Prior to using Parish Data System software, Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Church was just using a database for printing envelopes and labels—all other parish data was being recorded by hand by Becky Brookman, the church secretary.
Church Innovations. Secretary for the past six years, Brookman was very familiar with the traditional ways of keeping track of church data, but began to think about innovating her record keeping methods when the church’s auditor suggested that she look into an accounting software program designed specifically for Catholic churches.
“At this point, I hadn’t had a great deal of experience with computer software, but the idea of computerizing all our church data intrigued me,” noted Brookman. She began talking with other local parishes and everyone she spoke with was using PDS Church Office and raved about it. “Everyone I talked with said that it was very user-friendly and that I would love it.”
The church approved Brookman’s request to first purchase a new computer, then order Church Office and have it installed. “I didn’t want to put a new program on an old computer—I wanted to start fresh,” she added.
Brookman ordered a tutorial from PDS and found this very helpful. She then implemented the program in January of 2004 to start the New Year off fresh entering all the church data into the new program on her new computer.
“PDS came out and installed Church Office and spent the morning showing me how to get around in the program. Mary was very good and patient and explained everything to me. I wasn’t afraid to try to program; after the setup, it looked very easy to use. That was basically all the training I received and it was enough,” Brookman stated.
Saved Time. Since installing the program, Brookman has found PDS to help save her time and energy. She now uses the program to record all church contributions, keep track of membership data, sacraments, and much more.
“Recording contributions is wonderful! It’s so convenient that envelopes don’t have to be sorted by number,” she adds. “I just have to enter the envelope number and amount—this saves me so much time. What use to take me nearly two hours on Monday now takes only 30 minutes using Church Office. It’s really been a time saver.” (use the bold sentence as a callout)
“Our pastor is really pleased with the way I can enter contributions,” Brookman notes. “The information is so easily accessible. It’s great to be able to pull information on one parishioner. Our pastor loves this feature and the time savings it has given me.”
Brookman is constantly amazed at the reports that Church Office can produce. “I print a summary from the contributions section of the program each week—this is great for audit purposes. Every name and contribution number and amount for each week is on the report—this is a great report that I print out from time to time when needed.”
Managing Families. Brookman loves having the ability to track information and events for each family. “It’s wonderful to have the ability to keep track of each family member, their birthdates, sacraments, godparents, and more. Once you enter the info into the system, it will stay. Overall the program is very easy to use and understand,” she adds. “The way that it’s designed is wonderful.”
She also enjoys being able to print out certificates for each sacrament using Church Office. “This saves us buying certificates to fill out because we can do it right from the computer.”
“For parishes ready to use a computer program, I would encourage parishes to look at all programs, but look at PDS last because this is what they’ll want,” Brookman exclaims. “It’s so easy-to-use and find your way around the screen. This is the most user-friendly program that will fill all your needs. I can’t imagine wanting more than what PDS offers as a church management program.”
She continues, “The best thing is that you don’t have to be a computer genius to use this program. As long as you have a general knowledge of computers, you can adapt to PDS. It doesn’t take a lot of instruction to begin using PDS, and it changes the way you will run your church office for the better.”
About Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Church
Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Church is located in Meadow Lands, Pennsylvania and is part of the Pittsburgh Diocese, which is comprised of 115 parishes. With a total enrollment of 575 families, Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal is currently led by pastor Fr. John L. O’Shea, and is growing in numbers daily.
Celebrating their 50th Anniversary in 1999, Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal is composed of many active parish organizations and one very active program where over 180 students attend. They also hold one mass each weekday and three masses are celebrated on the weekends.
Web Site: http://www.miraculousmedalchurch.org
