One Parishioner. One Record.

I recently had a call with a parish priest to discuss CaDRIS, sacramental tracking, and my personal goal of one day connecting with all 70 million Catholics in the United States. During our conversation, I mentioned how surprised I am by the way commercially available solutions often treat sacramental tracking as an afterthought.

“How so?” he asked.

From my experience reviewing the processes dioceses and parishes use to track a parishioner’s sacramental journey—aside from maintaining the written records required by Canon Law—I’ve been struck by the sheer complexity involved.

First, there’s no ironclad mechanism to ensure a single source of truth for a parishioner. This means there’s no guarantee that another parish’s CRM doesn’t contain duplicate entries for the same individual.

Second, in many cases, entering the details of a single sacrament involves as many as 14 steps. You lost me at step three. And no, that’s not a joke. To make matters worse, the manual for sacramental tracking in some parish management systems is ten pages long—and even then, it’s incomplete, according to the instructions.

Third, inter-parish movement or identifying individuals across parishes is cumbersome at best and headache-inducing at worst. If a parishioner moves from one diocese to another? Well, that’s practically impossible to track.

I could have gone on, but the bottom line is this: when a technology provider prioritizes payment processing over nurturing the presence of Christ in our lives, this is the result.

By design, CaDRIS is a powerful tool that allows dioceses and parishes to maintain accurate, up-to-date records of sacramental participation. These records are not just important for administrative purposes—they serve as a bridge to reconnect individuals and families with the life of the Church.

The mission of uniting 70 million Catholics is no small task. But through strategic sacramental tracking, we can ensure that the Church remains a vibrant and united community. Every sacrament, every record, and every piece of information about a Catholic’s journey helps build a stronger, more connected faith community.

Blessings.

PMO.

P.S. In case you’re wondering, our training manual is refreshingly simple: Start by selecting “Add Parishioner” and filling out the form. Adding their sacraments is just as easy.