By Bishop James D. Conley
I would much prefer to focus on the direct spiritual needs of our diocese rather than spend time immersed in the statistics and trends that show us where we have been and where we are headed, but good leadership requires both. Numbers can come together to tell the story of who we are and who we are becoming.
Our One Heart in Christ pastoral plan establishes principles and goals we want to achieve in our diocese over a five-year period. Parishes are asked to establish lay leadership teams or committees and select, by the end of this year, at least one goal to focus on in 2027.
To be able to evaluate the effectiveness of our efforts, we need to establish where we are now. We need the numbers to show us that, and then we need to determine what numbers in the future will represent success.
We need to measure what we are doing. Management consultant and educator Peter Drucker famously said, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.”
Parishes have the option to focus on whatever goal under our four main pastoral pillars or principles – Healthy Parishes, Education, Religious Vocations, and Holy Marriage and Family Life – is best suited to them. Two of the areas we will be paying close attention to as a diocese involve our parishes and schools.
Mass attendance
Under the Healthy Parishes pillar, we have listed a couple of goals that aim to increase our Mass attendance. We would shoot for an overall increase of 3 to 5% in the diocese, over the first year of the plan. The goals specifically focus on growing new evangelization opportunities and achieving full and active participation in our liturgical worship as ways to do that.
We have tracked our Mass attendance by counting the number of people attending Mass on a specific weekend each spring and fall. Those counts go back at least a couple of decades, but they merely provide a “snapshot in time” and can be influenced by weather, major events, visitors from outside the parish and some parishes not participating for one reason or another. While not a perfect measurement, it is the one we have, and helps us determine historical trends and a current benchmark for our diocese.
In the 2004 count, we reported 65% of registered Catholics attended Mass in our diocese on the weekend during which the measurement took place. That number either slightly declined or remained the same through 2019, when Mass attendance registered 50%.
Then came COVID. For obvious reasons, most out of our control, the Mass attendance number in 2020 dropped to 29%. However, as early as 2021, we started to see more people returning to Mass. That year, the number was 43%.
Then in 2022, it grew to 47%. In 2023 and 2024, 49% of registered Catholics in the diocese attended Mass. Last year, in 2025, the number grew to 54%. It is an encouraging trend that is moving in the right direction, and that figure represents the baseline from which future growth in Mass attendance can be judged.
Catholic school enrollment
The trend in enrollment in our 30 Catholic schools in the diocese is not as positive. Before we look at our schools, it may provide some perspective to point to the enrollment report recently released by Lincoln Public Schools (LPS).
It showed what we are seeing in many school districts across the country – fewer students in the classrooms.
The LPS report showed a decline of 675 students in preschool through 12th grade for the 2026-27 school year, out of more than 40,000 students. In a Nov. 6 article in the Lincoln Journal Star, Mike Gillotti, the associate superintendent for education services at LPS, attributed the drop to “larger cohorts of students graduating and smaller class sizes coming in.” He concluded: “In general, it just looks like there’s less kids.”
The Lincoln Journal Star reporting pointed out “the U.S. birth rate fell to a record low in 2025, continuing a 20-year trend toward fewer children.” That’s a statistic that is impacting all schools – public, parochial and private – and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. I suppose this stat should not be too surprising, considering there are more than one million clinician-provided abortions reported each year in the U.S., and the widespread use of artificial contraception.
The National Catholic Education Association reports that Catholic school enrollment nationwide declined by about a half-percent last year and has decreased nearly 13% over the past decades. The states that have reversed that trend include those that have expanded school choice programs. Nebraska will participate in the Education Freedom Tax Credit program starting in January of 2027 and I highly encourage all our parishioners to consider a contribution, allowing your taxes to directly benefit schools – both private and public – in Nebraska, instead of sending that money to Washington D.C.
Our Catholic schools in the diocese will look to do what is possible to reverse our own enrollment trends.
The Diocese of Lincoln achieved record high enrollment over the past 14 years, topping out in 2017 with 7,173 students enrolled in our Catholic schools. Since 2017, the number of students attending Catholic schools in our diocese has dropped 1,147.
An increase in tuition costs and a decline in the number of children are thought to be major contributors to this decline. These two factors are likely the reason for the change in percentage of registered students across the diocese attending Catholic schools.
In the City of Lincoln in 2022, 54% of registered children attended Catholic school, and in 2026, 45% of registered children attended. Outside the City of Lincoln in 2022, 58% of registered children attended their local Catholic school and in 2026, 46% of registered students attended. The number of Catholic children attending a parish school or central Catholic school is still remarkably high considering the expanse of the Lincoln Diocese; however, declining demographics and increased tuition costs are starting to take a toll.
We are hopeful that the Education Freedom Tax Credit program will make it possible for those families who desire a Catholic education to choose the school of their dreams.
One of our One Heart in Christ pastoral plan goals under the principle of Education is to “garner the necessary resources to achieve optimal enrollment in our Catholic Schools and expand as needed.” We have our benchmark numbers; we know from where we are starting. We also know we worship an amazing God. He has told us “…with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26). Our school enrollment goal is achievable, but God calls on all of us to join Him in making it happen.
Catholic families in our diocese with Catholic schools in or near their parishes, really need to think and pray about sending their children to our Catholic schools. Our city and state offer good public schools which I am glad to see, but those schools cannot offer education through the important lens of our Catholic faith. Our schools strive to immerse that faith across the curricula and always look to support parents as the primary educators of their children.
Our parishes and schools are worth the investment of time and resources it will take to help them excel. We know where we are currently, which enables us to measure where we will be at the end of our first year and beyond. To get from here to there will take faith, prayer and hard work.
Our numbers do tell a story. The story of where we are and where we are going. Mark Twain said, “Most people use statistics the way a drunkard uses a lamp post, more for support than illumination.” Let us use our statistics to tell a story that illuminates our Catholic faith and brings our diocese together as One Heart in Christ.
