Skip to main content

Payouts

The Payouts page is where you settle up with the priests who celebrate Masses at your parish. Sacramentum keeps a running balance of every fulfilled intention that has not yet been paid; the Payouts workflow groups those obligations into a single document per priest, walks it through approval, records the actual payment, and posts the matching journal entries to the ledger.

The Payouts page​

Navigate to Admin Dashboard → Finance → Payouts. The page is organized into three tabs across the top:

  • Stipend Obligations — a snapshot of what each priest is currently owed, drawn from fulfilled-but-unpaid Masses and visiting clergy assignments.
  • Priest Stipends — the payout workflow itself, where you generate, approve, and pay stipend payouts.
  • Diocese Remittances — the parallel workflow for sending the diocese its share of funds collected on its behalf.

Most day-to-day work happens in Priest Stipends. The Stipend Obligations tab is read-only and exists to answer the question "who is owed what right now?" without committing to a payout.

The payout lifecycle​

Every priest payout moves through three stages in order:

StageWhat it meansWhat you can do
DraftThe payout has been generated but not yet reviewed. Included entries are reserved so they cannot be paid twice.Approve, mark as paid directly, void, or export to CSV/PDF
ApprovedA reviewer has confirmed the payout is correct and ready to be paid.Mark as paid, void, or export
PaidThe payment has been recorded. Journal entries post to the ledger and the priest's payable balance clears.View details and export
VoidThe payout was canceled. Reserved entries are released back to the unpaid pool.View details only

A void payout is preserved in the list permanently for audit; it cannot be re-opened. If you need to pay the same period after voiding, generate a new payout for that priest and date range.

Generating a draft payout​

Use this when you are ready to pay a priest for a stretch of celebrated Masses.

  1. In the Priest Stipends tab, set the filters that define what you want to pay:
    • Priest — pick the celebrant.
    • Start date and End date — the period the payout will cover. Sacramentum includes every fulfilled-but-unpaid Mass with a celebration date inside the range.
    • Include visiting clergy if the priest you are paying is a visiting cleric.
  2. Click Calculate Summary. A preview panel appears showing the total amount, broken down by:
    • Primary Masses — single intentions celebrated by this priest.
    • Bination Masses — second Masses on a single day where binated stipends apply.
    • Gregorian Masses — Masses fulfilled as part of a 30-Mass series.
    • Visiting Clergy Assignments — engagements booked for this priest as visiting clergy.
    • Other credits — any miscellaneous credits to the priest's account.
  3. Review the Payout policy line. It tells you whether the payout includes only intentions whose stipends have actually been collected (Funded only with carry-forward — the default and recommended setting) or every unpaid obligation regardless of whether the requester has paid (All unpaid). The summary shows in-period funded, carry-forward funded, and excluded unfunded counts so you can see exactly what is included and what is being held back.
  4. If the totals look right, click Generate Payout. The payout appears in the list below in Draft status with a unique payout number.
tip

The default policy excludes obligations the requester has not yet paid for. This protects the parish from cutting a check the priest is not yet entitled to. If a parishioner has promised payment but not yet delivered it, the obligation stays in the queue and rolls forward to the next payout once the money arrives.

Approving a payout​

Approval is the formal review step. Many parishes assign approval to a different administrator than the one who drafts payouts so two sets of eyes review the numbers before money moves.

  1. In the payouts list, find the draft and click Approve.
  2. The status changes to Approved. The included entries remain reserved so they cannot be paid through any other workflow.

You can approve and pay in a single step if your parish does not require separate approval — just click Mark as paid directly on a draft. Either way, the audit trail records who approved and who paid.

Marking a payout as paid​

When you have actually written the check, made the bank transfer, or handed over cash to the priest, record it here so the ledger reflects reality.

  1. Click Mark as paid on a draft or approved payout.
  2. Select the Payment Method:
    • Check — enter the Check Number.
    • Cash — no extra fields.
    • Direct Deposit — enter the Reference Number if applicable.
    • Wire — enter the Reference Number.
  3. Pick the Processed Date — the date the priest received the funds (defaults to today).
  4. Click Save.

Sacramentum posts the matching journal entries: the priest's individual payable subaccount under 2000 is debited, and Operating Bank (1000) (or whichever asset account the payment came from) is credited. The status changes to Paid and the included intentions are permanently marked as paid in the ledger.

Voiding a payout​

If you discover an error before the payment is actually made — a misselected priest, a wrong date range, an excluded intention that should have been included — void the payout instead of trying to edit it.

  1. Click Void on a draft or approved payout.
  2. Confirm the action in the dialog.

The status changes to Void, the reserved entries are released back to the unpaid pool, and the priest's payable balance is restored. You can then generate a new draft with the corrected parameters.

warning

Paid payouts cannot be voided through this workflow because the journal entries already cleared the priest's payable balance. To reverse a paid payout, use the manual journal entry reversal workflow in the Accounts page and document the correction in the audit trail.

Exporting a payout​

Every payout can be exported as CSV (for spreadsheet review or accountant hand-off) or PDF (for filing or handing to the priest as a payment statement).

  1. Find the payout in the list.
  2. Click CSV or PDF in the row actions.

Both formats include the priest's name, payout number, period, status, line-by-line breakdown of every intention and engagement included, and the total. The PDF is formatted for printing on letter-size paper.

Filtering and searching the list​

The toolbar above the payouts list lets you focus on the payouts you care about:

  • Status — show all payouts, or filter to Draft, Approved, Paid, or Void.
  • Priest — show payouts for one priest only.
  • Start date and End date — show payouts whose period overlaps a window. Useful for year-end or quarter-end reviews.
  • Include visiting clergy — show payouts for visiting clergy as well as parish staff.
  • Show archived — include payouts for archived visiting clergy records.

The list paginates 25 payouts per page by default; use the Show dropdown at the bottom to switch to 50 or 100 per page.

Diocese remittances​

The Diocese Remittances tab is the diocese-side mirror of the priest payout workflow. When your parish collects funds on the diocese's behalf — a percentage of stipends, a per-stole fee, or any other arrangement — the funds accumulate in Diocese Payables (2100) until you remit them.

  1. Open the Diocese Remittances tab.
  2. Pick a Start Date and End Date for the remittance period.
  3. Click Calculate Summary. The total owed and the underlying ledger entries appear.
  4. Enter the Amount, Payment Method, Check Number or Reference Number, Processed Date, and an optional Description.
  5. Click Save.

The remittance posts a journal entry that debits Diocese Payables (2100) and credits your bank account, clearing the diocese balance.

What's next​

  • Accounts — verify the ledger entries that payouts produce
  • Reports — review obligations, payments, and historical trends across periods
  • Visiting clergy — set up the visiting clerics who receive payouts as visiting clergy