National Certification Standards

NCCL is currently partnering with other Catholic organizations to revise the current National Certification Standards for Lay Ecclesial Ministers and is exploring national certification. This is a formal partnership known as ACLEM (Alliance for the Certification of Lay Ecclesial Ministers).

Certification Alliance Partners 

• National Conference for Catechetical Leadership (NCCL),
• National Association for Lay Ministry (NALM),
• National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry (NFCYM),
• National Association of Pastoral Musicians (NPM),
• Federation of Diocesan Liturgical Commissions (FDLC).

History

In 1990, NFCYM received approval of their standards from the USCC Commission on Certification and Accreditation for the first parish-based lay ecclesial ministers, youth ministers.  

The following year, 1991, NALM followed suit and received approval of standards for pastoral associates and parish life coordinators. In 1996, NCCL received approval of parish catechetical leaders’ standards. In 1999 NCCL , NALM, and NFCYM joined efforts to combine their standards for different fields within lay ecclesial ministry into the National Certification Standards for Lay Ecclesial Ministers, which was released in 2003. These combined standards were for parish catechetical leaders, pastoral associates and parish life coordinators. In 2005, NPM joined this effort and certification standards for directors of music ministries were added to the combined certification standards.  NPM successfully sought approval that year from the USCCB CCA for its new standards and existing certification process. In the spring of 2009 FDLC also became a partner after opening its own file with USCCB/CCA.

Current Efforts

The certification alliance has formed three task groups to address:

1. Revision of the National Certification Standards for Lay Ecclesial Ministers, following the guidelines from USCCB Commission on Certification and Accreditation
2. Development of a national certification process offered by the alliance partners but approved by the USCCB Commission on Certification and Accreditation
3. Consolidating the different codes of ethics for different lay ecclesial ministries into a single code of ethics for all lay ecclesial ministers.

The goal is to submit these items for approval by the USCCB Commission on Certification and Accreditation by the year 2011.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Commission on Certification and Accreditation has approved the certification standards of our organization for parish catechetical leaders, 3211 S. Lake Drive, Suite 317, St. Francis, WI 53235-3702 (414-486-0139, www.usccbcca.org)