SEMINARY OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD PRIVACY POLICY

The Seminary of the Good Shepherd (Seminary) is committed to protecting the privacy of individuals who provide personal information to it, including those who provide personal information to it via telephone, post, email, or its website.

The Seminary 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 the Seminary’s 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.

Sensitive information is a type of personal information that is given a higher level of protection under the Privacy Act. Sensitive information includes information about your religious beliefs or affiliation, philosophical beliefs, racial or ethnic origin, sexual orientation or practices, or health information (such as information contained in a medical and dental report).

What types of personal information does the Seminary collect?

The Seminary 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, and occupation;
• academic records and educational background information;
• identification documents, including your Working with Children Check number and clearance, the results of your National Police Check, copies of your birth certificate, passport and visa application or visa (if applicable);
• personal references, family background information, autobiographical materials;
• medical and dental reports; and
• information for the purpose of our assessment of Seminary candidates and ongoing assessment of Seminarians, including information that a candidate provides for the purpose of psychological testing.

Why does the Seminary collect personal information?

The Seminary 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 enable the Seminary to provide services in relation to priestly formation, including academic, spiritual and pastoral services;
• to assess its candidates for suitability in pastoral ministry;
• to communicate with the Vocations Director in your Diocese;
• to advise your Bishop as to your readiness for ordination; and
• to place your contact details in computer databases in order to provide you with information about Seminary-related activities and, if you are a Seminarian, to communicate with you as part of the Seminary community.

How does the Seminary collect personal information?

The Seminary’s usual practice is to collect personal information directly from you if you are an applicant to the Seminary and otherwise the Seminary may collect personal information by post, telephone or email.

In addition to collecting personal information from you, sometimes the Seminary 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 the Seminary from Parishes and Vocations Directors.

Your Consent

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

By joining the Seminary, you agree to be bound by this Privacy Policy.

Whenever you submit personal information to the Seminary, you consent to:

(i) the collection, use, disclosure and storage of that information in accordance with this Privacy Policy; and
(ii) the receipt of emails or other communications about the Seminary and our activities (including information about Seminary activities, external providers of educational seminars and courses, and ministry opportunities), along with communications about Catholic-Church-related activities, functions, issues and initiatives from time-to-time.

How will the Seminary use the personal information you provide?

In general terms, the Seminary 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 the Seminary to use or disclose your personal information.

For instance, if you are a Seminarian, and you have consented to receiving information about the Seminary community and the Catholic Church, we will send you email updates or newsletters regarding such community matters and more broadly regarding Catholic Church.

Does the Seminary disclose personal information to anyone?

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

(i) where you have consented to us doing so (by way of example, in providing us with your contact details, you may have consented to the Seminary providing those details to another group, such as the University of Notre Dame Australia and the Catholic Institute of Sydney);
(ii) where required or authorised by law (for instance, in response to a subpoena or other court order);
(iii) to consultants, advisers or other third parties (in Australia or overseas) where that party has been contracted to provide administrative or other services to the Seminary (and on the basis that that third party agrees to abide by this Privacy Policy); or
(iv) to your Bishop and Vocations Director.

Management and security of personal information

The Seminary 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, e-mail sent to or from the Seminary may not be secure, and you should therefore take special care in deciding what information you send to us via e-mail.

Cross-border disclosure

Personal information will not be disclosed by the Seminary 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 the Seminary 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 the Seminary holds about you or you can ask us to correct, amend or delete any personal information being held by the Seminary about you (see the Seminary’s contact details below).

The Seminary 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 any questions about this Privacy Policy;
• wish to lodge a request to access your personal information; or
• have a privacy complaint;

please contact the Seminary at:
• Email: [email protected]
• Telephone: (02) 9752 9600
• Post: Attention: The Rector, PO Box 4149, Homebush South NSW 2140

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

The Seminary’s website may contain links or references to other websites. Please be aware that the Seminary does not control other websites and that this Privacy Policy does not apply to those websites. The Seminary encourages you to read the privacy policy of every website you visit.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

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

Applicable law

We do not represent that the content of the Seminary’s website or this Privacy Policy complies with the laws (including intellectual property) of any country outside Australia. If you access the Seminary’s website 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.

This policy was last updated on 20 October 2017 and may be reviewed from time to time.