Vobiscum

The Communication Platform for the FSSP in Los Angeles

St. Vitus Parish is the Latin Mass parish of the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter in Los Angeles. We are a close-knit family who stay connected much more than at Mass on Sunday! Vobiscum is an app to help us stay in contact with each other.

The app has three main sections:

The Prayer Wall where we can post our prayer requests and pledge to pray, in a kind of Spiritual Bouquet for each intention.

The Bulletin Board is where announcements for the parish are posted.

The Coffee Room is a type of virtual parish hall where discussion can be had on all topics, as would be found in friendly discussions at Coffee and Donuts after Sunday Mass.

Versioning

The app was originally made quickly to reach a deadline where our previous communication app was being disconnected from service. For this reason the app is considered in Beta stages until Version One. The current version is 0.10.1

Version 1.0.1 is being prepared at this time and will be released soon.

Regarding the logic of version numbering, the first digit(s) show the major release, following the first period are upgrades of the current release and after the second period are fine tunes necessary to submit the app for approval to the App Store or Google Play Store. In other words Version 0.10.1 can be interpreted as the tenth update of the Beta version which was accepted to the Google Play Store on the first submission.

Looking Forward

Future versions of the app will include the possibility to communicate with members of the app via text and group messaging, and eventurally open the app up to other FSSP parishes, becoming a bond for all FSSP parishioners.

Find Vobiscum on the App Store Or on Google Play.

App Rules

Vobiscum is goverened by rules that are enforced. Content that violates these rules can and will be deleted and recurring offenders will be removed from membership.

1. The username of the members should be their real name as the parisioners know them. Nicknames that they are known by at the parish may be used, but they must be recognized as who they are in real life. It is good to note that the username field is case sensitive - if you register with a lower case first letter you will need to do the same when you log in.

2. Avatars must be the real facial image of the person. The purpose for the real photograph avatar and real username is that we may get to know who we are speaking to on the app and extend our parish life by the use of the app. It is not an anonymous community.

3. Prayer requests must be that: prayer requests and not an excuse to post a topic. There should also be some bond of union to the parish: oneself, family or close friend.

4. Do not post prayer requests for other people's intentions without first asking their permission, in order to respect their right to confidentiality and privacy. It is also a nice gesture to let them know that the Vobiscum family will be praying for them.

5. Images posted should be dignified. It should not show the person in a vulnerable situation, for example in a hosptial bed or injured.

6. Posting of images of children without the parent's express permission is forbidden.

7. All pictures posted are considered free of copyright restrictons. And may be used in printed material of St Vitus Parish, for example the Update bulletin.

8. Coffee Room discussions should be governed by charity at all times. Debates will not be tolerated. Lack of charity may warrant termination of membership. Theological discussions should be limited to the expression and sharing of the good Truths of our Faith. It is not an opportunity to pontificate, to express superiority, debate, question, expose evil or criticize our neighbor.

9. All links to external videos or websites must be approved by the priests before posting on the app.

11. Vobiscum is not intended to be a substitute for Facebook or other social media apps. Many of our members are striving to avoid secular social media apps and do not wish for our app to become similar to these. Do not make Vobiscum your personal platform to express yourself. Do not post excessively.

12. The Bulletin Board section of the app is exclusively for announcemnets regarding St Vitus Parish. If you have an announcement for this section please contact the Parish Office and they will submit the post.

13. These rules will be modified by the pastor of St. Vitus Parish or the Vobiscum team at any time. It will be made known on the app when they have been modified.

14. Any member of the app may report any post they consider violating these rules or being of offensive or inappropiate content at any time. The reported posts will be deleted immediately after being reported. The Admins of the app will consider content that has been deleted and may restore the posts if they are deemed acceptable. Restoring deleted posts is unlikely, yet theoretically possible. Members who abuse this policing aspect of the Vobiscum app will be removed from app membership without warning.

Please note that your privacy is important to us, as it should be. Vobiscum uses the servers of Back4App to store posts, images and user information. The privacy policy of Back4app can be found here. As stated in their privacy policy, Back4app will not access content that we store on their system for our end users.

Vobiscum will not share user information with any third party, it will remain confidential on the Back4app server.

User information is used to sign up, use the app and in the event that an Admin of Vobiscum or St. Vitus Parish needs to contact that user.

We consider posts, likes, reporting, responses to posts, all images, essentially all use of the Vobiscum app as public information. Users of the app have freedom to save and use any picture posted, to take screenshots or quote text. Users who make posts or reply to posts release any right of copyright by the use of the app.

Content can be used on the app, communicated to the user who's post has been reported, or photos may be saved by users, as also used in printed or website communications of St. Vitus Parish or the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter.

Users understand that while their contact information remains strictly confidential, the content they post on the app is considered public content.

Vobiscum uses your Calendar, Camera, Bluetooth and location for posting purposes only.

Our Policy Toward Children

Vobiscum is not directed to children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect Personal Information from children under 13. If we learn that we have collected Personal Information of a child under 13 we will take steps to delete such information from our files as soon as possible. If you are under the age of 18, you must have your parents permission to access Vobiscum.

The above privacy policy and app rules supersede any contradiction in the Terms of Use. The Terms of Use are found by a link in the sign up screen of the app.

Removal from Membership and Deleting of information

Any member can remove their posts etc at any time by reporting the post.

If you would like to be removed from the app database or modify your email or username, please email us: email@vobiscum.app

Changing or Forgotten Password

If you have forgotten your password or would like to revise your password:

- Log out of the app (from the Account section of the app).

- In the log in screen, select "Forgot Password".

- Enter the email you used when you signed up for the app and an email will be sent to that email address with a link to revise your password. If you do not receive an email with a link, you have not entered the email you used when you set up the account.

- If you do not remember the email you have used when you set up the account, create a new account and contact email@vobiscum.app to have us remove your old account.