The Standards for Excellence have been produced to present an appropriate level of ethical and accountable practices for Catholic parishes.  They respond to the call to good stewardship and accountability in the U.S. bishops’ pastoral letter, Stewardship: A Disciple’s Response.  The Standards serve as a model for parishes to implement in their operations and governance.

Parishes must comply with the Church’s own canon law as well as applicable local, state, and federal laws.  These Standards for Excellence build upon that foundation, and go a step further. Based on fundamental values - such as honesty, integrity, fairness, respect, trust, compassion, responsibility, and accountability - these Standards for Excellence describe how Catholic parishes should act to be ethical and accountable in their program operations, governance, human resources, financial management and fundraising. 

Eight (8) Guiding Principles are provided, along with fifty-five (55) standards - more detailed performance benchmarks that will enable Catholic parishes to strengthen their operations.  

• Mission and Program
• Governance and Advisory Bodies
• Conflict of Interest
• Human Resources
• Financial and Legal
• Openness
• Fundraising
• Public Life and Public Policy

The Standards for Excellence are intended to describe how the most well managed and responsibly governed parishes operate.  They provide benchmarks related to temporal affairs to determine how well a parish is fulfilling its obligations to those who benefit from its ministry programs, to contributors, and to the public both inside and outside the Church. 

To order a single copy of the code click here.

To order bulk copies for distribution to your parish pastoral council, finance council, pastoral staff, etc, please email Standards@nlrcm.org or call 202-223-8962.

For information about becoming a Partner in Excellence and gaining access to education resource materials for implementing each of the Standards, please contact Standards@nlrcm.org or call 202-223-8962.