The Keeping the Faith Strategic Plan for Elementary Education, which launched in 2023, is entering a new phase of implementation. Focused on what Bishop Edward Malesic calls “the responsibility of the entire Catholic community,” this stage seeks to embrace more fully Catholic elementary education as a ministry of the entire diocese, whether or not an individual parish operates a school.
To fulfill this vision and better foster the mission, every parish is to be connected to a school. During the past three years, the KTF process brought together 103 parishes and 23 elementary schools to explore and articulate new forms of collaboration.
Since many parish/school groupings still need to be completed, the process going forward will focus on formation of groups based on emerging local needs among the parishes and schools in a given area. Future groupings will consider what has been learned during the past few years.
Since the launch of the KTF plan, Catholic elementary school enrollment in the diocese has reached a seven-year high, with 24,950 students in the 2025/26 school year. In addition, it has brought about many system-level innovations and achievements:
- Strategic marketing plans, toolkits and guidance available to all schools
- Cohesive faith and mission formation programs for school employees
- Global funding strategies that maximize available resources
- Best practices for centralized staff recruitment
- Academic quality measures that inform continuous improvement
- Opportunities to explore innovative educational models to meet the needs of the local community
Click here to learn more about the Keeping the Faith Strategic Plan and the ways it is impacting Catholic elementary schools in the diocese.