Text Message Program Terms

St. Peter’s OCIA Notifications is operated by St. Peter’s Catholic Church for candidates enrolled in OCIA and OCIT, and for the parents and guardians of teen candidates.

We use it for:

• weather closings and cancellations
• schedule changes to a session or a rite
• reminders about paperwork that is outstanding or due
• requests for a specific form
• occasional announcements about the programme

We do not send marketing, fundraising, political, or promotional text messages, and we never will. If a text from us is not about a session, a rite, the weather, or your paperwork, it is not from us.

You join by giving the parish office a mobile number, or by entering one in the student portal. There is no keyword to text and no form to sign — a mobile number on your profile is what enrols you.

Providing a mobile number is entirely optional. Everything the parish sends by text is also posted in the student portal, and closings are published on the website, so nobody who declines misses anything they need. Your participation in the Program does not depend on it, and neither does anything else.

By giving us a mobile number you agree to receive the messages described in §8.1 at that number, and you confirm that the number is yours or that you are authorised to enrol it.

To leave, delete the number from your details in the portal, reply STOP to any message, or ask the office. Any of the three works.

Message frequency varies. In most months you will receive no texts at all; in a week of bad weather or a rescheduled rite you may receive several. We do not send routine or marketing texts.

We say this rather than quoting a number because a number would be untrue. This is a catechetical programme, not a mailing list: some months are silent, and a week of snow is not.

Message and data rates may apply.

The parish charges nothing for these messages. Your mobile carrier may charge you for receiving them, depending on your plan — check with your carrier if you are unsure. We are not responsible for charges your carrier applies.

Reply STOP to any message and the texts end. You do not have to explain why, and nobody will ask.

END, QUIT, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL and UNSTOP work as well. You will receive one final message confirming that you have been removed, and then nothing further.

Opting out of texts does not remove you from the Program, from the portal, or from anything else. You will still receive announcements in the student portal and by e-mail, and closings will still be published on the website. You can rejoin at any time by adding your number back to your profile or asking the office.

Reply HELP to any message for contact details and a reminder of how to stop.

You can also reach a person directly: [Text-message HELP contact (email or phone)], or telephone the parish office on [Parish telephone number].

No mobile information will be shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes. Mobile opt-in data and consent are never shared with anyone.

To be plain about what that means in practice:

1. We do not sell, rent, trade, or lend your mobile number, to anyone, for any price.
2. We do not share it with advertisers, data brokers, list vendors, political organisations, other parishes, or any affiliate.
3. We do not share your consent to receive texts, or the fact that you opted in, with any third party for their own use.
4. The only party that ever sees your number is the messaging carrier that delivers the text, which handles it solely to deliver that message and is contractually barred from using it for anything else.
5. Inside the parish, your number is visible to clergy, the catechetical team and office staff on a need-to-know basis, exactly as the rest of your record is.

The one exception is the one that applies to every record we hold: we will disclose it where we are legally compelled, or where necessary to prevent imminent harm. See the Privacy Notice §2.6.

Your number is used for the messages in §8.1 and for the parish office to telephone you about the Program. It is not used for anything else.

Message delivery is subject to your carrier’s network. Messages may be delayed or fail to arrive for reasons outside our control, and mobile carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages.

Because delivery is not guaranteed, a text message is never the only way we tell you something. Every closing and schedule change is also posted in the student portal, and closings are published on the website. Do not rely on a text alone.

This programme is not an emergency service. See the Terms of Use §1.7 — in an emergency call 911, and for a mental health crisis call or text 988.

We may revise these terms; the revised version takes effect when posted. Continued participation after posting is acceptance. If we ever changed what we send in a way that went beyond §8.1, we would ask you again rather than rely on this paragraph.

The Terms of Use and the Privacy Notice also apply, including the limitation of liability and the governing-law provisions.