EkarisWalking with the youth leaders of Thiếu Nhi Thánh Thể in their catechism ministry.
Ekaris is a web app for Thiếu Nhi Thánh Thể, the Eucharistic Youth Movement in Vietnam, where volunteer huynh trưởng (youth leaders who teach catechism) run Sunday classes in each parish. It helps them keep student lists, attendance, grades and year-end records. It is still in development.
Free and non-profit.
The paperwork catechism leaders face today
- Sunday attendance is still written in paper notebooks, which sometimes go missing mid-year.
- Student lists live in Excel files passed around on Zalo, and everyone holds a different copy.
- At year end, leaders collect grades from several places and add them up by hand to decide who moves up a class.
- When a new leader takes over an age branch, the old records are often not handed over in full.
What is being built
| Children listed by age branch and class | Manage children by the four TNTT age branches and by each catechism class in the parish unit. In development |
|---|---|
| Sunday attendance | Leaders take attendance on their phone, with no copying into a notebook afterwards. In development |
| Grades and year-end review | Catechism grades are kept per term, so deciding who moves up at year end takes less work. In development |
| Access for leaders and catechists | Each person sees only the classes they teach. The parish unit leadership can see everything. In development |
Built with Claude
The app is being built with help from Claude, Anthropic's AI model. We plan to use Claude for the two specific tasks below.
End-of-term reports
Catechists enter scores and notes. Claude will draft a short comment for each child from pseudonymised data, without names. The catechist reads and edits it before use.
In developmentCatechism Q&A assistant
Catechists will be able to ask about the curriculum and prepare lessons. This assistant uses no children's data.
In development
- Children's data is never used to train AI.
- Only pseudonymised data, without names, is sent.
- A person always reviews the result before use.
Who it is for
- Youth leaders and catechists
- The people who teach every Sunday and keep the attendance and grade books.
- Parish unit leadership
- They need to see enrolment, how each age branch is doing and year-end results for the whole unit.
- Parish priests and pastoral councils
- They want to know how catechism classes are running without asking each leader in turn.
Roadmap
This project is built by one person outside working hours, so these dates may change.
Q2 2025
Building the core features
DoneStarted more than a year ago.
Q4 2026
Pilot with a few parishes
In progressQ3 2027
Open to more parishes
PlannedQ2 2028
AI assistant (Claude) for catechists
PlannedChildren's data is never used to train AI.
Why Ekaris exists
Ekaris is built by one person, in spare time outside work, with feedback from people in the community. We want to say that plainly from the start.
About ten years ago, the person writing this served as a huynh trưởng, a youth leader, for two years, then had to stop for personal reasons.
Those two years left a lasting concern. Every Sunday meant an attendance book, a stack of grade sheets and a few Excel files passed around on Zalo. At the year-end review, the leaders sat adding up grades late into the night. Why was managing catechism in a parish still done by hand?
Years later, we decided to build it. Today, technology including AI coding agents lets one person do work that used to need more people.
The project started more than a year ago. The app already runs in development, but it is not finished.
With one person and limited time, progress will be steady but not fast. The pilot will take only a few parishes, so we can work closely with each one.
Please keep this small project in your prayers. "Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much" (Luke 16:10).
Dinh T.
How we look after children's data
The app is still in development. These are the commitments we keep while building it.
Collect as little as possible
We commit to storing only what catechism teaching needs, such as name, baptismal name, class and attendance.
The data belongs to the parish
Each parish owns its data. We commit to never selling it or sharing it with anyone.
No ads, no tracking
We commit to no advertising, no tracking tools and no third-party pixels.
Parents have a say over their child's information
Parents can view their child's information and ask for it to be corrected or deleted, through the parish unit or by contacting us directly.
Features using Claude (term reports, catechism Q&A) are only planned. Children's data is never used to train AI.
Become a pilot parish
If your parish unit wants to try the app and give feedback, send us an email with a short note about it. With one developer, we can take only a few parishes, replies may be slow, and parishes pay nothing during the pilot.
How you can help
Prayer
Please remember this project and the leaders who teach every Sunday in your prayers.
Share it with your parish
Send this page to your parish youth leadership or to leaders you know.
Become a pilot parish
If your parish unit wants to try the app and give feedback, write to us. Only a few pilot parishes will be taken.
Donations or sponsorship
If you would like to help with server costs or sponsor the project, please contact us to talk it through.
We don't collect money on this site. If you'd like to give, please contact us directly.
Frequently asked questions
Does Ekaris belong to the TNTT federation or a diocese?
No. Ekaris is an independent volunteer initiative made for the Eucharistic Youth Movement. It is not officially endorsed by the TNTT federation, any diocese or any priest.
How is children's data handled?
We store only what a catechism class needs. The data belongs to the parish, is never sold or shared, and is never used to train AI. Parents can ask to view, correct or delete their child's information.
Who is building this?
One person, outside working hours. They were once a youth leader and get feedback from people in the community.
Do parishes have to pay?
Parishes pay nothing during the pilot. We don't collect money on this site. If you'd like to give, please contact us directly.
How can my parish join the pilot?
Send us an email with a short note about your parish unit. With one developer, we can take only a few parishes and replies may be slower than you expect. Thank you for your patience.
Contact
Email is the quickest way to reach us. We read every message, though replies can take a while.