The Parish Secretary

What the Job Descriptions Say §

In the four parish job descriptions we read, the Mass intentions take one line of the list, or none. One parish in the Diocese of Sacramento puts “Receive and record Mass Intentions” under “Church Bulletin/Mass Needs,” between the weekend announcements and the bags for the Sunday collection.¹ A parish advertising on the Archdiocese of Cincinnati’s job board asks its assistant to schedule “Mass intentions for all four churches.”² The cathedral parish in Springfield, Illinois, lists “Schedules Mass intentions” seventh of ten duties.³ Two parishes in the Diocese of Saginaw, hiring one secretary between them, don’t mention them at all, and close with “other duties as assigned by the Pastor/Parochial Administrator.”⁴

Between them, the rest of the four lists cover the front office: greeting visitors, answering the phone and the mail, keeping the sacramental records and issuing certificates, preparing the bulletin, scheduling funerals and weddings, ordering supplies. Springfield opens its summary by calling the secretary “the face, voice, and presence of the parish” to everyone the secretary meets.³

All four ask for one quality by name. Sacramento wants the “ability to maintain strict confidentiality”; Cincinnati, “the ability to maintain confidentiality in all matters”; Springfield, a “high degree of confidentiality, good listening, and comprehension”; Saginaw, confidentiality and “high standards of honest and ethical behavior.”^{1 2 3 4}

None of the four says how the work is done. For that, the most detailed guide for the desk among the diocesan documents we read is the Diocese of St. Petersburg’s Best Practices for Parish Administrative Assistants (2021), subtitled “A Handbook for Clerical Staff and Office Volunteers.” Its chancellor describes it as “a compilation of ideas provided by parish staff members, as well as Pastoral Center employees.”⁵ Much of what follows is in its words.

The First Face of the Church §

The handbook’s list of office protocols includes a line of five words: “Be the face of Christ.” It goes on: “You are the first face of the Church many people will see.” Some visitors, it notes, “may have been away from the Church for a long time,” and come back to arrange a baptism, a wedding or a funeral.⁵

Pope Francis spoke about the same desk in a homily on 25 May 2013. L’Osservatore Romano’s report, which the Holy See’s site prints in Italian, gives his example of an engaged couple who come to a parish office wanting to marry and hear about money and paperwork instead of congratulations. Many times, he said, “siamo controllori della fede invece di diventare facilitatori della fede della gente”: we are controllers of the faith instead of becoming facilitators of people’s faith (morning meditation of 25 May 2013, our translation). The St. Petersburg handbook reprints an English account of that homily for its readers, under “Helpful Articles.”⁵

The office is also where a request is meant to land. The Diocese of Rockford’s 2017 guide for parishes notes that in some cultures people ask for a Mass in the narthex just before it begins, usually with an offering handed to the priest, and calls the best practice “educating the parishioners about the process of requesting a Mass through the parish office and having it scheduled for the desired date.”⁶

Taking the Request §

When a parishioner comes to the counter to ask for a Mass for her father, St. Petersburg’s handbook gives the secretary a short list for the Mass book and the Mass card: write in the name of the person the Mass is for and the name of the person asking, note whether an offering was given and how much, and fill in the date and the intention on the card before handing it to her. Then the date: “first check to see if they prefer a specific date. Then, check to verify whether the date is available. If not, look at other possible dates but do not change any Masses that are already reserved.” And one rule: “Changes should only be made by the secretary.”⁵

The law behind that list is short. Each offering given and accepted is owed a Mass of its own (canon 948), so a Mass already promised to someone else isn’t free to give. The book records the number of Masses, the intention, the offering given and, later, the Mass once said (canon 958).

On the offering, the desk can be plain. It’s customary to give one, and nothing obliges anyone to: “Priests are earnestly urged to celebrate Mass for the intention of the faithful, especially those in need, even when no offering has been received” (canon 945 §2, our translation). No priest may ask for more than the offering the bishops of the province have set, or, where they have set none, the diocese’s custom (canon 952), and Rockford’s guide says plainly that this binds the office too: “Priests or parish staff must never ask for an offering in excess of the customary amount,” and “No one asking for a Mass should be denied due to an inability to make an offering.”⁶

One line in the handbook needs checking against newer law. Written in 2021, it lets a pastor allow more than one request at the same Mass, with the consent of those involved. Since 20 April 2025 the Holy See’s decree on Mass intentions has governed one Mass offered for several people’s offerings, and it requires that every giver be told and freely agree; agreement is never presumed (decree of 13 April 2025, Art. 1). Ask your chancery what your province allows (the 2025 decree, article by article).

Whose Book It Is §

Canon law gives the Mass book to the pastor, and to the rector of any church or other place where offerings are usually received, and the Ordinary examines it every year, himself or through others (canon 958). The Code describes the pastor caring for his parish with the help of other priests and deacons and “with the assistance of lay members of the Christian faithful” (canon 519, the Holy See’s English). For the sacramental registers, the Code asks the pastor to see that they’re written accurately and kept carefully (canon 535).

In some places the work has moved. Buffalo’s audit office told its parishes in 2023 that Mass offerings “were once the responsibility of the Pastor to maintain the offerings received and to properly disburse. Over the last couple of decades, this responsibility was given to the bookkeepers and the business managers.”⁷ Sacramento’s job description gives the recording to the secretary. In the Code, the duty is still the pastor’s. In 2025 the Holy See told the Ordinaries to watch over these norms, “taking care that the number of Masses to be celebrated, the intentions, the offerings and the celebration once completed are accurately recorded in the register kept for the purpose” (decree, Art. 4 §1, our translation). So where the secretary writes the line, the pastor still answers for it (what each line of the book should hold).

Answering the Grieving §

Rockford’s guide notes that at times such as All Souls Day or a funeral, a parish “may receive many Mass intentions.”⁶ St. Petersburg’s handbook lists “Funeral Forms” first among the parish’s forms and books, and asks for compassion by name: “Be sensitive in time of need.”⁵

Its advice for a visitor who is upset is plain. “Speak calmly and avoid raising your voice. It is more calming to an upset visitor if you speak gently. Let them know you are sorry about their situation and will do your best to assist.” It asks for “patience and flexibility, particularly if a visitor needs you to listen even though you are working on a project,” and also to “know how to carefully draw a long conversation to a close.” It recommends keeping tissues at the desk, and a list of referrals, “including mental health counselors,” to give to anyone who might need help. An article it reprints, by Gayle Hilligoss, puts the limit in one sentence: the secretary “must be caring without taking on the role of a counselor.”⁵

One call goes ahead of everything else. “Calls requesting the Anointing of the Sick are the most important calls which require immediate attention. Your job is to let the priest know what has been requested.”⁵

What Stays in the Office §

“People may trust us with very personal information,” the handbook says, and asks the office to “Treat all papers, folders and forms as confidential material.”⁵ The Code puts the same care among the rights of every member of the faithful: no one may unlawfully harm the good name a person enjoys, nor violate any person’s right to protect their own privacy (canon 220, our translation). It also asks the pastor to see that the parish’s registers and documents don’t come into the hands of outsiders (canon 535 §4).

A request for a Mass can carry more than a name: “for my sister, who has cancer.” The Diocese of Lansing addressed its 2015 memo on prayer lists to “Pastors, Business Managers, and Parish Secretaries.” It asks the office to get consent before a name is read at Mass or printed, to “Keep the prayer request general, especially regarding personal health,” and never to put a prayer list on a website “unless it is behind a login screen for church members only.”⁸ The priest still needs the intention in full; the bulletin doesn’t (names in the bulletin).

Keeping the Priest’s Promise §

Once the office says yes, the parish has given its word. The 2025 decree puts first among the reasons for the Church’s rules on Mass offerings “la giustizia verso gli offerenti, e cioè il mantenimento della parola data agli offerenti”, justice toward the offerers, that is, keeping the word given to them (decree of 13 April 2025, preamble, our translation). Even if the offering is lost, through no fault of the priest’s, the Mass is still owed (canon 949).

St. Petersburg asks that when the names of those for whom Masses are offered are listed for the Prayers of the Faithful, they be spelled “phonetically, if needed, so that they can be more easily pronounced by the deacon or reader.”⁵ A name remembered in those prayers is not the same as a Mass offered for someone. Rockford’s guide says that such “mentions” are “not Mass intentions,”⁶ and the 2025 decree tells bishops and pastors to make plain to everyone the difference between a Mass applied for someone and a simple remembrance, and calls asking for, or even accepting, an offering for a remembrance of that kind gravely illicit (decree, Art. 4 §§2 to 3).

Where to Begin in Your Own Office §

Start with your diocese’s own rules on Mass offerings: ask the chancery for its policy. Rockford’s guide, quoted above and written before the 2025 decree, shows what such a policy covers, from the receipt for cash to what to do when more Masses are asked for than a year can hold (how a parish office keeps Mass intentions).

Then write your own office’s way down. St. Petersburg’s handbook recommends keeping a “Parish Office Procedures Book,” and if the office doesn’t have one, “it would be wise to develop one, in conjunction with the pastor and other staff members.” When volunteers cover the desk, it asks that their training include Mass requests: “Proper handling of Mass stipends and requests is important.”⁵ Our suggestion: put the Mass book’s steps in it first, agreed with your pastor, so that whoever answers the phone takes a request the same way.