ZAMBIA: Secure Church Data and Update Diocesan Data Management Systems, Says Bishop Hamungole
Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishop (ZCCB) Director for Communication, Rt. Rev. Moses Hamungole, has called upon Diocesan Communication Secretaries and Bishops’ Administrative Secretaries to secure diocesan data and to and update them, using modern technologies
“We are now living in an age where you can collect your data, process it and keep it on the internet or the cloud as they are calling it. And this information can be accessed from anywhere in the world,” said Bishop Hamungole, at Kasisi Retreat Center, Lusaka, when he officially opened a workshop on ‘Drafting National Catholic Directory’.
He added that the development has become the safest way of keeping data, but he was also quick to note that the data kept there must be accurate otherwise any incorrect data kept in the cloud remain incorrect.
“Data must be up to date and complete. Sending data to a parish priest on a wrong address would be of no use because he would simply not get it. Therefore, precision is important for data to be useful. Also, it is no good having incorrect data, otherwise we shall give to the world incorrect information about ourselves,” he said.
Rt. Rev. Hamungole who is also Bishop of Monze Diocese, advised participants that parish records for Marriages, Baptism, Confirmation and others must be centrally kept at Diocesan offices for easy access by pastoral workers and people that come to do research.
He has further said that as Information and Communication Technology (ICT) revolves, the Church’s data management need to improve.
“In this modern era, data is important for making cardinal decisions. However, we can make right decisions quickly if the way of keeping the data management is also up to date. We cannot make good decisions and serve the people of God well based on incorrect data, or if we continue to use outdated means of keeping Church data. I strongly urge you to keep church data update frequently,” he said.
The Catholic Media Services, CMS, conducted a National Catholic Directory drafting workshop at Kasisi Retreat Center from the 12 to 15 August 2018, in preparation for publishing a new National Catholic Directory in Zambia.
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