Congregation News and Confidentiality

15 February, 2011 - 14:23 by Sue Groves
Does anyone else have problems with printing Congregation news and confidentiality issues. I have been advised that it is preferable not to include pray requests for specific people, use full names or indeed include any information about individuals unless I have explicit permission from them. Some of my readers complain about the lack of 'people based' news but others have refused permission to print news of marriages, and births when I have approached them. Prayer requests are also problematic as often someone has either died or recovered by the time the magazine is distributed! What do other people do?
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Submitted by redglen on 17 February, 2011 - 12:45.
I don't tend to include prayer requests - unless it's general requests such as come with a mission newsletter, which I often include or summarize. Prayer requests can be of a sensitive nature and I think are best dealt with in the more intimate environment of the church, rather than in a magazine which goes to folk outside of our congregation. We have a weekly bulletin for members of the congregation, which has less of a circulation outside of the church, and specific prayer requests can be put on there - but we tend to limit that as it can become difficult if one person's prayer request is included but another's isn't - the list would be too long to include everyone in need of prayer and, to avoid offending people we have a general reminder to 'pray for people amongst our congregation, friends and family, who are unwell, going through stressful times or facing challenging circumstances.' Specific requests can then be dealt with on a more personal basis. I do include marriage and birth announcements and congratulations, and have never had any problems - I've not asked the individuals for permission, and would find it unusual that someone would not want to share such good news with their church family. However knowing your congregation is the best measure - and if you think it might be a problem with someone, then I would check.
Submitted by LINKMag on 18 February, 2011 - 18:25.
I have a page headed "From the Registers" where baptisms, marraiges and funerals are detailed every month (including all funerals dealt with by our parish team - whether in church or at local crematoria etc). By heading the page thus, it is an 'official' record of the churches' activity within the benefice, and we find we only get complaints if we inadvertently leave someone out! I never include any prayers for individuals unless it is a particular request in an article about something that person is needing specific support with. I find this system works really well and have so far never had a complaint after nearly 20 years of this arrangement to my knowledge. Prayers for individuals are dealt with by our minister and appear on the weekly pew sheet on a 1st name only basis.
Submitted by Mrs Editor on 1 March, 2011 - 09:09.
We do not include prayer requests in our magazine. We also have a weekly bulletin which has a prayer list of names. Our Baptism secretary regularly updates us on the Baptisms that have taken place. We only include things like weddings and funerals if someone has actually submitted an article or photograph( in the case of weddings) for the magazine. Any mention usually takes the form of 'Thank You's after the event. Our magazine also goes outside the church family and we try to keep the content fairly light, although we do address serious issues when appropriate. We do get some feedback, and it seems that the wordsearch, 'Uncle Eustace', and 'Smile lines' are the items that people seem to enjoy. ( I sometimes wonder if it would be more beneficial to edit a puzzle and joke magazine - only joking!)
Submitted by Link_Man on 1 April, 2011 - 14:34.
We publish an item called "Church Family News" where we mention people by name in reference to things that have happened to them, including health matters or hospitalisation. We mention baptisms weddings , funerals and Prayer requests. We often publish a "Thank you" from a family after an event etc. We publish monthly, does that make a difference? The only time we have had complaints is when we have missed out somebody (because they have failed to tell us).
Submitted by Gordon Hudson on 4 April, 2011 - 17:42.
from long-standing editor We always include in our magazine details of Baptisms, Marriages, and Funeral Services under the heading "From the Registers". The Registers (which the church is legally obliged to keep) are public documents, and can be inspected by anyone, so there should be no problem about printing these details. We also include in a separate block (but under the same main heading) details of funeral services taken at the crematorium by the parish clergy. These details may be seen in the Council records, and in any event are usually already public having appeared in the local newspaper. Personal prayer requests are never included in the magazine, although they are often mentioned internally in the services and/or in a weekly internal news sheet.
Submitted by Catherine Wallis on 7 April, 2011 - 19:12.
I would just like to reiterate what LINKMAG said on 18th Feb - everything that they have said in their comments are exactly the same as we do and we have had no complaints in the 5 years that we have been doing the magazine.
Submitted by Nic Murray on 3 May, 2011 - 21:11.
I try to pack as much community information into my magazine as possible, recently I started publishing our parish councillors contact details - phone number and email - our district and county councillors have their details published as well. I received a curt email asking me to remove the PC details and that all communications should be through the PC clerk. Apparently I needed the individuals permission, which I now have, just shows how careful you need to be when printing information. I've only been edting for 12 months and I'm still on the learning curve :)
Submitted by Clive Billenness on 14 May, 2011 - 10:09.
Responding to Nic: The names, addresses and even phone numbers of Parish Councillors are a matter of public record and should be displayed prominently within the Parish. While some Parish Clerks are very aggressive about their position, it is a normal democratic right of all citizens to speak directly to their Parish Council. There is nothing to stop you publishing these details in the Parish Magazine - I recommend taking them directly from the notice board where they should be displayed. I also recommend that you ask the clerk for the details of the local Monitoring Officer at your Borough or District Council and seek their advice. This person is the expert and simply asking the Clerk for the details may well give them pause for thought. It is good practice to also include the details of the Parish Clerk as well If the curt e-mail came from the Chair or another elected member of the Parish Council, they are open to formal reference to the local Standards Board for their actions. Rgds (Parish) Councillor Clive Billenness Tockwith with Wilstop Parish Council http://tockwith.gov.uk and Member, Harrogate Borough Council Standards Board
Submitted by Werburga on 19 May, 2011 - 10:10.
Same as Linkmag on 18 Feb. We too have a 'From the Registers' section where all baptisms, marriages and funerals are mentioned - at least all those that are sent to me by the various clergy/churchwardens (we cover 5 villages so have to rely on others to send information). Personal details, such as illness, requests for prayer, etc are never published, unless specifically requested by the person involved. On the subject of contact details, we list all the village organisations with a contact name and phone number for each. Again I rely on others to keep me up to date and we get complaints if it is wrong!