Policies
The Archconfraternity of St Stephen treats its responsibilities under civil and church canon regulations with the upmost seriousness, this page lists our current organisational polices.
The Archconfraternity is an international organisation of the Catholic Church headquartered in England, our civil policies relate to the regulations of our home country. Unless otherwise indicated, these policies relate to the direct activities undertaken by the Archconfraternity itself and the members of its Central Council.
These policies do not relate to the operations of local affiliated Guilds (confraternities) in parishes, dioceses, schools or other organisations who may use the ‘brand’ of the Guild of St Stephen though virtue of their affiliation. These groups should follow the policies of their organisation such as their diocese.
Most events that are run in the name of the Guild are operated by a local organisation such as a diocese or parish with the sponsorship of the Archconfraternity. For example, the National Mass in England and Wales is operated by the diocese elected to do so for that year, not by the Archconfraternity itself and follows the local policies of that diocese. Where the Archconfraternity does operate an event directly (for example its Annual General Meeting) the policies here apply.
Charity Commission
The Archconfraternity of St Stephen is a registered not-for-profit charity in England and Wales with charity number 803021. Our Annual Reports are published on our AGM page.
Complaints
We are committed to listening to all those who have contact with us in pursuing our goals as well as those we are serving. The Guild can learn from the help that our friends are offering us in giving us their comments and complaints, please see our Complaints Policy for further information.
Constitution and Canon Law
The Archconfraternity of St Stephen is an organisation of the Roman Catholic Church established under Canon 312 of the Code of Canon Law, the details of which and our structure and governance, are detailed in our constitution.
Copyright
Where required, we endeavour to cite any required copyright credit, or seek the required permissions for any 3rd party media (text, images, audio, video, maps etc.) used in any of our publications, online or in print. For music used at an event in our name (lyrics and/or accompaniment) which is under copyright, the licence of the venue is used and the licence number and other required citations quoted in the order of service.
Religious texts reproduced in any of our publications do so following the guidance of the Liturgy Office of the Department for Christian Life and Worship of the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of England and Wales.
Mailing List
To unsubscribe from our e-mail mailing list, follow this link to MailChimp and enter the e-mail address you wish to be removed. To subscribe, use the form at the bottom of this page.
Photographs
While we will always ask through an announcement or prominent note in our order of service, for private photos and video not to be taken, our events most often take place in churches and other public places (such as in procession on a street), as such it is not always possible to control the use of photo and video by members of the public.
Where we do take official photography or video of an event, this will be clearly stated in the order of service with details on how to opt out or make yourself known to the photographer who will be wearing identification. These photos may be shared with the venue or organisation hosting the event, and published online on our Flickr site, social media (links below) or in print.
Where possible and required, we collect explicit consent using our Photo Consent Form, data collected on this form is stored in accordance with the below Data Protection policy.
If after an event you, or someone you are responsible for, wish to be removed from a photo used online or withdraw previously given explicit consent, we will make every reasonable effort to comply with your request, please get in-touch at communications@guildofststephen.org.
Privacy and Data Protection
Please see our Privacy Policy and Data Protection Policy. Subject Access Requests should be directed to secretary@guildofststephen.org.
Where we collect your data we collect your consent using our Data Consent or equivalent form.
Safeguarding of Children and Vulnerable Adults
The Archconfratenity follows the policies and procedures of the independent Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency. Our safeguarding policy is signed by all members of the Central Council annually and is subject to annual review. Enquires or concerns should be addressed to the Safeguarding Officer, safeguarding@guildofststephen.org or if the complaint concerns that officer, to the Honorary President of the Guild president@guildofststephen.org.