We don’t replace bookkeepers. We deliver something better.
A complete parish finance back-office, run by a professional team, designed to produce the outcomes pastors can count on. Closed books. Clean reconciliations. Accurate payroll. Year-end filings done right. All with the pastor’s authority intact and the diocese’s standards built in.
Start the Conversation →For decades, parishes have run their finances the same way. Hire a bookkeeper. Train them on parish operations, the chart of accounts, the vendor relationships, the rhythm of the liturgical year and the cash flow that goes with it. Hope they stay.
When that bookkeeper takes a vacation, the books slip. When they get sick, payroll runs late. When they leave for another job or retire, the parish’s institutional financial memory walks out the door with one person. The pastor inherits an HR problem he never signed up for. The diocese eventually steps in. The cycle starts over.
This is not a personnel problem. It’s a structural one. The entire bookkeeping model rests on the availability, continuity, and competence of a single individual. Every parish in every diocese faces the same vulnerability.
Seton was built to solve it.
We deliver parish finance back-office as a service, by a team.
When a parish engages Seton, they aren’t hiring an hourly bookkeeper. They’re contracting for the outcomes that bookkeeping is supposed to produce.
The work happens because Seton exists as an organization with depth and structure, not because one specific person happened to show up that day. When a member of our team is on vacation, the work continues. When someone is sick, the work continues. When someone retires or moves on, the parish doesn’t lose a beat. Continuity is built into the model itself.
Every parish engaged with Seton receives these outcomes as the foundation of our service:
Depending on the level of engagement, Seton can also deliver:
Seton is structured as a professional finance operation, not a pool of bookkeepers for hire. Each role is filled by a professional with the right training and experience for the work. The Controller reviews and signs off on every parish’s close. Specialists do the work they’re best at. The bookkeeper is the parish’s primary point of contact and knows the parish well — but is never the single point of failure.
One model. Three depths of engagement. Same team behind every tier.
Parishes vary in size, complexity, budget, and what they need from a financial services partner. The tiers are not three levels of team quality. They are three different scopes of work, delivered by the same team, with the same oversight and the same standards. What changes between tiers is how much of the parish’s financial back-office Seton absorbs and how often we engage.
| FOUNDATION | STANDARD | ADVISORY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| For | Parishes with stable operations and a focus on essential financial outcomes at a measured cost. | Parishes with greater volume, capital projects, or audit requirements. | Parishes seeking a strategic financial partnership and a virtual finance director. |
| Seton delivers |
|
Adds to Foundation:
|
Adds to Standard:
|
| Parish handles |
|
|
|
Parishes with stable operations and a focus on essential financial outcomes at a measured cost.
Parishes with greater volume, capital projects, or audit requirements.
Parishes seeking a strategic financial partnership and a virtual finance director.
The right tier for a parish depends on its size, complexity, budget, and the level of strategic engagement the Pastor and Finance Council want from Seton. A conversation with our team is the best way to identify the right fit.
A predictable cadence between Seton and the parish keeps the books current and the Pastor informed.
The Pastor’s interaction with Seton is designed to be simple and to fit a pastor’s calendar. Invoices arrive via email or mobile notification through our approval platform. The Pastor reviews and approves with a tap, anywhere, anytime. Bank statements arrive monthly for review. Financial statements arrive on a fixed monthly schedule. Quarterly conversations with Seton’s team keep the engagement aligned. The technology stays out of the way; the pastoring stays at the center.
The parish office maintains a few key responsibilities that keep the model running. A staff member or trained volunteer scans approved invoices to Seton. The Sunday cash counting team continues to count and deposit collections following diocesan protocols. The parish office serves as the local point of contact for vendors, parishioners, and routine office business. Seton handles everything that happens to a transaction once it leaves the parish office.
Seton operates on a modern, secure, integrated technology stack. Each tool is selected because it serves the model and the parish, not the other way around.
Every parish operates on QuickBooks Online, the most widely supported accounting platform in the country. Each parish maintains its own QBO file. Seton’s team works across all parishes from a single secure environment, with the Controller able to review any parish’s books at any time.
Bill.com automates the accounts payable workflow. Invoices are captured by scan, email, or mobile photo. The platform extracts the data, routes the invoice for the Pastor’s approval, and once approved, processes payment by ACH or check. The Pastor approves invoices from his phone in seconds. Every payment carries a full audit trail.
Payroll runs through Paycor, processed centrally by Seton’s payroll specialist. Employee time, tax filings, benefits administration, and direct deposit are handled within a single system. The parish never has to manage payroll tax filings or year-end W-2 preparation directly.
Qvinci consolidates financial data across all Seton-supported parishes, enabling diocesan-level reporting, benchmarking, and trend analysis when appropriate. At the parish level, Qvinci supports clear, consistent reporting for the Finance Council.
Seton’s team accesses every parish’s accounting environment through Right Networks, a secure hosted environment that protects parish financial data and meets the security expectations of a Catholic diocese. Access is controlled, monitored, and audited.
Seton provides each parish with a high-quality document scanner at no additional cost. The scanner becomes the primary intake channel for invoices, bank statements, and supporting documentation. It returns to Seton if the service agreement ends.
Seton operates to standards that reflect the seriousness of stewardship in a Catholic parish.
Engaging Seton is a partnership decision, and we want every parish to enter that partnership clearly and confidently. A typical engagement begins this way:
A predictable monthly investment, not an hourly tally.
Parishes engaging Seton pay a fixed monthly fee tied to the engagement tier and the scope of services agreed upon. This gives the Pastor and Finance Council a predictable budget line, free from the variability of hourly billing or surprise overages.
Specific investment amounts are confirmed in conversation with the Pastor, after the right tier and scope are identified.
Every parish engagement begins with a conversation. There is no obligation, no commitment, and no pressure. The goal is to understand the parish’s situation and explore whether Seton is the right partner.
If you are a Pastor, Finance Council member, or parish administrator considering Seton, please reach out.
