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RC Church — User Guide

Everything you need to know about using the RC Church Parish Management System — roles, responsibilities, account creation, and login instructions.

📋 System Overview

RC Church is a multi-tenant Catholic Parish Management System. Each parish (church) operates under its own subdomain and has an isolated database scope — data from one parish is never visible to another.

How URLs work

localhost:3000Marketing landing page

localhost:3000/s/st-marysPublic parish site for the "st-marys" parish

localhost:3000/s/st-marys/loginParish staff login page

localhost:3000/s/st-marys/dashboardParish management dashboard (auth-guarded)

localhost:3001Super Admin Studio — platform management

🛡️

Super Admin

Platform-level management, creates and manages parishes

⛪

Parish Admin

Full dashboard access for their assigned parish

✝️

Priest

Mass schedules, intentions, and sacramental records

💰

Finance Officer

Offertory, tithes, donations, and expense tracking

📋

Secretary

Member directory and sacrament register entry

🛡️

Super Admin

Platform-wide access

The Super Admin has full control over the entire platform. This role manages parishes, assigns staff to parishes, and oversees all system-level settings. Super Admins do not belong to any individual parish.

Responsibilities

✓Create, edit, and deactivate Parish (Church) records
✓Assign subdomain identifiers to each parish (e.g. st-marys, holy-cross)
✓Create accounts for Parish Admins and assign them to their church
✓Manage Diocese and Country metadata for each parish
✓Monitor the platform via the Admin Studio (list all churches, users, etc.)
✓Access all data across all parishes from a single interface
✓Manage blog posts on the main RC Church marketing website

Login Details

🔗

http://localhost:3001

Admin Studio — full platform management interface

Default credentials (seeded):
Email: admin@example.com | Password: password
Change this immediately in production.

How to Create a Super Admin Account

Navigate to Users in the left sidebar and click New User.

Fill in First Name, Last Name, Email, and Password. Set the Role to ADMIN. Leave Church empty — Super Admins are not tied to a parish.

Click Save. The new admin can now log in at localhost:3001.

How to Create a Parish (Church)

In Admin Studio, navigate to Churches → New Church.

Fill in the parish Name, Subdomain (lowercase, hyphens only — e.g. st-marys-kampala), Diocese, and Country.

Set Status to ACTIVE so the parish can be accessed.

Optionally add phone, email, address, logo URL, patron saint, and description — these appear on the public parish page.

Click Save. The parish is now live at localhost:3000/s/st-marys-kampala.

⛪

Parish Admin

PARISH_ADMIN role

The Parish Admin has full access to their assigned parish dashboard. They act as the overall manager of the parish within the system — overseeing all staff, data, and settings for their specific church.

Responsibilities

✓Full access to all dashboard sections for their parish
✓Manage all staff users (create Finance Officer, Secretary, Priest accounts via the API or Admin Studio)
✓View and export parish reports (finance, members, sacraments)
✓Configure parish settings — name, logo, description, contact info
✓Oversee mass schedules, intentions, and liturgical calendar
✓Review and approve financial records
✓Send bulk SMS announcements to all or selected parishioners
✓Manage organizations, catechism classes, and events

Login Details

🔗

http://localhost:3000/s/{subdomain}/login

Replace {subdomain} with your parish subdomain, e.g. /s/st-marys/login

How to Create a Parish Admin Account

A Super Admin logs in to Admin Studio at localhost:3001.

Navigate to Users → New User.

Fill in the user's name, email, and a temporary password.

Set Role to PARISH_ADMIN.

In the Church field, search and select the parish this admin manages.

Click Save. The Parish Admin can now log in at their parish login URL.

First-Time Setup Checklist

✓Log in and visit Settings to update your parish logo, description, and contact details
✓Add your Mass Schedule under Mass & Liturgy → Mass Schedules
✓Import or create your first Members
✓Create Sub-Parishes, Zones, and Christian Communities as needed
✓Set up Catechism Classes and Organizations

✝️

Priest

PRIEST role

The Priest role is focused on liturgical and sacramental management within the parish. Priests manage mass times, record sacraments, and track mass intentions.

Responsibilities

✓Create and manage the weekly Mass Schedule (day, time, language, location, celebrant)
✓Record and manage Mass Intentions — mark intentions as Offered or Pending
✓Enter sacramental records: Baptisms, Holy Communions, Confirmations, Marriages, Holy Orders, Anointing of the Sick
✓View the full list of members and their sacramental history
✓Add notes to cemetery records for burials they officiate
✓View upcoming events and parish calendar

Login Details

🔗

http://localhost:3000/s/{subdomain}/login

Same login page as all parish staff. Credentials are created by the Parish Admin.

How to Create a Priest Account

A Parish Admin or Super Admin goes to Admin Studio → Users → New User.

Fill in the priest's name, email, and a temporary password.

Set Role to PRIEST.

Assign the Church to their parish.

Click Save. Share the login URL and credentials with the priest.

Key Workflows

Adding a Mass Intention

Go to Mass & Liturgy → Mass Intentions → New Intention.

Enter the intention (e.g. "For the repose of the soul of John Doe"), the requester's name, offering amount, and the intended mass date.

Once the mass is celebrated, open the intention and click Mark as Offered.

Recording a Baptism

Go to Sacraments → Baptisms → New Baptism.

Search and select the member (if already in the directory) or enter the candidate's name.

Fill in date, godparents, officiating priest, and any notes. Save the record.

💰

Finance Officer

FINANCE_OFFICER role

The Finance Officer handles all financial data entry and reporting for the parish. They record income (offertory, tithes, envelope contributions, donations) and expenditures (expenses).

Responsibilities

✓Record weekly Offertory Collections (date, amount, mass, collector)
✓Enter Tithe contributions from individual members
✓Log Envelope Contributions against envelope numbers
✓Record Donations with donor details and purpose
✓Enter Expenses (vendor, category, amount, description)
✓View the Finance Overview dashboard for income vs. expense summaries
✓Review the Reports page for month-to-date and year-to-date financial breakdowns

Login Details

🔗

http://localhost:3000/s/{subdomain}/login

Same parish login page. Account created by Parish Admin.

How to Create a Finance Officer Account

Super Admin or Parish Admin opens Admin Studio → Users → New User.

Enter name, email, and temporary password.

Set Role to FINANCE_OFFICER.

Assign the correct Church.

Save and share the login URL with the Finance Officer.

Recording Sunday Offertory

Go to Finance → Offertory → New Entry.

Select the collection date (usually a Sunday), the mass reference, and enter the total amount collected.

Add the name of the collector and any notes. Click Save.

The amount is automatically included in the monthly and yearly finance reports.

📝

Secretary

SECRETARY role

The Secretary manages the parish member directory and assists with administrative records. They are the primary data entry person for new parishioners, organizational membership, and cemetery records.

Responsibilities

✓Add new members to the parish directory (name, DOB, gender, contact, address, sub-parish, zone, Christian community)
✓Update member profiles and status (active/inactive/deceased)
✓Manage Sub-Parishes, Zones, and Christian Community records
✓Enter and maintain catechism class rosters and student records
✓Create and manage Organizations (choirs, guilds, societies) and their membership
✓Record Events — parish activities, fundraisers, retreats, meetings
✓Enter Cemetery Records for burials — plot number, section, next of kin
✓Draft and send SMS Announcements to all or selected parishioner groups

Login Details

🔗

http://localhost:3000/s/{subdomain}/login

Same parish login page. Account created by Parish Admin.

How to Create a Secretary Account

Super Admin or Parish Admin opens Admin Studio → Users → New User.

Enter name, email, and temporary password.

Set Role to SECRETARY.

Assign the correct Church.

Save and share the dashboard login URL.

Adding a New Member

Go to Members → New Member.

Fill in the member's personal details — first name, last name, date of birth, gender, and phone number.

Optionally assign them to a Sub-Parish, Zone, and Christian Community.

Set their Status to ACTIVE and click Save.

The member now appears in the parish directory and is available when recording sacraments, tithes, and other records.

🚀 Quick-Start Checklist

Follow this order when setting up RC Church for a new parish for the first time.

Super Admin

Go to Churches → New Church. Create the parish with its subdomain (e.g. st-marys).

Super Admin

Go to Users → New User. Create the Parish Admin account with role PARISH_ADMIN and assign the church.

Parish Admin

Create staff accounts (Priest, Finance Officer, Secretary) via Admin Studio — or ask the Super Admin to do it.

Secretary

Create Sub-Parishes, Zones, and Christian Communities under the appropriate sidebar sections.

Priest

Go to Mass & Liturgy → Mass Schedules → New Schedule. Add all regular weekly masses.

Finance Officer

Go to Finance → Offertory → New Entry and record this week's collection.

Parish Admin

Visit the Reports page to confirm data is appearing correctly. Check the public site at localhost:3000/s/st-marys.

Need help? Contact your system administrator or visit the RC Church homepage.