Families and young servers
Parish ministry is a family activity as often as an individual one. Two children serve at the altar while a parent ushers; a family wants to be at the same Mass rather than making two trips; a young server's schedule needs to reach a parent, not only the young person. Sacramentum treats all of that as part of the scheduling problem rather than something the parish has to remember by hand.
The Family section
If your parish has your household linked, Serve shows a Family section listing everyone in your household who serves, grouped by person, with each of their upcoming assignments.
If nobody in your family has upcoming assignments, it says so. If you do not see the section at all, ask the parish office to check that your household record includes the people you expect.
Family scheduling policy
Your parish can set a scheduling policy for your household so that the scheduler handles you as a family. The policy is set by the parish office, not by you — but it is worth knowing what the options mean so you can ask for the one that fits your life.
| Policy | What the scheduler does |
|---|---|
| No preference | Members are scheduled independently. |
| Prefer the same service | Tries to put you at the same Mass. |
| Require the same service | Only schedules you together. |
| Prefer different services | Tries to spread you across services. |
| Require different services | Never schedules you at the same service. |
The policy can apply across the whole weekend — so a Saturday vigil and the next morning count as one occasion — or only within the same service.
Two more settings your parish can use:
- A weekend cap for the household — the most services your family serves in one weekend, however it is spread among you.
- Keep an adult free — blocks scheduling that would leave young children in your family unattended during a service. The parish sets how many adults must stay free and the age below which a child counts.
If your family would rather serve at one Mass together, ask the parish office for Prefer the same service rather than Require. A hard requirement that cannot be satisfied simply removes the whole family from consideration; a preference gets you what you want most weeks and keeps you schedulable the rest.
Paired volunteers
Your parish can also record a rule about two specific people — a parent who accompanies a young server, two siblings who serve together, or two people who should not be scheduled together. These take precedence over the family's general policy. Ask the parish office if you need one.
Guardians and young volunteers
When a young person serves in a ministry, the parish links one or more guardians to them. Guardians are set up by the parish office on the young person's record and confirmed before they take effect.
A confirmed guardian can:
- See the young person's assignments in Family.
- Enter and remove availability on their behalf. Switch with Availability for at the top of the Availability page, and entries you add are labelled Added by guardian.
- Claim open positions for them. Switch with Open positions for.
- Answer replacement invitations on their behalf. The invitation page says You are responding for someone in your care.
- Answer trade offers on their behalf.
Each guardian link also carries how notices are routed:
| Routing | Who receives scheduling notices |
|---|---|
| Notify the guardian only | Only the parent or guardian. |
| Notify both | The guardian and the young person. |
| Notify the young person only | Only the young person. |
One guardian can be marked the Primary contact — the person the parish reaches first.
Guardian links are created and confirmed by the parish, not claimed. A proposed link does nothing at all until the parish confirms it. If you should be able to act for your child and cannot, contact the parish office rather than creating a second account.
Ministries involving minors
A ministry marked as involving minors carries extra protections that a parish cannot switch off casually:
- Required credentials are enforced. Adults serving in these ministries must hold a current Safe Environment certification — or whatever your diocese requires — and Sacramentum will not schedule anyone whose certificate has expired or been revoked. This applies everywhere: a leader cannot assign them, they cannot claim a position, and they cannot accept a replacement invitation.
- Communications are routed to guardians according to each young person's guardian links.
- Availability and sign-ups can be handled by a guardian, so a young person does not need to manage their own scheduling.
If you are an adult in one of these ministries, keep your certification current. Sacramentum emails you before it expires; renew it through your parish or diocese and make sure the parish office records the new certificate. An expired certificate removes you from the schedule silently.
Serving records and achievements
If your children serve at the altar, their assignments feed the parish's serving records and achievements — the same records the sacristy kiosk uses when they check in before Mass. Their serving history follows them, so a family that moves between parish records, or whose duplicate records are merged, does not lose years of service.
Troubleshooting
I cannot see my child's schedule
You are not yet recorded as their confirmed guardian. Contact the parish office to have the guardian link created and confirmed.
The Family section does not appear
Your parish has not linked you to a household with other people who serve. Ask the parish office to check your household record. See Households for what the parish maintains there.
My family keeps getting scheduled at different Masses
Your household policy is probably set to No preference. Ask the parish office to set Prefer the same service.
My family is never scheduled at all
A Require the same service policy that cannot be satisfied will do this — for example, if family members serve in ministries that never staff the same Mass. Ask the parish office to change it to Prefer.
My child got the email instead of me
The guardian link's routing is set to notify the young person. Ask the parish office to change it to Notify the guardian only or Notify both.
What's next
- Your availability — entering dates for someone in your care
- Open positions — claiming on someone's behalf
- Replacements and trades — answering an invitation for someone in your care
Related articles
- Serving in a ministry — opening Serve
- Your serving schedule — the Family section
- Households — the family records the parish maintains