St. Columba ParishSt. Columba Parish collects personal information only when we need it to serve you: to register your family, to prepare your child for a sacrament, to issue a tax receipt, or to answer a message you send us. We treat that information as a trust. This policy explains what we collect through this website and in the parish office, how it is used and protected, and what you can ask of us. It follows the privacy guidelines of the Archdiocese of Toronto and the principles of Canada's federal privacy law. Last updated September 2026.
What we collect and why
| When you… | We collect | We use it to |
|---|---|---|
| Send a message through a website form (contact, prayer request, Mass intention, hall inquiry, volunteer) | Your name, email, phone if given, and what you wrote | Reply to you and act on your request |
| Register with the parish | Household names, address, phone, email, and the ministries you are interested in | Keep our parish roll, send envelopes and the bulletin, and contact you about parish life |
| Give a donation | Your name, address, the amount and date; for pre-authorized giving, your banking details on the paper form | Issue an annual tax receipt and keep the accounts the Canada Revenue Agency requires |
| Receive a sacrament | The details required by Church law: names, dates, places, parents, godparents or witnesses, the minister | Record the sacrament permanently in the parish register |
| Volunteer | Application, interview notes, references, and the date a police check was received | Meet the Archdiocese's screening requirements |
| Visit this website | Standard server logs (pages requested, browser type, approximate location by IP address) | Keep the site running and understand which pages are useful |
We do not sell, rent or trade personal information, and we do not send marketing on behalf of anyone else. We share information outside the parish only with the Archdiocese of Toronto where policy requires it (for example sacramental records and volunteer screening), with the service providers named below, and where the law requires.
Sacramental records
Records of baptisms, confirmations, marriages and deaths are kept permanently in bound registers, as canon law requires, and a copy is held by the Archdiocesan Archives. They are not public. A certificate is issued to the person the record concerns (or a parent or guardian for a minor), or to another parish preparing that person for a sacrament. Notations of confirmation, marriage and holy orders are added to the baptismal record over a person's lifetime. Records of adopted persons and other sensitive entries are handled under archdiocesan rules and released only with the Chancery's approval. To request a certificate, contact the office with your full name, date of birth and the approximate date of the sacrament; there is no fee, and most certificates are ready within a week.
How long we keep information
- Website messages: deleted from the form service within 90 days once handled; the office may keep the email thread for one year.
- Parish registration: for as long as you are registered, and for two years after you tell us you have moved.
- Donation records: seven years after the end of the year of the gift, as required by the Canada Revenue Agency.
- Volunteer screening files: while you volunteer and for seven years afterwards.
- Sacramental registers: permanently.
Third-party services
This website relies on a few outside services. Each processes only the information needed for its job and is bound by its own privacy policy.
- Form handling. Website forms prepare a message in your email app. You choose whether to send it. These forms do not store submissions on this website.
- Google Calendar and Google Maps. The calendar on our Events page and the map on our contact page are embedded from Google, which may set its own cookies within the embed.
- YouTube. Mass livestreams and archived videos are embedded from YouTube using its privacy-enhanced mode, which does not set tracking cookies until you press play.
- Online giving. Online donations are made through the Archdiocese of Toronto's secure portal. The parish never sees or stores your card number.
Cookies
This site sets no cookies of its own and uses no advertising or analytics trackers. Embedded services (YouTube, Google Calendar, Google Maps) may set cookies when you interact with them; you can block these in your browser without losing access to the rest of the site.
Security
Paper records are kept in locked cabinets in the parish office with access limited to the pastor and office staff. Electronic records live on password-protected parish computers and the Archdiocese's parish database, never on personal devices, and website traffic is encrypted.
Your rights: access and correction
Ask
Write to the parish office (email or letter) asking to see the personal information we hold about you, or to correct it. Tell us which records you mean if you can.
We confirm your identity
We will ask for identification, or for a parent or guardian's consent where a minor's records are involved, before releasing anything.
We respond within 30 days
You will receive a copy of your information, or an explanation if part of it cannot be released (for example, references given in confidence, or another person's information mixed with yours). Corrections to sacramental registers follow canon law and may require documentary proof.
You may also ask us to stop contacting you or to remove you from the parish roll; we will do so unless a legal or canonical retention rule applies.
Photographs and changes to this policy
Identifiable photos of children taken at parish events require a parent's written consent, and we will remove any photograph of you or your child from the website on request. Changes to this policy are posted here with a new "last updated" date.
Questions or concerns about privacy? Contact Teresa Alvarez, Office Manager and privacy contact, at 416-555-0142 ext. 21 or office@stcolumbatoronto.ca, or write to St. Columba Parish, 1240 Columba Avenue, Toronto, ON M4K 2R6. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may raise the matter with the Archdiocese of Toronto through archtoronto.org.