The Catholic Church and personal data protection

What data of persons intending to contract marriage can occur in parish advertisements? Can an apostate demand his/her personal data be removed from the parish records? The answers among others to these questions can be found in the Guidelines on „Personal Data Protection in the Activity of the Catholic Church in Poland”.

The Catholic Church in Poland pursues its mission on the basis of the provisions of the Church and Canonic Law, as well as the Concordat, but it is also obliged to apply the principles contained in the Act on Personal Data Protection. The Guidelines on „Personal Data Protection in the Activity of the Catholic Church in Poland”, developed by the Inspector General for Personal Data Protection (GIODO) and the Secretariat of the Conference of the Episcopate of Poland, aim at raising the level of knowledge on personal data protection. The Guidelines were signed by bishop Stanisław Budzik, the Secretary General of the Conference of the Episcopate of Poland , and by Michał Serzycki, the Inspector General for Personal Data Protection.

The Guidelines explain the principles of proper safeguarding of personal data processed both in traditional way and in computer systems. The document indicates the obligations – resulting from the Code of Canonic Law – imposed on the data controller. It also describes the risks related to the use of the Internet. The list of questions and answers to the most bothering problems concerning the processing of personal data in pastoral work constitutes a helpful appendix. The Guidelines include also a glossary with basic terms related to personal data protection.

As recalled in the Guidelines on „Personal Data Protection in the Activity of the Catholic Church in Poland”, the personal data filing systems processed by the Church, as far as they regard its members and are used solely for Church purposes, e.g. parish records, are not subject to the obligation  of notifying the data file to registration with the Inspector General for Personal Data Protection. However, it does not exempt a diocese, parish or church institutions from the need to duly safeguard the collected data.

It is not contrary to the Act to post up on a parish noticeboard so called banns, i.e.  the list of names of couples intending to enter into a marriage, because pursuant to the provisions set forth in the Code of Canonic Law the faithful are obliged to disclose to the rector or ordinary of place any obstacles to marriage in relation to a given person. However, the scope of essential information to be disclosed for this purpose shall not be to broad.

The apostates demand sometimes their personal data to be removed from church books. It is not, however, justified, because the principles on archiving the information contained in church books result from the provisions of the Code of Canonic Law, which provides for the need of permanent storage of information.

The Guidelines are part of the idea to create the codes of good practice specified in Art. 27 of Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament. The results of such activities include agreements concluded by GIODO with the representatives of banking or directing marketing sectors, which in consequence developed the codes of good practice and undertook to apply them.