Church could ban child photos
Once upon a time you took a photo of a child in a church and it didn’t go further than your photo album.
Fears over abusers have sparked a clampdown on child photography in church, with snaps of everything from christening to confirmation facing a possible ban.
The New Zealand Catholic Church has announced it is considering introducing guidelines to control filming and photographing of children on church grounds.
Similar guidelines already exist overseas.
In Ireland there is a total ban on all photographs during religious services in the Dublin archdiocese, including weddings, first communions, confirmations and baptisms. All dioceses in Ireland have been guidelines.
Other churches in New Zealand, such as the Pentecostal church Arise, which has a big youth following, also have strict rules in place that ban the photographing of children.
Bill Kilgallon, director of the Catholic Church’s national office of professional standards, said there were two reasons for the guidelines: to protect children from potential abusers, and to stop disruption to church services.
‘‘Many countries . . . and organisations have guidelines about taking photos of children. They arise out of issues of abuse, where the people who have a sexual inter-
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to draw up est in children will try to take photos of them at playgrounds or swimming pools.’’
The church was not acting because of complaints, but as a result of the Irish ban, he said.
The rise of cellphone camera technology was causing increasing disruption to church services overseas, he said. ‘‘I was in Italy recently . . . and the disruption in a church service there from people taking photographs was huge. Particularly people sticking [cameras] up on those selfie sticks.’’
Cardinal John Dew, the Catholic archbishop of Wellington, said the Catholic church already encouraged people to stick to one professional photographer for important events. ‘‘For several years now I’ve encouraged those planning celebrations and events to consider a single official photographer who is conscious of the rules around photos of minors and also respects the reason for the celebration . . . [and records it] in a way that doesn’t detract from people’s experience of it.
‘‘It also allows us to say at the beginning that we ask people to refrain from taking photos.’’
Canon Deborah Broome, from the Wellington Anglican diocese, said the church had no official rules for photographs, but some individual parishes had taken step to limit photography.
‘‘Generally I say it’s about using common sense, checking to see if you have permission to take the photograph and put it online, and if in doubt, don’t take a photo of a child’s face.’’
Arise Church lead pastor John Cameron said the general congregation was kept separate from children’s programmes. All staff and volunteers were subject to police checks.
Privacy law specialist Nicole Moreham, of Victoria University, said people were increasingly concerned about photos, especially of children.
‘‘It comes to my attention anecdotally a lot. Often it’s people trying to figure out what is acceptable from a social values point of view. Can they take photos of that event and do they need parental consent?
‘‘Once upon a time you took a photo of a child in a church and it didn’t go further than your photo album. Now we are more aware that photos end up online, and from there they can end up in the wrong hands.’’
It is legal in New Zealand to take photos of people, including children, in a public place without permission, as long as there is no expectation of privacy.
Moreham said the big question was whether a church was public or private.
Privacy Commission spokesman Charles Mabbett said the Privacy Act did allow organisations to set their own rules about privacy in public facilities, such as libraries, swimming pools, shopping malls, churches, or schools, but it was a grey area.