How Vigil Works

Creating an Account

Visit the registration page and enter your first name, last name, email, and password. You will receive a confirmation email. Click the link in the email to verify your account and you will be redirected to the parish setup wizard. Registration includes bot protection so please allow a few seconds before submitting.

Setting Up Your Parish

After registration, you will walk through a five-step setup wizard:

1. Details -- Enter your parish name, jurisdiction, calendar preference (Old or New), priest name, and contact information.
2. Template -- Configure your catechumen journey template with milestones, custom sections (text/checklist/log), and curriculum. You can skip this and configure it later.
3. Import -- Upload a CSV file of your existing members with auto-column-mapping and auto-family-linking. The template must be set first if you plan to import catechumens.
4. Team -- Invite other administrators or council members by email. Each receives a welcome email with login instructions.
5. Done -- Review your setup and enter the dashboard. Use "Invite All" to send emails to all imported members.

Mission -- $99/month

Designed for small parishes and mission communities. Up to 100 members, 1 admin seat. Includes:

• Member directory with photos, custom fields, and family linking
• Liturgical calendar with Old/New Calendar support
• Daily Scripture readings (28 translations)
• QR code onboarding
• Online donations via Stripe Connect
• Ministry groups with auto-created group chats
• Prayer requests
• Announcements
• Events with RSVPs and volunteer coordination
• Service scheduling with volunteer sign-up
• General parish chat and direct messages

Parish -- $299/month

Everything in Mission, plus advanced parish administration. Up to 300 members, 3 admin seats. Adds:

• Custom group chats (create ad-hoc chat groups)
• Service journal with custom sections and CSV export
• Annual diocese report with charts and statistics
• Sacramental records (baptisms, weddings, funerals)
• Catechumen management with stages and milestones
• Parish council tools (meetings, agendas, action items, minutes archive)
• CSV import and export for the directory

Parish Plus -- $399/month

Everything in Parish, plus financial and communication tools. Up to 600 members, 5 admin seats. Adds:

• Stewardship module (pledges, payments, fund tracking)
• Giving and contributions (batch entry, quick entry, statements)
• Finance dashboard (transactions, budgets, bank import via OFX/CSV)
• Appointment scheduling with Google Calendar integration
• Communications with rich text editor and draft saving
• Weekly auto-generated newsletter
• Custom volunteer roles
• Bookstore inventory and sales tracking
• Role-based email blasts

Unlimited -- $599/month

Everything in Parish Plus with no limits. Adds:

• Unlimited members
• Unlimited admin seats
• IAM: granular role permissions with custom role templates
• All current and future features included

Upgrading & Downgrading

Go to Settings > Billing to change your plan at any time. Upgrades take effect immediately with prorated billing for the remainder of the cycle. You can manage your payment method and view invoices through the Stripe Customer Portal, accessible from the Billing page via "Manage Billing."

Adding Members

From the Directory page, click "Add Member" to create a new entry. Enter the member's name, email, phone number, address, date of birth, baptismal name, membership date, and any other details. Clergy can have a title prefix (Fr., Dcn., etc.) that displays throughout the app. New members are added with a status of Inactive until they are invited and accept their invitation.

Importing via CSV

You can bulk-import members during setup or from the Directory page. Prepare a CSV file with columns like:

Only first_name and last_name are required. All other columns are optional. The importer auto-maps column names and auto-links families by matching last names and addresses. Available on Parish tier and above.

Exporting via CSV

Export your full member directory as a CSV file from the Directory page. The export includes all member fields. Available on Parish tier and above.

Member Statuses

Members can have the following statuses:

• Active -- The member has signed in and has full access to the parish dashboard.
• Inactive -- The member exists in the directory but has not been invited or has not yet created an account.
• Catechumen -- A catechumen under the guidance of the parish priest. Tracked separately in the catechumen pipeline.
• Inquirer -- Someone exploring Orthodoxy. Shown in the directory with an amber badge and in a dedicated filter tab.
• Moved Away -- Former parishioner who has relocated.
• Stopped Attending -- Member who is no longer actively attending.
• Departed -- Deceased member.

Member Photos

Members can upload their own profile photo from their directory profile page. Hover over the avatar and click the camera icon to upload. Admins can upload photos for any member. Photos appear in the directory list and on the member's profile page.

Custom Fields

Admins can define custom fields that appear on every member's profile. This lets you track parish-specific data like patron saint, name day, or any other information relevant to your community. Custom field values are visible to admins only.

Family Linking

Link members into family groups using the family_id field. Families are displayed together in the directory. The CSV importer auto-links families by matching last names and addresses. You can also link or unlink family members manually from any member's profile page.

Inviting Members

To invite a single member, open their profile and click "Send Invite." The member will receive an email with a link to create their account. To invite all uninvited members at once, use the "Invite All" button on the Directory page. This sends invitations to every member with an email address who has not yet been invited.

Overview

The IAM (Identity and Access Management) system lets you create custom roles with granular permissions and assign them to parishioners. This allows you to delegate specific responsibilities without granting full admin access. For example, you can create a "Treasurer" role with only stewardship and finance permissions, or a "Communications Lead" role with only communications permissions.

Role Templates

Create role templates from Settings > Roles. Each template has a name and a set of permission checkboxes. Templates define what features a user with that role can access. You can create as many role templates as needed and edit them at any time.

Assigning Roles

Assign roles to members from Settings > People. Search for a member and select the role template to assign. Role assignments use the member's auth user ID, so the member must have an active account. Admins always have full access regardless of IAM roles. Parishioners with IAM roles see the corresponding pages in their sidebar.

Catechumen Template

The catechumen template defines the structure of every catechumen's journey. Set it up during parish setup or from the Catechumens page. You can define milestones (major steps like "First Confession" or "Baptism"), custom sections for tracking progress, and curriculum items. Each new catechumen automatically inherits the current template.

Section Types

Each section in the catechumen template can be one of three types:

• Text -- A free-form text area for notes, reflections, or instructions.
• Checklist -- A list of items that can be individually checked off as completed (for example, assigned readings or classes attended).
• Log -- A dated entry log for recording meetings, conversations, or pastoral notes over time.

Section Visibility

Each section has a visibility setting that controls who can see it:

• Priest Only -- Visible only to clergy and admins. Use this for pastoral notes and private observations.
• Shared -- Visible to clergy, admins, and the catechumen (read-only for the catechumen).
• Catechumen Editable -- Visible to all parties, and the catechumen can edit the content. Useful for journals, reflections, or question lists.

My Journey Page

Catechumens who sign in to Vigil see a "My Journey" page in their sidebar. This page shows their current stage, completed and upcoming milestones, and any sections marked as Shared or Catechumen Editable. They do not see Priest Only sections. This gives catechumens a clear view of their progress without exposing private pastoral notes. My Journey is gated behind the catechumens feature and does not appear on the Mission tier.

How It Works

Vigil generates a unique QR code for your parish that links to a unified onboarding page. Print it and place it in your narthex, fellowship hall, or on printed materials. When someone scans the code with their phone, they choose their path and provide contact information. No login is required.

Three Paths

After scanning, visitors choose one of three paths:

• I am a current member -- Creates a join request. If their email matches an existing directory entry, they are auto-approved and can set up their account immediately. Otherwise, the request goes to the priest for approval.
• I am interested in Orthodoxy -- Creates an inquirer submission. Admins are notified by email (with the parish name in the subject line) and can follow up from the Inquirers page.
• I am a catechumen -- Creates a pending join request with catechumen metadata. When the priest approves, a member record and catechumen record are automatically created, and an invite email is sent.

How Join Requests Work

When someone uses the QR code or the join link to request access, a join request is created. If their email matches an existing member in the directory, the request is auto-approved and they can log in immediately. Otherwise, the request appears in Settings > Join Requests for the priest or admin to review. Catechumen join requests are clearly marked with a badge.

General Chat

Every parish has a General chat channel that all active members are auto-joined to. This is the main community communication channel, available on all plans. Messages are delivered in real time via Supabase Realtime. An unread badge appears on the Messages sidebar item when new messages arrive.

Group Chats

When you create a ministry group, Vigil automatically creates a group chat for its members. Group members are added to the chat automatically when they join the group and removed when they leave. These chats appear in the Messages section alongside General.

Custom Group Chats

On Parish tier and above, you can create custom group chats by clicking "New Chat" in Messages. Search for members and add them as pills, give the group an optional name, and start chatting. Group chat names can be changed at any time by clicking the name in the chat header.

Direct Messages

Direct messaging is available on all plans. Members can start a private one-on-one conversation with any other active member from the Messages page. Direct messages are visible only to the two participants.

Chat Settings

The parish-wide General channel can be disabled from Settings > Messaging if your parish prefers not to use it. When disabled, General does not appear in the conversation list for any member.

Compose Email

The Compose tab provides a full rich text editor powered by TipTap. Format text with bold, italic, underline, headings, lists, blockquotes, links, images, alignment, and dividers. Upload images inline -- they are stored permanently and render in the email. Save drafts to return to later. All emails are sent via BCC for member privacy, with inline styles applied for compatibility across email clients.

Recipient Modes

Choose who receives your email:

• All Members -- Send to every active member with an email address.
• By Group -- Send to all members of a specific ministry group (includes group leaders).
• By Role -- Send to all clergy, council members, or members with a specific IAM role.
• Custom -- Pick individual recipients from the directory.

Liturgical Calendar

The calendar displays the full Orthodox liturgical year, including feast days, fasting periods, and saints' commemorations. Your parish's calendar preference (Old Calendar or New Calendar) is set during setup and can be changed in Settings. Click any day to see details, readings, and any scheduled services. On mobile, feast days show as dots with single-letter day headers for compact display.

Daily Readings

Vigil provides the daily Epistle and Gospel readings in 28 translations, including English, Greek, Church Slavonic, Arabic, Romanian, Serbian, and Georgian. Set a default translation from your personal settings and it will be remembered across sessions. Reading data comes from the orthocal.info API with text from multiple Bible translation sources.

Creating Services

From the Scheduling page, click "Add Service" to create a new entry. Set the service type, date, time, celebrant, and location. Select volunteer positions needed using checkboxes -- each creates an open slot. You can set a quantity per role to create multiple slots (for example, 3 Altar Servers). 15 built-in roles are available plus any custom roles your parish defines.

Assigning Volunteers

Open slots appear as gold dashed cards with an inline member search. Admins can search and click a name to fill the slot directly. Use "Add Another Role" to create additional slots after the service is saved. Removing a volunteer deletes the slot entirely. Volunteer roles merge (not overwrite) when re-signing up, preserving existing assignments.

Custom Volunteer Roles

On Parish Plus tier and above, you can define custom volunteer roles beyond the 15 built-in ones (Reader, Chanter, Altar Server, Subdeacon, Epistle Reader, Prosphora Baker, Choir Director, Candle Stand, Greeter, Usher, Nursery, Sunday School, Coffee Hour, Cleanup, Trapeza). Custom roles appear in all dropdowns and service checkboxes alongside the built-in ones.

Parishioner Self-Signup

Parishioners can see open volunteer slots on the scheduling page and click "Sign Up" to assign themselves. If they need to back out, "Can't Serve" reverts the slot to open without deleting it, so another parishioner or admin can fill it later.

Notifications & Confirmation

When an admin assigns a volunteer, they receive an email notification with the service details and a one-click "Confirm My Assignment" link. Volunteers can confirm directly from the email without logging in, or from the scheduling page, or from the dashboard. Their confirmation status is visible to admins on the service detail.

Creating Events

Admins and council members can create events from the Events page. Enter the event name, date, time, location, and description. Events appear on the calendar and on the dashboard for all members. Events can be pushed to Google Calendar if connected.

RSVPs

Members can respond to events with Going, Maybe, or Can't Go. The event detail page shows a real-time count of responses and the full list of who has responded with each status. Members can change their RSVP at any time before the event.

Request Types

Prayer requests are categorized by type: Health, Repose, Travelers, Thanksgiving, and General. Each type is displayed with its own indicator so the community can pray appropriately. Any active member can submit a prayer request.

Auto-Archive

Prayer requests are automatically archived after 40 days, following the traditional Orthodox commemoration period. This keeps the active prayer list current without requiring manual cleanup.

Creating Announcements

Admins and council members can create announcements that appear on every member's dashboard. Enter a title and body text. Announcements are displayed in reverse chronological order, with the newest at the top.

Creating Groups

Create ministry groups from the Groups page. Enter a name and description, then add members. Groups can represent any parish ministry or committee: choir, altar servers, youth group, building committee, etc.

Group Leaders

Group leaders can manage their own group members (add and remove) without needing admin access. Leaders are included in group email blasts alongside group members. This lets ministry leaders manage their teams independently.

Stripe Connect Setup

Vigil uses Stripe Connect so donations go directly to your parish's bank account. Go to Settings > Donation Setup and click "Connect Stripe Account." You will be guided through Stripe's Express account onboarding to verify your parish's identity and bank details. Once connected, your donation page is automatically activated. You can view your Stripe dashboard directly from the Donation Setup page.

Parish Donation Page

Each parish gets a public donation page at vigilpms.com/donate/your-slug that anyone can access without a Vigil account. Donors select an amount, choose a fund category, and complete payment through Stripe Checkout. Receipts are sent automatically via email.

Recurring Donations

Donors can set up recurring donations with five frequency options: one-time, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annual. Recurring donations are processed automatically by Stripe. Members can view and cancel their own recurring donations from the Stewardship page.

Cover the Fees

A "Cover the processing fees" checkbox (enabled by default) lets donors absorb the Stripe processing fee so the parish receives the full intended amount. The adjusted amount is calculated automatically.

Pledges & Payments

Track annual stewardship pledges for each member. Record payments against pledges and view fulfillment progress with percentage tracking. Members can see their own pledge status from the dashboard. Admins can view a summary of all pledges and payment progress across the parish. Pledges are matched by email for reliable linking.

Fund Tracking

The Funds tab shows totals by fund category with recent donation activity. Online donations are automatically recorded and attributed to the correct fund based on the donor's selection at checkout.

Contribution Batches

Record manual giving (cash, check) in dated batches that correspond to weekly deposits. Each batch has a date and contains individual contribution entries linked to members and fund categories. Batches can be locked once verified to prevent further changes.

Quick Entry Mode

A spreadsheet-like quick entry mode lets you rapidly enter multiple contributions in a single view. Select the member, fund, amount, and payment method for each row. This is designed for entering a stack of Sunday envelopes quickly.

Anonymous Giving

Contributions can be recorded without linking to a specific member for anonymous or unattributed giving. These contributions are included in fund totals and batch totals but do not appear on any member's contribution history or statement.

Fund Categories

Define custom fund categories from the giving interface (General Fund, Building Fund, Missions, Charity, etc.). Fund categories are used across contributions, donations, and stewardship tracking. They can be edited at any time.

Transactions

Record income and expense transactions manually or import them from your bank. Each transaction has a date, description, amount, and category. Transactions can be categorized as income or expense using the categories you define. View all transactions in a sortable, filterable list.

Bank Import (OFX/CSV)

Import bank transactions from OFX or CSV files exported from your bank. The importer parses the file and lets you review transactions before importing. Duplicate detection prevents the same transaction from being imported twice. You can selectively import individual transactions rather than importing the entire file.

Budgets

Create annual budgets with per-category budget amounts. Each budget item supports a monthly breakdown (January through December) for detailed financial planning. View the budget in an annual summary or month-by-month view. Compare actual income and expenses against budgeted amounts.

Logging Services

After each service, record the details: service type, attendance, number of communions, confessions heard, offerings collected, clergy who served, readings, and any notes. This creates a permanent record of your parish's liturgical life for diocese reporting. You can pre-fill a journal entry from a scheduled service using the "Log to Journal" button. Export all journal entries as CSV.

Custom Sections

Add custom sections to individual journal entries for additional notes, special observations, or supplementary information beyond the standard fields.

Baptisms

Record baptisms with the date, officiating priest, sponsor (godparent), baptismal name, and any additional notes. Baptism records are linked to the member's profile for easy reference.

Weddings

Record weddings with the date, officiating priest, sponsor (koumbaro/koumbara), and the names of both spouses. Wedding records include all fields required for standard diocese reporting. Records are displayed with expandable detail rows.

Appointment Types

Define the types of appointments your parish offers from the Appointments Setup page. Examples: Confession, Pastoral Counseling, New Member Meeting, Wedding Preparation. Each type can have a designated host, duration, and an optional setting to notify the host by email when someone books.

Availability Windows

Set recurring availability windows by day of the week and time range. For example, "Tuesdays 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM" or "Thursdays 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM." Availability windows determine which time slots are shown to parishioners when they book.

Booking Flow

Parishioners visit the Appointments page, select an appointment type, choose a day, and pick an available time slot. The app checks the host's Google Calendar in real time to remove busy slots, showing only genuinely open times. Past time slots for today are automatically filtered out. Parishioners can cancel their own appointments. Admins see a dashboard view of all upcoming bookings.

Meetings & Agendas

Create council meetings with a date, time, and location. Build structured agendas with individual agenda items, each with a title, description, and presenter. Dropdowns for presenter and action item assignees filter to council members only. Meetings can be expanded to view full details and can be deleted with confirmation.

Action Items

Track action items arising from council meetings. Each action item has a description, assignee (from council members), and status. Action items persist across meetings so the council can track open items over time.

Products & Inventory

Manage your parish bookstore inventory with a product catalog. Each product has a name, description, category, price, stock quantity, and optional image. Add new products with the "Add Product" form. Track stock levels to know when items need reordering.

Quick Sale

Record a sale quickly by selecting a product, quantity, and payment method. Stock levels are automatically decremented when a sale is recorded. This is designed for quick after-Liturgy bookstore transactions.

Submissions & Follow-Up

When someone submits the "Interested in Orthodoxy" form via QR code, an inquirer submission is created. Admins receive an email notification with the parish name in the subject line. From the Inquirers page, you can manage submissions through three stages: New, Contacted, and Catechumen. The QR code generator is accessible from this page for quick printing.

Personal Settings

Update your email notification preferences, privacy settings, default Bible translation, and calendar preferences. You can choose whether your contact information is visible to other members. Toggle individual notifications including weekly parish newsletter, service assignment alerts, and feast day reminders. Parishioners edit their profile from the "My Profile" link in the sidebar.

Parish Settings

Admins can update the parish name, jurisdiction, calendar preference (Old/New Calendar), contact email, phone, physical address, and the messaging toggle (enable/disable the parish-wide General chat). These details appear on the donation page and in member communications.

Accounts Management

From Settings > Accounts, admins can view all users with login access, add new team members (with autofill from the directory), and remove login access. Admin seats are limited by your plan tier. A warning appears when approaching the admin limit. Removing a user revokes their ability to log in but does not delete their member record from the directory.

Billing & Plan Management

View your current plan, usage statistics, and billing information in Settings > Billing. Select or change your plan, which opens Stripe Checkout for payment. Use "Manage Billing" to access the Stripe Customer Portal for updating your payment method and viewing invoices. All billing is handled securely through Stripe. To cancel, contact dan@vigilpms.com.

Account Deletion

Any user can delete their own account from Settings > Danger Zone. Type "DELETE" to confirm. This permanently removes your member record and your authentication account. This action cannot be undone.