ParishSOFT Offerings

Newsletter for Parish Users & Friends

Spring 2011 Issue 

Spotlight: St. Thomas á Becket, Canton, MI

St. Thomas á Becket Staff (L to R): Dave Nowicki, Anne Truax, Cathy Hulett, Fr. James Arwady, Pam Michels, Sue Miller, and ParishSOFT's Ted Zettel

When people are truly engaged in your parish mission, you'd better be prepared to take a few calls. . .it could be a local family in need, an unexpected thank-you from a faraway country, or, possibly someone from an ABC or CBS morning show.  

At St. Thomas á Becket in Canton, Michigan, they're inspiring Christians around the corner and across the globe. But as any parishioner would tell you, they're just doing what God has asked of them. And all the glory goes to Him.       

This vibrant Catholic parish is living its mission and earning recognition from their community, the Aussies, Good Morning America, and more.  Read More >>  

Thanks to the entire staff for sharing their inspiring story!    

Get Your Priest on Board:

Priests Attend Users' Conference Free!

Nov 7-9, 2011 in Anaheim, California  

This year's Users' Conference offers new workshops to help parish and diocesan staff better engage God's people. Plus, we've added and a new clergy track, designed to help priests get comfortable with their parish technology and learn practical applications for ministry, communications, and leadership.  

Priests attend free with one paid staff registration, making it easy to budget for the best learning and networking opportunity of the year.  Save the date, and together, we'll learn how to get parishioners "on board" and keep them involved! We'll announce workshop, keynote, and registration information soon on our Users' Conference Page.

We reached a milestone in March: 501 churches are now using Online Giving! Altogether, they'll receive an estimated $34.4 million in direct-deposited annual giving from the 26,121 participating families. That's income they can count on.  

Learn how we can help you get started with Online Giving by registering for our free Online Giving Made Easy webinar on www.parishsoft.com/webinars.

New Features in Online Giving

One of the great things about our Web products is that they let us get updates to you faster--and you don't need to install anything!  Since we made the new Quick Give feature available on April 12, more than 30 churches are already using it to let members make a gift without setting up an Online Giving account.    

On Tuesday May 3, we'll again update Online Giving so that transactions will process earlier each day - at 10 p.m. Eastern time - and you can reconcile batches faster. Also, we'll be making the Submit button "inactive" after it is clicked to prevent a giver from accidentally submitting a payment for the same gift more than once.   Read More >>

Download the Latest Release Notes

May's 3.7.27 release will deliver many productivity enhancements and issue resolutions to keep your staff and your ministries running at full power.  

Look for a new Last Name, First Name search capability in the Post Contributions screen, new print functionality for Orthodox sacraments, and a new commemorative contributions report. Full release notes will be available here.  

Have questions about the latest update?  Give ParishSOFT Support a call at 866.930.4774 x2.

News from the ConnectNow Church Accounting Suite

If you're using the ConnectNow Church Accounting suite, you should be receiving regular update notifications for the Ledger and Payables and Payroll modules. We deliver these notices through Constant Contact, and they'll show in your inbox as being sent from ParishSOFT and CMS via our psm@parishsoft.com email address. If you are not receiving these notices, please be sure to enter your email address in your ConnectNow Church Accounting user profile, so we can keep you in the loop.   

Our last release updated fund-level permissions and ensured the suite supported the newest version of IRS Form 941 for the 2011 tax year. Read all about it in the Release Notes, available from your software dashboard and on parishsoft.com.

Ann Annunziato, Fr. Peter Wehrle, and Vivian Crespo at the Archdiocese of Newark seminar

ParishSOFT on Tour: Technology Seminars from Coast to Coast

Our Parish Technology Seminars give parish staff the chance to discuss how the latest technology for churches, including ParishSOFT products, can help them with ministry. The response has been great, so we're scheduling additional sessions -- maybe one near you! We invite your parish staff to attend for free.  

Register for one of our scheduled events in California, Wisconsin, New York, Texas, or Connecticut on www.parishsoft.com/seminars. Or call 866-930-4774 x1 to host or request a session for parishes in your neighborhood.  Read More >>

Win an iPad for Your Story 

We've received just two submissions so far, and we need five to hold a vote and name a winner. We know you're doing great things in your parish. Submit your story today!   

You could win an iPad if your story wins the most votes! To enter, send your article and photo to info@parishsoft.com. Contest rules are available here.   

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Training for New, Veteran Staff  

New staff in your parish? Need a refresher course for experienced staff? We've got training to help all of you use the parish suite to its fullest potential. Check out our teletraining classes on www.parishsoft.com/training.    

Our new, shorter-format courses make it easy to take exactly what you need. Our wonderfully talented trainers will personally guide you through the how-to's while you participate hands-on from your computer, over the phone, from the convenience of your home or office.         

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Something Missing from Your Toolbox?    

Could your parish benefit from additional products from ParishSOFT? Register for one of our webinars.

You'll get a firsthand look at new (and existing) products like:  

• ConnectNow Church Accounting
• My Own Church
• Online Giving
• Orthodox Parish Management
• Parish IQ
• Parish Suite
• Religious Education Module 

Once you register, just connect at the scheduled time from your computer and phone. You'll have a chance to ask questions, learn some best practices for your parish, and see the product in a convenient, no-pressure format.  

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Georgia Parish Salutes Angela Omorodion

Angela Omorodion

Diane Hills at St. Benedict (Duluth, GA) had this to say about our support representative Angela Omorodion, "She's very good, sharp, knowledgeable, knows what she's doing, and whatever you ask or need she goes right to it."  

Thanks, Diane, for the great compliment!  

Please continue to let us know how we're doing and what we can do to better serve you and your parishes. 

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Read Our New "Catholic Connection" Column in CCMag!

Keep up with the latest tips, technology recommendations, and analyses by subscribing to Christian Computing Magazine. It's free--just subscribe.  

In the April issue, you'll find great email communication tips in ParishSOFT's column: Top 5 E-mail Collection Strategies for Your Church (also available on our White Papers Web page).    

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