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Initial Setup for Sacraments

In order to use sacraments, there are a few things a SPoC needs to set up.

Before You Begin

You may have set up a Milestones page labeled as "Sacraments" before this feature was available. If you plan to use our Sacraments section instead, we recommend hiding or renaming your old page. That way, staff won't confuse the two and wonder why they don't see what they expect to in the Sacrament section.

Here's what the Sacrament section looks like in Catholic and non-Catholic navigation menus:

Catholic MenuNon-Catholic Menu
Catholic menu showing the Sacraments folder in between Communications and Custom Forms, containing the following pages: All Sacraments, Baptism, Confirmations, Communions, Marriage, Ordinations, Deaths, All Sponsors, Sacrament Places, and DiocesesNon-Catholic menu showing the Sacraments folder in between Custom Forms and Missions Trips, containing the following pages: All Sacraments, Baptism, Marriage, All Sponsors, and Sacrament Places

Determine Which Sacraments to Track

We've identified the default pages that display right out of the box:
  • Catholic instances see Baptism, First Communion, Confirmation, Marriage, and Holy Orders, along with Death/Funeral Register.
  • Non-Catholic instances see Baptism and Marriage.

Other pages (like Reconciliation Prep and Anointing of the Sick) are also available. If you want to show/hide or rename any of these pages, contact Support for assistance with modifications to System Lookups.

Add the Necessary Locations

It may be important to note the locations where sacraments are performed. This is usually a parish or sacrament place in your diocese or district.

Catholic instances have a default list of dioceses and parishes, but you can add more as needed. Non-Catholic instances can decide whether to add their organization's structure into MinistryPlatform. You may choose to only add the necessary locations.

To add dioceses or districts:
  1. Go to Sacraments > Dioceses or Districts.
  2. Check to make sure the location you want to add is not already in the list.
  3. Click New at the top.
  4. Enter the necessary information.
  5. Click Save.
To add parishes or sacramental places:
  1. Go to Sacraments > Parishes or Sacrament Places.
  2. Check to make sure the location you want to add is not already in the list.
  3. Click New at the top.
  4. Enter the necessary information.
  5. For Diocese/District, select the associated location.
  6. Click Save.

Define Sponsor Types

Sponsor Types describe the role of the individual in relation to a sacrament. This may be a person who is responsible for guiding and assisting a candidate (such as a godparent), a witness or proxy, or even the next of kin (which is important when recording death/funeral information).

Some sponsor types are set up by default, but you can add or edit them as needed.

  1. Go to Lookup Values > Sponsor Types.
  2. Click New at the top, or open an existing Sponsor Type to edit it.
  3. Enter the necessary information.
  4. Click Save.

Give Users Access

Initially, the Sacraments section and pages are only visible to Admin users (i.e. users with Admin set to "Yes"). You must give users permissions to view and manage sacramental records via a security role. You can add a new security role or update existing ones to include this access.

  1. Go to Administration > Security Roles.
  2. Click New at the top, or open an existing Security Role to edit it.
  3. Enter the necessary information, and select the appropriate access for each page related to sacraments, including:
    • All Sacraments
    • All Sacraments > Sponsors
    • All Sponsors
    • Baptisms
    • Baptisms > Sponsors
    • Communions *
    • Communions > Sponsors *
    • Confirmations *
    • Confirmations > Sponsors *
    • Deaths *
    • Deaths > Sponsors *
    • Dioceses or Districts
    • Marriages
    • Marriages > Sponsors
    • Members or Participants > Sacraments
    • Ordinations *
    • Parishes or Sacrament Places
    • Sacrament Types

      * Items with an asterisk indicate pages in Catholic instances only.

  4. Click Save.