1. Introduction
St. Charles Catholic Church ("we," "us," "our," or "the Parish") operates the St. Charles mobile application (the "App"), available on Android and iOS, to help parishioners book Mass intentions, make donations and pledges, receive announcements, view a community feed, and watch livestreamed services. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use and protect it, and the choices and rights available to you as a user of the App. By downloading, accessing, or using the App, you agree to the practices described in this Policy. If you do not agree, please discontinue use of the App.
2. Information We Collect
We collect the following categories of information:
- Information you provide directly: your full name, phone number, and email address when you register, book a Mass intention, make a donation or pledge, or submit a community post or comment.
- Payment information: transaction references, amounts, payment status, and Mass or donation details associated with each payment. We do not collect or store your card number, CVV, or bank account details — these are entered directly into Paystack's secure checkout and never pass through our servers.
- Content you submit: photos, text, and comments you post to the community feed or announcements section.
- Device and technical information: device type, operating system version, app version, and a push notification token, used to deliver announcements and booking confirmations to your device.
- Permissions-based data: if granted, microphone access (for features such as voice notes or audio recording within the app) and notification permissions (to send you announcements, reminders, and payment confirmations). You can withdraw these permissions at any time through your device settings, though doing so may limit certain features.
- Usage information: general app interaction data such as screens visited and features used, which helps us identify and fix issues and improve the App over time.
3. How We Use Your Information
We use the information we collect to:
- Process and confirm Mass bookings, pledges, and donations;
- Send you booking confirmations, receipts, and payment status updates;
- Deliver parish announcements, event reminders, and push notifications;
- Display and moderate content on the community feed;
- Respond to your inquiries and provide customer support;
- Maintain accurate church administrative and financial records;
- Detect, investigate, and prevent fraud, abuse, or security incidents;
- Improve app performance, fix bugs, and develop new features.
We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal data to third parties for marketing or advertising purposes, and we do not use your data for purposes unrelated to those described in this Policy without first obtaining your consent.
4. Legal Basis for Processing
Where applicable under the Nigeria Data Protection Act (NDPA) 2023 and similar data protection laws, we process your personal data on the following legal bases: your consent (for example, when you voluntarily submit information or grant device permissions); performance of a contract (to process your bookings and donations); and our legitimate interest in operating, securing, and improving the App and church administration.
5. Data Security
We implement industry-standard security measures to protect your information, including encrypted connections (SSL/TLS) for all data transmitted between the App and our servers, prepared database statements to prevent SQL injection attacks, HMAC signature verification to validate authenticity of payment webhooks, bcrypt password hashing for administrator accounts, and rate limiting on our backend APIs to prevent abuse and automated attacks. While we take reasonable steps to protect your data, no method of transmission or storage is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
6. Payment Processing
All financial transactions within the App — including Mass booking fees, pledges, and donations — are processed through Paystack, a PCI-DSS Level 1 compliant payment processor licensed to operate in Nigeria. A service fee of ₦50 is applied to each transaction to help maintain the App's infrastructure and ongoing development. We only store transaction references, amounts, and status returned by Paystack; we never receive or store your full card number, expiry date, CVV, or bank login credentials. For details on how Paystack handles your payment data, please refer to Paystack's own privacy policy at paystack.com/privacy.
7. Data Sharing and Disclosure
We do not sell your personal information. We may share limited information with:
- Service providers such as Paystack (for payment processing) and our hosting provider, strictly to the extent necessary to operate the App;
- Parish administrators and staff, who may access booking, donation, and community feed data for legitimate church administrative purposes;
- Legal authorities, where required to comply with a legal obligation, court order, or valid governmental request, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of the Parish, our users, or the public.
8. Data Retention
We retain your booking and donation records for as long as necessary for church administrative, accounting, and record-keeping purposes, consistent with applicable law. Community feed posts and comments may be retained or removed at the discretion of parish administrators, for example where content violates our community guidelines. If you wish to have your personal data deleted, you may contact the parish office using the details in Section 12, and we will honor your request except where retention is required by law or for legitimate administrative purposes.
9. Your Rights
Depending on your location and applicable law, you may have the right to: access the personal data we hold about you; request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data; request deletion of your data; object to or restrict certain processing; and withdraw consent at any time where processing is based on consent (for example, by disabling notification or microphone permissions in your device settings). To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details provided in Section 12.
10. Third-Party Services
The App integrates with the following third-party services, each governed by its own privacy policy:
- Paystack — for secure payment processing of bookings, pledges, and donations;
- YouTube — for embedding and streaming livestreamed Mass and church events.
We encourage you to review these providers' privacy policies to understand how they handle your information.
11. Children's Privacy
This App is not directed at, and is not intended for use by, children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we become aware that we have inadvertently collected personal data from a child under 13 without appropriate parental consent, we will take steps to delete such information promptly. Parents or guardians who believe their child may have provided us with personal information are encouraged to contact us using the details in Section 12.
12. Contact Us
If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or how your data is handled, please contact us at:
St. Charles Catholic Church
Nomansland, Kano State, Nigeria
Email:
info@stcharlesparishkano.com.ng
13. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, legal requirements, or App features. Any changes will be posted on this page with an updated "Last updated" date. We encourage you to review this Policy periodically. Continued use of the App after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the revised Policy.