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Privacy Policy

Updated 4 December 2023

The Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney (CAS) is committed to protecting the privacy of individuals who provide personal information to it, including those who provide personal information to it via its websites (Sites).

CAS is committed to complying with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and all applicable principles governing the handling of personal information. This Privacy Policy is designed to tell you about CAS’ practices in relation to the collection, use, disclosure and storage of personal information.

What is personal information?

Personal information is any information about you that identifies you or from which your identity reasonably can be determined.

What types of personal information does CAS collect?

CAS collects and holds personal information that includes (but is not limited to):

  • your name, address, telephone number, facsimile number, email address and other contact details;
  • date of birth, gender, marital status and occupation;
  • financial information, such as donation history and credit card details, for instance, when you provide such details on a collection envelope at your Parish;
  • identification documents, including driver’s licence, passport or proof of age card;
  • photographs, videos and news stories in respect of Catholic Church related events and activities;
  • in respect of Benedict XVI Retreat Centre, information about individual’s dietary requirements, special needs and disabled access requirements (if any); and
  • in respect of Catholic Jobs Online, information about your employment background and education history.

Why does CAS collect personal information?

CAS collects and holds personal information for various reasons (which we generally notify to you at the time of collection), including the following primary purposes:

  • to place your contact details on mailing lists and in computer databases in order to provide you with information about Catholic Church related activities, functions, issues and initiatives;
  • to enable you to participate in offers, competitions or promotions;
  • to receive offerings and donations from you;
  • to enable CAS to provide services in respect of our Benedict XVI Retreat Centre, including accommodation and catering;
  • to enable CAS to provide services in respect of our Catholic Jobs Online website, including posting job vacancies and an application portal for job seekers; and
  • in relation to the Catholic Development Fund Archdiocese of Sydney (CDF):
    • to verify signatories on deposits and loan accounts;
    • to provide clergy with accounts and loan facilities; and
    • to provide transactional services, including charge cards.

How does CAS collect personal information?

CAS’ usual practice is to collect personal information directly from you either via its Sites or by some other method (such as by post or email). For example, some areas of its Sites may require you to submit information to enable you to benefit from the special features (such as newsletters and brochures) or to participate in a particular activity (such as an offer, competition or promotion).

In addition to collecting personal information from you, sometimes CAS collects personal information from a third party if it is unreasonable or impracticable to collect the information from you directly, for example, where the information is provided to CAS from Parishes (for instance, personal information contained in collection envelopes).

Does CAS collect information via passive information collection?

CAS may use cookies to assign your computer a User ID so that we can identify your computer on our server. You may configure your web browser so that you are notified in advance so your internet browser will disable cookies. In some instances cookies may collect and store personal information about you. Any personal information collected via the use of cookies will only be used by us in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Your Consent

In most cases, CAS requires you to consent specifically to any collection, use or disclosure of your personal information by CAS. Your consent may be explicit, such as in writing or verbally, or may be implied by conduct.

By using the Sites, you agree to be bound by this Privacy Policy. Whenever you submit personal information to CAS, you consent to:

  1. the collection, use, disclosure and storage of that information in accordance with this Privacy Policy;
  2. your personal information being used to improve the Sites; and
  3. the receipt of emails or other communications about CAS and our activities (including information about marketing, promotional, and research purposes), along with communications about Catholic Church-related activities, functions, issues and initiatives from time to time.

In addition, if you provide personal information to CAS via its Sites, you agree that we may combine such information with other actively collected information unless we specify otherwise at the point of collection. We will take reasonable measures to prevent personal information from being combined with passively collected information, unless you consent otherwise.

How will CAS use the personal information you provide?

In general terms, CAS uses and discloses the personal information you provide for the specific purpose or purposes for which you have given consent and for secondary purposes for which you reasonably expect CAS to use or disclose your personal information.

For instance, if you have consented to receiving information about Catholic Church-related activities, functions, issues and initiatives, CAS will send you email updates or newsletters regarding such Catholic Church matters.

Please be aware that you are free to “unsubscribe” to any publication that you receive from CAS at any time.

Does CAS disclose personal information to anyone?

CAS may disclose your personal information in a number of circumstances, for instance:

  1. where you have consented to us doing so (by way of example, in providing us with your contact details, you may have consented to CAS providing those details to another group, such as the Australian Bishops Conference); or
  2. where required or authorised by law (for instance, in response to a subpoena or other court order);
  3. to consultants, advisers or other third parties (in Australia or overseas) where that party has been contracted to provide administrative or other services to CAS (and on the basis that that third party agrees to abide by this Privacy Policy); or
  4. in respect of the CDF, to providers of transactional and related services.

Management and security of personal information

CAS takes all reasonable precautions to safeguard your personal information from loss, misuse, interference, unauthorised access, modification or unlawful disclosure.

However, you should keep in mind that the transmission of information over the internet is not completely secure or error-free. In particular, emails sent to or from the Sites may not be secure, and you should therefore take special care in deciding what information you send to us via e-mail.

Notifiable data breaches scheme

In the event of any loss, or unauthorised access or disclosure of your personal information that is likely to result in serious harm to you, CAS will investigate and notify the Australian Information Commissioner and you as soon as practicable, in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988.

Cross-border disclosure

Personal information will not be disclosed by CAS to recipients outside Australia unless we reasonably believe that:

  • the information will remain subject to principles for fair handling of the information which are substantially similar to Australian privacy principles;
  • there are mechanisms that you can access to take action to enforce such principles; and
  • the information will not be collected, held, used or disclosed by the recipients of the information in a manner inconsistent with this Privacy Policy.

Where CAS does disclose personal information to recipients outside Australia, the recipients are likely to be located in countries including Italy, Canada, United States of America and the United Kingdom.

Access to personal information

You may request access to personal information that CAS holds about you or you can ask us to correct, amend or delete any personal information being held by CAS about you (see CAS’ contact details below).

CAS will take reasonable steps to update or correct, as soon as possible, any information in our possession that you have previously submitted that is inaccurate, incomplete, out-of-date, irrelevant or misleading.

Complaints

If you have a privacy complaint, please contact the CAS Privacy Officer at:
Email: privacyofficer@sydneycatholic.org
Telephone: 61 2 9390 5100
Post: Locked Bag 5040, Alexandria NSW 2015

Your complaint will be reviewed and investigated internally and we will endeavour to resolve your issue efficiently.

If you are still not satisfied, we will let you know about the external dispute resolution avenues available to you.

Links to other websites

This Site may contain links or references to other websites. Please be aware that CAS does not control other websites and that this Privacy Policy does not apply to those websites.

CAS encourages you to read the privacy policy of every website you visit.

How to Contact Us

If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or you wish to lodge a request to access your personal information, please contact the CAS Privacy Officer at:
Email: privacyofficer@sydneycatholic.org
Telephone: 61 2 9390 5100
Post: Locked Bag 5040, Alexandria NSW 2015

Changes to this Privacy Policy

If this Privacy Policy changes, the revised policy will be posted on this Site.  Please check back periodically, and especially before you provide any personal information.  Your continued use of this Site following any amendments to it will confirm your acceptance of such amendments.

Applicable law

We do not represent that the content of the Sites or this Privacy Policy complies with the laws (including intellectual property) of any country outside Australia. If you access the Sites from outside Australia, you do so at your own risk and responsibility. You are responsible for making sure that you comply with all applicable laws in the place where you are located.

Please note that this policy applies to the agencies of the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney, excluding Sydney Catholic Schools and CatholicCare.

This policy was last updated on 4 December 2023 and may be reviewed from time to time.

CAS Collection Notice

Updated 4 December 2023

The Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney (CAS) is collecting your personal information (including your name, contact details (such as phone number and address), demographic information (such as age and occupation), financial information (such as credit card details) and photographs, videos and stories) so that we can:

  • contact you;
  • enable you to participate in offers or promotions;
  • provide you with services and information; and
  • receive offerings and donations from you.

We will also use the contact details you have provided us to send you marketing information and materials related to our activities, functions and initiatives, including, where you have opted in, via email or other digital communications.

CAS generally collects personal information directly from you via our website, or when you otherwise contact and correspond with us (for example, over the phone, via email or in person). Where it is not practicable to collect personal information from you, we may also collect personal information from publicly available sources of information, and, where you have provided your consent, from third parties.

If you do not provide us with the personal information we have requested, we may not be able to provide you with services or accept donations from you, to the extent that they require us to collect, use or disclose personal information.

CAS may disclose your personal information to our related entities, contractors providing services to us and to other third party service providers (such as mailing houses) we use in conducting our business.

We may also disclose your personal information where we are required or authorised by Australian law to do so (including the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (Cth).

Further information about how we handle your personal information, including details about how you can access your information and how you can complain about a breach of the Australian Privacy Principles (as well as how CAS will deal with any complaint) can be found in our Privacy Policy available at https://www.sydneycatholic.org/terms-and-conditions/#privacy.

You can contact us by getting in touch with our Privacy Officer, using the following details:

Email:          privacyofficer@sydneycatholic.org
Telephone:
61 2 9390 5100
Post:             
Locked Bag 5040, Alexandria NSW 2015