexity of the landscape is essential. Without this insight, parishes cannot begin to meet people where they are. A few weeks ago, we wrote about the Church’s “product” in the time of COVID-19:
… while our core group experiences the source and summit of our faith through the Eucharist during Mass, and it is the most significant “place” where we experience the Church…it only speaks to a portion of our target audience. There are additional segments we aim to reach who aren’t ready or willing to come to us every Sunday - they require a different level of engagement through different mediums.
Reaching these audiences requires parishes to think outside their typical comfort zones – zones that we have been living in, nearly nonstop during this COVID-19 quarantine period!
As we begin to emerge from this time, think about the people you might have been able to reach through these new channels that you weren’t connecting with before. How will your parish stay connected to them, going forward?
Contact us if you would like to schedule a consultation with one of our experts at KP Consulting Group to help work through the best strategy.
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