8. Risk management ​

Overview ​

Risk management involves identifying any issues that can undermine the proper functioning of the parish and then putting in place responses to prevent or minimise potential damage.

Parish priests are responsible for the protection and preservation of resources of the parish. It is their responsibility to ensure that the resources entrusted to their care are in no way lost or damaged.

Risk management involves the property and the material and financial assets of the parish. It also includes the people (for instance, in relation to providing a safe working environment for employees).

The best way to care for the resources of the parish is to create ownership of the risk-management process by parish leaders and to implement policies and procedures designed to prevent, or at least minimise, loss or damage from occurring.

With the advice of the parish finance committee (PFC), the parish priest should:

• identify the key risks to the parish (What might happen?)
• analyse the likelihood of the key risks and the controls in place to mitigate these risks (When might it happen?)
• evaluate how best to prevent or minimise the risk occurring (Why might it happen?)
• treat the risk (What can be done to prevent it happening?)

Examples of how to prevent loss or damage of parish resources include:

• completing a property-protection checklist (to check, for instance, if security devices are fitted)
• ensuring the Working with Children Check (WWCC) register is regularly updated
• ensuring collection monies are secured, counted by more than one person and banked as soon as practicable.

The parish priest should make sure that actions, or the inaction, of the parish do not give rise to criminal conduct or civil claims for damages. Examples include:

• providing adequate lighting
• signposting steps and slippery surfaces
• ensuring that all computer software is licensed and data is backed up daily
• following proper employment workplace practices
• ensuring copyright is not infringed.

Parish risk-management policies, procedures and checklists (link to come) have been prepared covering various areas, including property protection, safeguarding and fraud prevention.

Property protection ​

Parish priests must ensure they have in place property-maintenance and inspection processes to prevent loss of buildings, disruption to parish operations and loss of sensitive information.

Property-maintenance advice is available from the Archdiocese’s Property and Infrastructure team.

Safeguarding protections ​

Parish priests must adopt the safeguarding framework put in place by the Archdiocese and must encourage the nomination of a Safeguarding Committee in their parish.

Parish ministries providing services to or offering activities involving the participation of children must adhere to the safeguarding directives.

The parish’s  overarching responsibilities in relation to safeguarding are to:

• implement, maintain and/or review child safety processes and procedures to support the wellbeing and safety of children and young people, with input from relevant stakeholders (e.g. priest, parish administration, parents, children, young people, program leaders, pastoral associates)
• engage in and/or review risk-management processes to promote the safe participation of children and young people in programs, activities and events
• implement risk-management strategies for people of concern.

Parish leaders, employees, volunteers and others in contact with children should be trained in the Archdiocese’s policies and procedures on how to promote a safe environment for children.

The parish priest must appoint a parish Safeguarding Committee, who will work with the parish administration team to ensure the Working with Children Check (WWCC) register for the parish is accurately maintained at all times.

Further information on the Safeguarding Unit’s WWCC register requirements can be found at Safeguarding Unit WWCC register requirements.

Fraud prevention ​

Parish priests must ensure they have fraud-prevention systems, processes and procedures in place to provide structure and reasonable assurance that assets and records accurately reflect parish financial activities.

All transactions are to be authorised, recorded and reconciled in a timely manner, and all assets and transactions are to be safeguarded by physical security measures and procedures.

Parish priests must ensure instances of actual, attempted or suspected impropriety are investigated and appropriate action taken.

PFCs are to ensure appropriate and effective preventative internal control systems are in place for handling cash. This would include ensuring two people are involved in counting and recording collection monies.

Privacy policy ​

Parish priests should ensure they comply with The Privacy (Private Sector) Amendment Act 2000 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles.

Parish priests should ensure parish staff and volunteers who come in contact with personal, sensitive or health information are aware of their responsibilities under the Act.

Parishes should adopt a privacy policy that expresses in plain language the parish’s policies on its management of personal information.

Please refer to the Archdiocese’s Privacy Policy, which applies to parishes.