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Managing Sacramental Records

Once a SPoC has set up sacraments, you can create sacramental records, add sponsors, and view statistics about recorded sacraments.

Create Sacramental Records

You can add sacramental information for a member or participant.

Note: If you're using a Catholic instance of the Platform, you can use the Add/Edit Sacrament Tool to add multiple sacrament records at one time.
  1. Go to Sacraments, then open the page related to the sacrament record you want to add.
  2. Click New at the top.
  3. Enter the date the sacrament was received, and select the accuracy of this date.
    Note: Date Received Accuracy is important because the month, day, and year are required when you select the Date Received. The accuracy can help indicate that you don't know the exact dates, which is common for historical records. For example, if you only know the year, you could select the date as "01/01/1945" and select "Year" for the accuracy to indicate that only 1945 is known for sure.
  4. Select the member/participant this sacrament is associated with.
  5. Enter any other relevant information.
  6. Some information can be selected or entered depending on what you want to show on certificates. If both fields are populated, the name in the text field displays on certificates.
    1. If you want the member/participant's name to display differently on certificates, enter the Certificate Name.
    2. Select a Spouse from the drop-down list, or enter the Spouse Name to use on certificates.
    3. Select a Celebrant from the drop-down list, or enter the Celebrant Name on Certificate.
    4. Select a Parish from the drop-down list, or enter the Parish name and location to use on certificates.
    5. Select Father's Name from the drop-down list, or enter the Father's Name on Certificate.
    6. Select Mother's Name from the drop-down list, or enter the Mother's Name on Certificate.
  7. Click Save.

Add Sponsors

Once a sacrament record is created, you can associate a sponsor with it. This may be the person responsible for guiding and assisting a candidate (such as a godparent), a witness or proxy, or even next of kin (if you record death/funeral information).

  1. Go to Sacraments > All Sponsors, OR open the sacrament record and go to the Sponsors tab.
  2. Click New at the top.
  3. Select the sacrament this sponsor is associated with.
  4. If the sponsor is a Contact in your system, select their existing record in the Sponsor drop-down list. Otherwise, enter their name in the Sponsor Name text field.
  5. Select the Sponsor Type to indicate the role of this individual in relation to the sacrament.
  6. Click Save.

View and Manage Sacramental Data

After entering sacramental data, you can view, edit, and delete records from the All Sacraments page or any of the sacrament pages. Open a record to see the details (on the General tab) and sponsors (on the Sponsors tab). Alternatively, you can view, edit, and delete records from a member/participant record. Open the record, and click the Sacraments tab.

If you're using a Catholic instance of MinistryPlatform, use the Add/Edit Sacrament Tool to add or edit a group of sacramental records at the same time. For example, you may be working with a group of Confirmation candidates who just finished their classes. Use the tool to quickly enter the common information once, then copy it to subsequent records.

All sacrament pages have a default view of "Completed in Last 12 Months" and "Completed in Last 30 Days". These show sacraments that —you guessed it— have a Date Received within the past 12 months or 30 days of the current date. Create additional views that help you view sacramental information in a way that works best for you. And, as always, you can move the columns around in Grid Layout to display information the way you want it (e.g. date first).

Some sacrament pages have a related chart as well. The chart changes based on the selected view, which means you can create other charts based on any sacramental information you want. Reach out to Support for assistance in making the Sacraments feature work best for you!

Tip: Want to learn about all aspects of managing sacraments? Check out the Sacramental Management webinar! How about certificates and tools? Check out the Sacramental Certificates and Tools webinar!