This policy explains how ParishLife.ie (“we”, “us”) processes personal data on ParishLife.ie. It is our public controller statement for this product. It is not legal advice to you. Practices may change as the service is in public beta; material changes will be dated at the top of this page.
1. Who we are
ParishLife.ie is an Irish public information service for Catholic parish Mass times, parish listings, and funeral notices across Ireland (including Northern Ireland where listed). We are the data controller for personal data processed through this website.
Controller: ParishLife.ie
Postal address: Ireland — registered postal address available on request at privacy@parishlife.ie
Privacy: privacy@parishlife.ie
General: info@parishlife.ie
Legal: legal@parishlife.ie
Support: support@parishlife.ie
Data subject requests: privacy request form or privacy@parishlife.ie. Funeral notice removal: takedown form.
2. Data we collect
Parish and Mass times
Parish names, addresses, map coordinates, phone numbers, websites, and Mass, confession, and related schedules. This is largely public information from diocesan and parish publications and community contributions. Where a living person is named (for example a parish priest), that is limited public-contact information for the parish service. Listings may be unverified. We do not treat a map pin lookup as verification of Mass times.
Location (optional)
If you use “Mass near me”, your browser may share an approximate location with us for that request. If you use address lookup, we send the search text you type to TomTom to suggest pins. We do not use this to build advertising profiles.
Funeral notices
Names of deceased persons, dates, venues, and family messages as submitted by registered funeral directors. Notices are intentionally public. Living persons may appear in family lines or as directors. Families and estate representatives may request removal at any time.
Living persons (families and condolence authors)
Family members named in notices, condolence authors (name and message), and optional submitter email are living persons. Condolence emails and submitter IP addresses are never shown publicly; they are kept for abuse prevention and accountability. Condolences are held for review before they appear. Directors may disable condolences on a notice.
Feedback, corrections, and listing photos
Notes sent via /feedback, parish correction forms, or missing-parish reports, including optional email, parish or place, and optional photos of churches or community halls. Photos are held for human review and are not published on a parish page until an operator approves them. Do not upload images of identifiable people, children, or named noticeboards. A technical IP is stored only for rate limits and abuse handling.
Funeral director accounts
Name, email, password (hashed via our auth provider), business name, address, and phone needed to operate the director portal. Directors are responsible for the accuracy of notices they submit.
Email alerts, parish watches, and Mass reminders
Email address and the counties, parish, or Mass you choose. Subscriptions and watches use double opt-in. Reminders are sent only if you opt in. Every such email includes unsubscribe. These features may indicate religious practice (see section 4).
Enquiries, support, reports, and takedowns
Contact or sacrament enquiries, support messages, reports, and takedown requests store what you submit (typically name, email, message) plus IP for moderation and GDPR accountability.
Cookies, locale, and first-party analytics
Essential cookies for director sign-in and a first-party locale cookie parishlife_locale. With consent via the cookie banner, we record first-party page views (path and time, no advertising identifiers). Consent is stored as parishlife_consent_v1. See our Cookies notice. We do not use Google Analytics, Meta Pixel, or third-party advertising cookies.
3. Funeral notices and the deceased
Irish GDPR does not protect personal data of deceased persons in the same way as living persons. We still treat funeral content with dignity. Living persons named in or around a notice remain protected. Family members or estate representatives may request removal via the takedown form or privacy@parishlife.ie. We aim to act promptly (typically within a few business days), subject to verifying the request is genuine.
4. Religion and special category data
ParishLife.ie concerns Catholic parish life. A public Mass directory is information about places and published schedules. If you create a watch, reminder, or account tied to attending Mass, that can reveal religious practice (GDPR Article 9). We process that only where you have clearly opted in, or where another Article 9 condition applies (for example data you have made public yourself). We do not sell this data. We do not use it for advertising profiles. Pastoral or prayer-care products are not part of this launch.
5. Legal bases
- Parish and Mass listings: legitimate interests (public information service)
- Funeral notices: legitimate interests (public notice tradition); contract with directors
- Director accounts: contract
- Alerts, watches, reminders: consent (opt-in / double opt-in)
- Analytics cookies: consent
- Essential cookies and security logs: legitimate interests / necessity to provide the site
- Reports, corrections, photos, takedowns, feedback: legitimate interests (accuracy, safety, product)
- Legal claims, abuse, and tax records: legal obligation or legitimate interests
- Payments if enabled: contract / legal obligation via Stripe (we do not store full card numbers)
6. Processors and transfers
We use processors to run the site. Some processing may occur outside the EEA. Where it does, we rely on appropriate safeguards (provider GDPR terms, Standard Contractual Clauses, and/or adequacy). We do not claim that personal data never leaves the EEA. We do not sell personal data.
- Supabase — database, authentication, and file storage (including pending listing photos). Prefer an EU project region.
- Vercel — application hosting and edge delivery. Request metadata (including IP) may be processed in the US or EU depending on routing.
- Resend — transactional email (confirmations, alerts, reminders). Sending domain for ParishLife is typically parishlife.ie.
- TomTom (optional) — address and nearby-church lookup to improve map pins. Used only when someone runs a lookup. TomTom does not supply Mass times and never auto-verifies a parish.
- Stripe — only if a paid support or similar payment is enabled.
- Anthropic — only if AI search is switched on. Keep AI off unless that transfer risk is accepted.
7. Retention and backups
We keep data only as long as needed for the purpose, then delete or restrict it. Provider backups may persist for a limited window after deletion. We cannot promise instant erasure from every backup copy.
- Funeral notices: while the public record is useful, or until a valid hide/removal request
- Condolences: while the notice remains, or sooner on moderation or request
- Director accounts: until deletion is processed
- Alerts / watches / reminders: until you unsubscribe or ask us to erase
- Feedback, corrections, photos, reports, IPs: while needed for review, security, and accountability
- Analytics events: for product improvement; purged where we can identify you on request
8. Children and safeguarding
This site is a general public directory, not a children’s service. We do not knowingly target anyone under 16 for accounts, watches, alerts, or reminders. Do not post photographs of children. If a child is identifiable in a notice, condolence, or photo, contact privacy@parishlife.ie or use the takedown form. We are not a diocesan safeguarding office; parish safeguarding contacts belong to the relevant diocese or parish.
9. Your rights
- Access, rectification, erasure, restriction, portability (where applicable)
- Object to legitimate-interest processing
- Withdraw consent for analytics, alerts, watches, and reminders
- Complain to a supervisory authority
Use the privacy request form or email privacy@parishlife.ie. We aim to respond within one month. We may need to verify who you are before acting. Some records (for example a public funeral notice you did not author) cannot be erased solely because you dislike them; we still consider living-person and family requests carefully.
10. Northern Ireland and the UK
If you are in Northern Ireland or elsewhere in the UK, UK GDPR and the Information Commissioner’s Office may also apply. You may complain to the ICO as well as the Irish DPC.
11. Admin access
A small number of authorised operators may access personal data on a need-to-know basis for moderation, support, security, and operation. We do not use AI to close privacy, safeguarding, or condolence decisions.
12. Contact and complaints
Privacy: privacy@parishlife.ie. If you are not satisfied, you may lodge a complaint with the Data Protection Commission (Ireland).
Related: Terms · Cookies · Disclaimer