Parish Privacy Policy

Saint Ronan's Church, St Cuthbert's Road, Deansrath, Clondalkin, Dublin 22, D22 PC63, is a parish of the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin and a registered charity (RCN 20016166).

The Parish Priest/Administrator/Moderator is the data controller for the parish — the person responsible for keeping your information safe and secure. Reach us on 01-4570 380 or at stronansdeansrath@hotmail.com.

Under canon law the parish is a juridic person within the Archdiocese, and the parish priest is entrusted with the care of its registers and records (cc. 515, 519, 535).

The Archbishop is sole controller of the personal and special category data in the Baptism Registers kept in parishes of the Archdiocese, as regards storage, retention, standard and special annotation, and alteration.

For the collecting and recording of entries, the Archbishop and the Parish Priest/Administrator/Moderator of the parish holding the register act as joint controllers.

Canon law requires each parish to keep these registers accurately and to preserve them carefully (cc. 535 §1, 877), which is why they are treated with particular care.

Personal data relates to a living individual who can be identified from that data — either on its own or together with other information the data controller holds or is likely to hold.

Its processing is governed by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018, alongside the norms of canon law that govern the sacramental life of the Church.

Everyone whose information is handled in any way by the parish: parishioners, clergy, staff, volunteers, contractors, suppliers, visitors and others who come into contact with parish life.

Consent, which may be withdrawn at any time; compliance with a legal obligation; performance of a contract or steps taken to enter one; protection of a person's vital interests.

Legitimate interests, which include any activity advancing and maintaining the Roman Catholic religion.

Processing by a not-for-profit body with a religious aim, provided it relates only to members or former members of the congregation (or those in regular contact with it for those purposes) and nothing is disclosed to a third party without consent.

For registers held in parishes of the Archdiocese, the Archbishop relies on the legitimate interest in preserving a record of sacraments administered in the Roman Catholic Church. Several of these — Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Orders — imprint an indelible character and may be received only once (c. 845 §1), so an enduring record is essential.

Because these entries are special category data, an additional basis applies: processing carried out in the course of the Archbishop's legitimate activities, with appropriate safeguards, relating solely to members or former members of the Church, and never disclosed outside the Church without the consent of the person concerned.

Names; contact details such as telephone numbers, postal addresses and email addresses; details of the Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, Marriage and Holy Orders.

Records of donations required for audit purposes and the Charities Act 2016; safeguarding information on clergy, staff and volunteers required by the National Safeguarding Office.

Gender, age, date of birth and marital status; information gathered to support faith development; education and work histories with academic or professional qualifications.

Some of this is sensitive personal data, since it can identify religious belief. Other sensitive categories may arise occasionally — health information for a pilgrimage, details of an injury in a legal claim, or trade union membership for a staff member.

To meet our legal and statutory obligations, and to carry the Church's mission and charitable work into our parish community.

To minister to parishioners with pastoral and spiritual care, such as visiting the sick and the bereaved, and to arrange liturgies including funerals — the Christian faithful have a right to assistance from the sacred pastors out of the spiritual goods of the Church (c. 213).

To prepare for and celebrate Baptism, First Holy Communion, Confirmation and Marriage, and to promote the growth of the Church in the Diocese of Dublin.

To carry out safeguarding procedures in accordance with best practice, so that children and vulnerable adults are always in safe environments.

To support those who serve the parish — pastoral council, finance committee, sacramental teams, ministry rosters — so each person can fulfil their role; without this information those roles could not function.

To fundraise, process donations, keep accounts and records, put agreements in place, invoice and make payments; to send the parish newsletter; to answer your request; and to manage staff, volunteers and contractors.

Our processing may also include photographs, live streaming by webcam, and images captured on CCTV.

Where the parish must share information with the Diocesan offices, a Data Processing Agreement signed by the Parish Priest/Administrator/Moderator and counter-signed by the Archbishop governs it. This arises, among other matters, with the Chancellery on sacramental questions, HR on employment, Finance on tax relief on donations and charities regulation, and Child Safeguarding on vetting.

Everything is treated as strictly confidential and shared only where appropriate: with statutory or church bodies for tax relief purposes, or with law enforcement for the prevention and detection of crime.

It may also be shared with third parties who assist us in our work. We reserve the right to release data without consent where the law permits or a legal obligation requires it.

Anything entrusted in the internal forum, and above all the seal of confession, is inviolable and is never recorded or disclosed by anyone (c. 983).

Only as long as needed, in line with our retention and disposition schedule. Certain records are kept permanently and placed in the parish or diocesan archives, which canon law requires to be maintained and protected (c. 491).

Entries in the Baptism Registers are retained in perpetuity, so that sacraments which may be received only once in a lifetime are correctly administered.

We meet our GDPR obligations by keeping data accurate and current, storing and destroying it securely, never gathering or holding more than we need, and protecting it from loss, misuse and unauthorised access through appropriate technical and organisational measures.

Baptism Register entries are annotated when a person receives Confirmation, Marriage or Holy Orders, so that these sacraments are undertaken only once in a lifetime.

Unless an exemption under the GDPR applies you may: obtain a copy of your data; have inaccurate, incomplete or out-of-date data corrected; ask, in certain circumstances, for it to be erased; restrict its processing where conditions allow; receive it in a portable electronic form or have it transferred to another controller; object to certain types of processing; and lodge a complaint with the Office of the Data Protection Commission.

To protect you, we may need to verify your identity before acting on such a request.

We do not transfer personal data outside the country. We reserve the right to review and amend this statement at any time without notice.

Please contact the parish with any question about this statement, the information we hold, or to exercise your rights — or email dataprotection@dublindiocese.ie.

The diocesan privacy policy is at www.dublindiocese.ie/privacypolicy.

The Data Protection Commission can be reached on 00353 57 8684800, Lo-Call 1890 252 231, or at info@dataprotection.ie.