Greetings:
I’m a Catholic Priest and in the midst of my ministry, I have entered into the field of Genealogy. As I’m trying to keep up with the family, I want to add my own storytelling .
I would like to add my pastoral assignments to RM with sourcing. When we are transferred to a church, we receive a letter from our Bishop with the name of place and the term of stay at the place.
Help selecting the template and any other suggestions.
Again, thanks
There are several Letter source templates. If one is close but needs tweaking you can copy the existing one and then edit the copy.
Hello Father,
I always create my own sources in Free Form. Based on something similar from my file, I would probably enter your letter as follows:
Source Name:
Church Record RC Letter: Father TrekFan 12/25/2000
Footnote:
Roman Catholic Church (City Y, Anywhere, USA), letter from Bishop X, (Bishop X, Diocese Y, 123 Main Street, Anywhere, USA 123456) to Father TrekFan, 12/25/2000; held in 2023 by Fr. TrekFan (1 Main Street, Anywhere, USA 123456).
Short Footnote:
Letter, Bishop X to Father TrekFan, 12/25/2000.
Bibliography:
Bishop X, Letter. 12/25/2000 from Diocese Y, 123 Main Street, Anywhere, USA 123456, to Father TrekFan. Held in 2023 by Fr. TrekFan; 1 Main Street, Anywhere, USA 123456.
A great little book for citations is “Evidence! Citation & Analysis for the Family Historian” by Elizabeth Shown Mills published in 1997. She later published a much more comprehensive book titled “Evidence Explained” in 2017 but her 1997 book is really handy.
God bless!
Thanks Runner for your suggestion and I’ll take you up on trying the Free Form. I was just looking through EE; Third Edition 2015. I need to seek out her other copies. Finally, I can enter this information.
Just to be cleared for info:
The date: date of letter or assignment?
Church Record RC - do I enter the church, or leave as is?
RC - Roman Catholic
Roman Catholic Church - Name of Church
Sorry, all these questions.
Thanks again
No worries!
The “Church Record RC” refers to the type of source so it’s okay to leave it as is. Yes, RC refers to Roman Catholic so you can also name the source “Church Record Roman Catholic”. I have other church records in my genealogy so for example, the source name could also be “Church Record DR” (Dutch Reformed), etc.
In the footnote, I leave it as the Roman Catholic Church. This defines the denomination of the church record.
The key to citations is to be consistent. I create “Master” citations so for example I have “Church Record RC Baptism: Master," “Church Record RC Marriage: Master” and “Church Record RC Letter: Master” and then copy the master and fill the copy in with the relevant information.
Amazon still has the “Evidence! Citation & Analysis for the Family Historian.” It’s only 125 pages so super handy.
I have 8 different appointments.
This is on the Source(s) List:
Source Name
Church Record Roman Catholic Letter: [Trekfan] 27 May 1989(date of the letter} NOT date of reporting {14 Jun 1989}
Footnote
Roman Catholic Church (Haddon Heights, New Jersey, USA), letter from Bishop George Henry Guilfoyle, (Bishop George Henry Guilfoyle, Diocese of Camden, 1845 Haddon Avenue, Camden, New Jersey, USA 08103) to [TrekFan], 27 May 1989; held in 2023 by [TrekFan], (ADDRESS)
SHortFootnote
Letter, Bishop Henry Guilfoyle to [TrekFan], 27 May 1989.
Bibliography
Bishop George Henry Guilfoyle. 27 May 1989 from Diocese of Camden, 1845 Haddon Avenue, Camden, New Jersey, USA 08103, to {TrekFan]. Held in 2023 by {TrekFan]; [ADDRESS].
Source Text
Transcription of the Letter
If that is the SOURCE, I’m showing “0” for citations, how do I create citation?
When I go back to my screen to add the source to “Parish Assignment” (fact type-didn’t know what to call it at the time), the “Add Citation” appears and asks for CITATION NAME and PAGE NUMBER.
So many questions, sorry again. I think once I get the first letter…I could be on a roll…now, flat tire.
Thanks again
In Sources, click on the > sign next to “0” in the Citations column which will open the screen for the Citation section. In the upper left-hand column, click on the + sign [“Add Citation” window will open]. In “ Citation Name” I enter the same name as the Master Source—in your case Church Record Roman Catholic Letter: Trekfan 27 May 1989. Click on add. That should do it and you can then add it to your event.
Sorry, just noticed this….the Bibliography entry needs the word “Letter” in front of the date, so:
Bishop George Henry Guilfoyle. Letter 27 May 1989 from Diocese of Camden, 1845 Haddon Avenue, Camden, New Jersey, USA 08103, to {TrekFan]. Held in 2023 by {TrekFan]; [ADDRESS].
OK. Changes made. Now, on my way creating 7 more like it; but, not tonight
Thanks again.
God’s Blessings
Update of Clergy Assignments : I’ve created a Free Form for each of my Letters(8); placed the transcription of the the Letter in Source Text Field; Research Note I entered the effective date and the location of the Church. Or, should I placed the transcription in Research Note?
In 2021, I received a Letter, indicating a two-fold ministry: part-time as Parochial Vicar and part-time with the Ministry With the Deaf and Persons with Disabilities. I created the one letter and added this to the Research Note:
Effective date 14 Jul 2014
Part-time to Holy Angels Parish,[ Woodbury, Gloucester County, New Jersey. ] and
Part-time in the Ministry with the Deaf (MWD) and Persons with Disabilities(PWD) Diocese of Camden.
NOTE: The MWD and PWD, is not in one area, but covers the entire Diocese of Camden
Thanks
Here is a really good discussion on this: Should I put record transcription into Citation or Note
As you will see, it’s really a matter of choice and depends on how you want it to appear in reports.
I like Family Group Sheets and it’s easier for my family to read my transcriptions and translations in the “Note” field of the Event as opposed to in a citation.
I would add your last information re your assignments being diocesan-wide as a nota bene (NB:). I would also put the location of Holy Angels in parenthesis and not brackets. Hope that helps.
In Research Note of the Citation
effective date as of 14 Jul 2014, appointed as part-time Parochial Vicar (Associate Pastor) and in Residence at Holy Angels Parish (Woodbury, Gloucester County, New Jersey)
also, serve Part-time in the Ministry with the Deaf and Persons with Disabilities, Diocesan-wide.
This your meaning?
Thanks
Off the top of my head, I think so. Depending on your audience you might want to personalize and add some more information. So for example:
Effective date as of 14 Jul 2014, I was appointed as the part-time Parochial Vicar (Associate Pastor) and the in-Residence Pastor at Holy Angels Parish (Woodbury, Gloucester County, New Jersey). In addition, I also served part-time in the Ministry with the Deaf and Persons with Disabilities, Diocesan-wide (Camden, New Jersey). Currently, the Diocese of Camden includes the counties of Atlantic, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland and Salem that serves 486,368 Catholics and includes X amount of parishes and X amount of Priests. See, Diocese of Camden, website, Diocese of Camden (https://camdendiocese.org/; accessed 25 August 2023). Bishop George Henry Guilfoyle served from ……
Thanks for you blessings yesterday…I got some good news today! 
Good Ideas… I did something like this for the merger of Churches when their Sacramental Records were transferred to the main Church.
I created a separate source for each Sacrament(The certificates for my siblings and father), The Parish of Saint Monica -Baptism certificates, The Parish of Saint Monica -Confirmation certificates, etc. Four churches(Our Lady Star of Sea, St. Nicholas, St. Monica, and St. Michaels) merged and became St. Monica.I added to the Source text:
Parish of Saint Monica, New Parish, formed 07-01-2015 from the merger of Our Lady Star of the Sea[ Holy Spirit] , Saint Michael, Saint Monica and Saint Nicholas of Tolentine, Atlantic City. All sacramental records of these Parishes are located at the new Parish.)
It’s a confusing situation but if I understand this correctly, you could add something like this to the Research Note:
Note that due to mergers, the current Parish of Saint Monica that serves Atlantic City, New Jersey, now includes the former Churches of Our Lady Star of the Sea, St. Nicholas of Tolentine, and St. Michael. All sacramental records from these former Churches were obtained from and are presently located at the Parish of Saint Monica, 2651 Atlantic Avenue, Atlantic City, NJ 08401, phone number 609-345-1878.
Thanks again Runner, that is what I finally did, taking it from our Diocesan Directory. Then, I pasted the transcription in the Research note below the Merger Info.