ParishSOFT Connects  

Newsletter for Diocesan Users & Friends

August 2011 Issue  

Diocese of Jackson Standardizes on ParishSOFT Accounting, Census, Offertory

The Catholic Diocese of Jackson, Mississippi. Map shared via CCA-SA, GNU, Wikipedia Commons

With parish and diocesan staff on board, and the full support of Bishop Joseph N. Latino and Vicar General Msgr. Elvin Sunds, the Diocese of Jackson has selected ParishSOFT as its standard membership, offertory, church accounting, and development technology for the diocese and all parishes and missions.    

Aad de Lange, director of administration and finance for the diocese, looks forward to accurate, real-time census and financials to fuel parish and diocesan reporting and overall decision-making. And he knows standard software will have far-reaching benefits for diocesan-wide communication, parish support, training, data standards, and the diocese's ability to serve its 48,000 Catholics.       

Rebecca Harris, director of the Catholic Foundation and the Office of Stewardship for the Diocese of Jackson, sees great benefits in having current addresses for parishioners in a central database she can access for the annual appeal. "For the first time in the history of our CSA," said Harris, "we'll be able to give every Catholic family in the diocese the opportunity to contribute."    

To learn why the diocese chose ParishSOFT over the competition, and why St. Paul (Flowood, Miss.) office manager Renée Carpenter says, "ParishSOFT is going to save us a lot of time," read the full story (online or in PDF) here >>.         

Help Your Priests (and Staff)
Get on Board at the Conference

Nov 7-9, 2011, Anaheim, California  

The ParishSOFT Conference is an experience like no other: the workshops, training, and networking inspire new ideas that help parish and diocesan staff better engage God's people. And the whole event is a perfect opportunity for diocesan-wide staff development.  

NEW Clergy Track | Priests Attend Free!

This year offers workshops for dioceses, parishes, 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 can attend free with one paid staff registration. And you can send a diocesan staffer for free when parishes register by Sept. 23 (offer varies based on proximity to southern California).  

We hope you'll encourage your parishes to attend and spend some time together, learning and sharing as a diocese, in Anaheim! For information on our keynote speakers, workshops, and venue, please visit our conference website.

Online Giving isn't just for parishes anymore. Catholics in several dioceses, including Colorado Springs, Lincoln, Salina, San Jose, Steubenville, Toledo, and the Archdiocese of Detroit, now have the option to make their annual appeal pledges and payments online.  

Together with the 609 churches using Online Giving, these dioceses will share in the estimated $44.3 million in basket-to-bank annual giving from the 38,321 families now giving online - a number growing by almost 10% a month. That's income they can count on!   

And according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, which projects that more than half of all donations in 2011 will be made electronically, Online Giving is no longer an option but a necessity. Read More >>     

Your Parishes Asked, We Listened! 

Our fully browser-based ConnectNow Ministry Scheduler program is now available to help parishes tame the complexities of managing parish volunteers and ever-changing schedules. 

Ministry Scheduler is the only product on the market that fully integrates with the ParishSOFT family suite--that means it works dynamically with the family and member records already in the parish database, with no cumbersome data export process or extra data entry.  

Ministry Scheduler's Web platform and member login option make it a great recruiting tool for parishes looking to grow participation and engage members more fully in parish life. Staff can create fair, balanced schedules fast (about 20 seconds for six months of liturgies) because the system analyzes all the variables that affect who can serve when and uses that data to create accurate, automatic schedules for any event and date range.  Read More > >   

August-September Technology Seminars

A big thank-you to our June and July Parish Technology Seminar hosts:   

• Diocese of Rockville Center - St. Gerard Majella  
• Diocese of Brooklyn - St. Matthias  
• Dioceses of El Paso - St. Thomas Aquinas  
• Diocese of San Angelo - St. Elizabeth Ann Seton 

Parish staff, regardless of what software they have back at the office, have appreciated the chance to come together to discuss ways to use technology to better connect with people and engage them in ministries.  

Registration is open now for the following events at  www.parishsoft.com/seminars

• Diocese of Monterey (Aug 10-11) - St. William (Atascadero) and St. Joseph Conference Center (Monterey)
• Archdiocese of Seattle (Sep 20-22) - St. Joseph (Seattle), St. Anthony (Renton), and St. Joseph (Vancouver) 
• Diocese of Amarillo (Sept 28) - webinar event  

To arrange a seminar or user group event for the parishes in your arch/diocese, please give us a call at 866-930-4774 x1.