Parish Guide

Ask the Parish — How It Works

Instant answers from your parish's own pages — Mass times, sacraments, ministries, and more.
A simple, step-by-step guide for parishioners and parish staff · Powered by Nave

At a glance

Ask the Parish is a friendly question box on your parish website. A visitor types a plain question — "When is confession?", "How do I baptize my baby?", "Is there a youth group?" — and gets a direct answer drawn straight from your parish's own pages, with a "Learn more" link to the full page. It's there as a small floating button in the corner of every page, and as its own Ask page.

1 · Visitor asks a question→ 2 · Nave searches your pages→ 3 · A direct answer + "Learn more"→ 4 · No match? One tap to the office
It can't make things up. Ask the Parish is not a chatbot guessing answers from the internet. It searches only the content your parish has published — your Mass schedule, sacrament pages, ministries, events, bulletin, and FAQs. If the answer isn't on your site, it says so and offers to pass the question to the office. That means it is always accurate, costs nothing per question, and never invents a Mass time.

What it can answer from

Ask draws from the parish content you already keep up to date. The more complete your pages, the more it can answer.

✝️ Mass & confession

Weekly schedule and confession times. "What time is Sunday Mass?"

🕊️ Sacraments

Baptism, marriage, first communion, and how to begin. "How do I get married here?"

🤝 Ministries

Groups, who they're for, how to get involved. "Is there a choir?"

📅 Events

Upcoming events and what's happening. "Any events this weekend?"

📰 Bulletin & news

Announcements and the weekly bulletin. "What's in the bulletin?"

ℹ️ Parish basics

Address, office hours, how to give, how to register. "Where is the parish?"

Speaks every parishioner's language. A visitor can ask — and read the answer — in English, Spanish, or Tagalog. Because the search runs on your already-translated pages, the reply comes back in their language automatically.

Part A · For parishioners

How to get a quick answer on the parish website — no sign-in, no app, no waiting for office hours.

Use case 1 · Ask a quick question

Who: Anyone — no account needed.   Goal: Find an answer fast.

  1. On any parish page, tap the ✨ Ask button in the bottom corner (or open the Ask page).
  2. Type your question in plain words — "When is confession?", "How do I volunteer?"
  3. Tap Ask. The answer appears right there, pulled from the parish's own pages.

Result: An instant, trustworthy answer — any hour of the day.

Use case 2 · Read the full page

Who: Anyone.   Goal: Get the complete details.

  1. Most answers include a "Learn more →" link.
  2. Tap it to jump straight to the full page — the Mass schedule, a sacrament page, a ministry, and so on.

Result: You land exactly where you need, no menu-hunting.

Use case 3 · When there's no answer, reach the office

Who: Anyone.   Goal: Ask a person when the page doesn't cover it.

  1. If Ask can't find it, it says so and opens a short "Contact the office" form.
  2. Add your name and email and send — your question goes straight to the parish office by email.
  3. Signed in? Your name and email are filled in for you — just send.

Result: No dead ends — every question reaches someone who can help.

Use case 4 · Ask in your language

Who: Any parishioner.   Goal: Ask and read in your own words.

  1. Set the website to your language (English, Spanish, or Tagalog).
  2. Ask your question normally — the answer comes back in that language.

Result: Help in your own language, with nothing lost in translation.

Part B · For parish staff

There's nothing to "train" and nothing to maintain separately — Ask answers from the pages you already keep current. Here's how to make it shine, and the staff-only helper that comes with it.

Use case 5 · Make Ask answer better

Who: Parish staff.   Goal: Cover more questions, automatically.

  1. Keep your everyday pages current — Mass schedule, sacrament pages, ministries, events, and the bulletin. Ask reads all of them.
  2. Write naturally and completely; the fuller a page, the more questions Ask can answer from it.
  3. Author in English only — Spanish and Tagalog are generated for you, so Ask answers in every language without extra work.

Result: The same content updates that keep your site current also make Ask smarter — no separate FAQ to maintain.

Use case 6 · See the questions that came to the office

Who: Parish staff.   Goal: Spot what your site is missing.

  1. When Ask can't answer, the visitor's question is emailed to the parish office.
  2. Repeated questions are a hint: add or expand a page so Ask can answer it next time.

Result: Your website quietly improves around the questions people actually ask.

Use case 7 · Ask Nave — the staff helper Advanced

Who: Parish staff, in the back office.   Goal: Get help running Nave itself.

  1. Inside the admin area there's a separate Ask Nave helper — it answers "how do I…" questions about using Nave (e.g. "How do I add a Mass time?").
  2. It's for operators, not parishioners — the public Ask the Parish widget answers your community's questions about the parish.

Result: Parishioners get parish answers; staff get how-to-use-Nave answers — each in the right place.

Turning it on or off. Ask the Parish is a standard feature your parish can enable or disable like any other. When it's on, the floating button and the Ask page appear automatically across your site.

Quick reference

Where do people find it?The ✨ Ask button in the corner of every parish page, plus a dedicated Ask page. No sign-in needed.
Is this an AI chatbot?No. It searches only your parish's published pages — it doesn't pull from the internet and can't invent answers. That's why it's always accurate and free per question.
What can it answer?Anything on your site — Mass & confession times, sacraments, ministries, events, the bulletin, and parish basics like address and giving.
What if it doesn't know?It says so and offers a one-tap "Contact the office" form that emails your question to the parish.
What languages?English, Spanish, and Tagalog — ask and read in your own language. Answers use your already-translated pages.
Does staff have to set up answers?No separate FAQ to build. Keep your normal pages current and Ask reads them. Author in English; translations are automatic.
Is "Ask Nave" the same thing?No — Ask the Parish is the public widget for your community. Ask Nave is a staff-only helper inside the admin area for using Nave.
The big idea: Ask the Parish turns your website into a 24/7 front desk. Parishioners get a trustworthy answer in seconds, in their own language; when the page can't answer, the question reaches a real person. It costs nothing per question and never makes anything up — because every answer comes from your own parish pages.

Ask the Parish — How It Works · A guide for parishioners and parish staff · Powered by Nave