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Payment configuration

Payment configuration is where you connect your parish's Stripe account so that parishioners can pay Mass intention stipends, baptism offerings, and other fees online. Once Stripe is connected, every successful online payment posts directly into your parish ledger and produces a numbered receipt automatically. Cash and check payments work without Stripe — payment configuration only affects online card payments.

The Payment configuration page​

Navigate to Admin Dashboard → Settings → Payment. The page is organized into three sections:

  • Subscription Plan — manages your Sacramentum subscription itself (separate from parish payment processing).
  • Stripe Integration — where you enter your Stripe keys, verify the connection, and connect the webhook.
  • Payment Options — toggles that control what parishioners can do at checkout and how the parish handles payouts.

A separate Baptism Offering card at the bottom sets the suggested offering amount shown on the public baptism registration page.

Before you begin​

Sacramentum uses Stripe to process online payments. You must have an activated Stripe account before you can connect it. If your parish does not have one yet, sign up at stripe.com and complete the Stripe identity and bank account verification steps first — Stripe will not release funds to your parish bank account until those checks are complete.

Keep your keys private

Stripe secret keys grant full access to your Stripe account. Never paste them into chat, email, screenshots, or shared documents. Sacramentum encrypts secret keys at rest and never displays them in full after saving — once a key is stored, the input field shows a placeholder rather than the real value.

Connecting Stripe​

You will need two values from your Stripe Dashboard: a publishable key (starts with pk_live_ or pk_test_) and a secret key (starts with sk_live_, sk_test_, or a restricted-key prefix rk_).

  1. In Sacramentum, navigate to Settings → Payment.
  2. Read the Stripe Integration alert at the top of the section. It lists the Stripe Dashboard pages you need to visit.
  3. Open your Stripe Dashboard in a separate tab and copy the publishable key.
  4. Paste it into the Stripe Publishable Key field in Sacramentum.
  5. Copy the secret key from your Stripe Dashboard and paste it into the Stripe Secret Key field. Click the eye icon to confirm you pasted it correctly, then hide it again.
  6. Click Save.

Once saved, a green check appears next to the publishable key field that reads "Stripe is configured." The secret key field is now blank — that is expected. Sacramentum stores the encrypted key on the server and never sends it back to your browser.

Test mode vs. live mode

If you want to test the integration before going live, use your Stripe test keys (prefixed with pk_test_ and sk_test_). Stripe provides test card numbers in its documentation that simulate successful and failed payments without charging real money. When you are ready for parishioners to make real payments, replace the test keys with live keys (pk_live_ and sk_live_) and save again.

Verifying the connection​

After saving your keys, use the Stripe Setup Assistant card to confirm everything is wired correctly:

  1. Click Verify Stripe Keys. Sacramentum makes a server-side call to Stripe and reports back whether the keys are valid and whether your Stripe account is enabled for manual payouts.
  2. If verification succeeds, a green check appears with the message "Stripe keys verified."
  3. Click Auto-create Webhook. This creates a webhook endpoint in your Stripe Dashboard pointed at Sacramentum and stores the signing secret automatically.
  4. The Webhook Status indicator updates to "Webhook connected" when the endpoint is healthy.

You can send a test event from your Stripe Dashboard at any time to confirm Sacramentum is receiving webhook deliveries.

If the webhook ever shows "Webhook needs repair" — for example after rotating your Stripe keys — click Reset Webhook. Reset removes the existing endpoint from Stripe and creates a fresh one with a new signing secret. Use this any time the webhook signing secret is missing or stale.

Currency and payment options​

Below the Stripe Setup Assistant, configure how online checkout behaves:

  • Currency — the currency in which stipends and offerings are charged. Supported: USD, EUR, GBP, CAD, AUD. Most parishes never change this after initial setup.
  • Require payment for intentions — when on, parishioners must pay at the time they request a Mass intention. When off, intentions can be requested without immediate payment and an invoice is generated for the requester to pay later.
  • Allow donations above stipend — lets parishioners offer more than the suggested stipend amount. Extra amounts post to the Additional Offerings (3100) income account.
  • Show transaction fee coverage — displays an optional checkbox at checkout where the parishioner can choose to cover the Stripe processing fee so the parish receives the full stipend.
  • Manual payouts enabled — when on, Stripe holds funds in your Stripe balance until you trigger a payout from the Stripe Dashboard rather than paying out automatically on a schedule. Most parishes leave this off and rely on Stripe's standard weekly payout schedule. The setting links directly to your Stripe payout schedule page so you can configure it from one place.
  • Cover uncollected stipends in priest payouts — controls whether priest payouts can include Masses where the stipend was promised but not yet collected. The canonical default is off: priests are paid only for stipends that have been collected. Turning this on is useful for parishes that want to advance funds to priests against expected stipends, but it requires careful tracking. See Payouts for details.

Baptism offering​

The bottom card on the page sets the suggested offering amount displayed on the public baptism registration page. Enter a dollar amount (whole dollars only). Sacramentum shows three offering tiers at checkout: the amount you set, 1.5× that amount, and 2× that amount. Set the value to 0 to hide offering suggestions entirely and accept whatever the family chooses to give.

How payments flow through the ledger​

Every successful Stripe payment automatically writes a journal entry that you can inspect in the Finance section. The path is:

  1. The parishioner pays online. Stripe captures the funds.
  2. Sacramentum receives a webhook event from Stripe.
  3. The payment posts to Stripe Clearing (1200) in your chart of accounts.
  4. A receipt is generated and made visible in the Receipts tab.
  5. When Stripe pays out to your parish bank account on its payout schedule, Sacramentum clears the matching amount from Stripe Clearing (1200) to Operating Bank (1000).

For the full picture of how online payments fit into the parish ledger, see Finance and accounts.

Troubleshooting​

Keys are not saving. Sacramentum only sends payment settings to the server when you have actively edited a payment field. If you are saving from a different tab and the Save button reports success but no Stripe configuration appears, switch to the Payment tab, re-enter the secret key, and save again. The publishable key should remain visible in the field after a successful save; the secret key is intentionally cleared from the form for security.

"Stripe keys verified" but the webhook will not connect. Click Reset Webhook to delete and recreate the endpoint. If the issue persists, confirm in your Stripe Dashboard that the webhook endpoint URL matches your Sacramentum domain and that no other endpoint for the same parish exists.

Test payment succeeds but no receipt appears. Check the Webhook Status indicator. If it does not show "Webhook connected," the payment was captured by Stripe but the corresponding webhook event never reached Sacramentum, so no receipt was generated. Reset the webhook and replay the test event from your Stripe Dashboard.

The secret key field shows a placeholder, not a value, after saving. This is correct and expected. Sacramentum encrypts the key on save and never displays it again. To replace the key, type the new value into the field and save — the existing encrypted value is replaced. To leave the key unchanged while editing other settings, leave the field blank.

Saving without affecting Stripe

You can edit any setting on any tab without disturbing your Stripe configuration. Sacramentum only sends payment settings to the server when you actively edit a payment field, so changing parish information, email preferences, or any other setting will never accidentally clear your stored Stripe keys.

What's next​

  • Settings reference — the complete map of every Settings tab and what each one controls
  • Finance and accounts — see how Stripe payments post into your parish ledger
  • Payouts — generate priest stipend payouts and diocese remittances