Parish Guide

Watch Live — How It Works

Your parish's own Watch page: it says "Live now" by itself while Mass is streaming, and one button takes parishioners straight to it on YouTube.
A simple, step-by-step guide for parish staff · Powered by Nave

At a glance

Watch Live puts a camera button among the quick actions on your parish home page. It opens your parish's own Watch page. While Mass is streaming, that page says "Live now" and shows one big button, Watch on YouTube, which opens the Mass on YouTube — in a new window on a computer, or straight in the YouTube app on a phone. The rest of the week it says when the next streamed Mass is. Nave does not host or record anything: your stream goes to YouTube exactly as it does today.

1 · Turn Watch Live on (Features)→ 2 · Save your YouTube channel ID→ 3 · Let OBS say when you start→ 4 · The page says "Live now" and points to YouTube
Why a button to YouTube, not a video inside the page? When a streaming service such as Restream starts a broadcast on YouTube, YouTube switches off playing it on other websites — for every broadcast, and there is no setting that changes it. A video box on our page would show "Video unavailable". YouTube's own site and app always play it, so that is where the button goes. On a phone, opening the YouTube app is also the better way to watch.

The four things that make it work

The Watch Live switch

Admin → Features → Watch Live. Off for every parish until the office turns it on. Nothing else here shows until it is on.

Your YouTube channel

Admin → Content → Watch Live. Paste the channel ID (it starts with UC…, from YouTube Studio → Settings → Channel → Advanced). Saved once — the button always finds whatever the channel is broadcasting.

Something that says "we're live"

Either the OBS script (pressing Start Streaming tells the website by itself) or the We're live button on the same page. The window closes on its own, so nothing is left switched on.

The Mass note

On Admin → Schedule, add livestreamed to the note of each Mass you stream. It tells visitors when the next one is, and draws the badge on the schedule.

Part A · For parishioners

No account or sign-in needed. The button is on the parish home page for anyone.

Use case 1 · Watch Sunday Mass from home

Who: A homebound parishioner, a travelling family, someone who is unwell.   Goal: Join Mass live.

  1. Open the parish home page on a phone or computer and tap the camera button.
  2. The Watch page opens. During Mass it says "Live now" and "Mass is live on YouTube".
  3. Tap Watch on YouTube. On a phone the Mass opens in the YouTube app; on a computer, in a new window.
Result: Two taps from the parish home page to Mass — without hunting through YouTube for the right channel.
Use case 2 · Arrive early

Who: Anyone who opens the page before Mass begins.   Goal: Not miss the start.

  1. The Watch page says "Not live right now" and when the next streamed Mass is.
  2. Leave it open. It checks by itself every minute and changes to "Live now" when the broadcast begins — no need to reload.
  3. Our YouTube channel is always there too, for anyone who would rather wait on YouTube.
Result: The page tells people what is happening, instead of a blank video box.
Use case 3 · Know which Masses are streamed

Who: Anyone reading the schedule.   Goal: Pick a Mass they can watch.

  1. On the home page schedule, look for the small screen badge beside a Mass time.
  2. Those are the Masses the parish streams.
Result: The schedule and the Watch page tell the same story, because they read the same note.

Part B · For parish staff

A few short steps, done once. After that the page looks after itself.

Use case 4 · Turn Watch Live on

Who: Parish office.   Goal: Make the button possible.

  1. Open Admin → Features.
  2. Find Watch Live and switch it on.
Result: The camera button appears on the home page and the Watch page is open to visitors.
Use case 5 · Save your YouTube channel

Who: Parish office.   Goal: Point the Watch page at your channel, once.

  1. In YouTube Studio, open Settings → Channel → Advanced settings and copy the channel ID. It begins with UC…. A handle such as @ourparish is not a channel ID and will not work.
  2. Open Admin → Content → Watch Live, paste it into YouTube channel ID, and save.
Result: Whenever that channel is broadcasting, Watch on YouTube opens it — you never paste a link for an individual Mass.

Before your first stream: YouTube requires the channel to be verified by phone, and then makes you wait 24 hours before it will accept a broadcast. Start that the day before you plan to test, not the morning of.

Use case 6 · Let OBS light the page by itself

Who: Whoever runs the stream.   Goal: Never touch the website on a Sunday.

  1. On Admin → Content → Watch Live, press Get a key and Download the OBS script.
  2. On the computer that streams, open OBS → Tools → Scripts → + and choose the downloaded file. Keep it somewhere permanent, not in Downloads.
  3. Paste the Parish key into the script's settings. Close the window.
Result: Pressing Start Streaming makes the Watch page say "Live now"; Stop Streaming clears it. Nobody opens the admin at all.
Use case 7 · Say "we're live" by hand

Who: Parish office.   Goal: Cover a broadcast that does not start from OBS — a funeral, a Holy Day, a phone at the back of the church.

  1. On Admin → Content → Watch Live, choose For how long (1 to 6 hours). If the broadcast is not on your saved channel, paste its YouTube link too.
  2. Press We're live.
  3. Press End it now when the stream finishes, or simply leave it — the window closes by itself.
Result: The Watch page says "Live now" and sends people to the broadcast, and can never be left claiming to be live for days afterwards.
Use case 8 · Tell Nave which Masses you stream

Who: Whoever keeps the Mass schedule.   Goal: Show visitors when the next streamed Mass is.

  1. Open Admin → Schedule and edit each Mass you stream.
  2. Add the word livestreamed to its note (anything else in the note is fine too). Save.
Result: That Mass shows the screen badge on the schedule, and the Watch page names it as the next streamed Mass.
Use case 9 · Pause it for a seasonAdvanced

Who: Parish office.   Goal: Take the button down without losing the setup.

  1. Open Admin → Features and switch Watch Live off.
  2. The channel, the OBS key and the Mass notes stay saved. Switch it back on when streaming resumes.
Result: The button disappears immediately; nothing has to be re-entered later.

Quick reference

We are streaming, but the Watch page says "Not live right now".The stream was not started from OBS, so nothing told the website. Press We're live on Admin → Content → Watch Live. If you did use OBS, check the script still has the Parish key (OBS → Tools → Scripts).
"Watch on YouTube" opens our channel page, not the Mass.The broadcast is unlisted or private, or YouTube has not started it yet. Make Mass broadcasts public; a public one appears within seconds.
Why not play the video inside our page?YouTube turns off playing on other websites for every broadcast a streaming service like Restream starts, and nothing on our side can change that. The button always works — and on a phone the YouTube app is the better way to watch.
How long does "Live now" last?Until OBS says the stream stopped, or the office presses End it now. If neither happens, it switches itself off after a few hours.
Does Nave record or host the stream?No. Your stream goes to YouTube exactly as it does today; the Watch page only says when it is on and where to find it.
Does it show our Facebook stream?No — the Watch page points to YouTube only. You can still stream to Facebook as well; its audience finds you there.
The big idea: the parish already streams Mass and already keeps its schedule. Watch Live joins the two, so a homebound parishioner finds this Sunday's Mass from the front page — and nobody has to remember to turn anything on or off.

Watch Live — How It Works · A guide for parish staff · Powered by Nave