The Grotto
Our Privacy Statement

We use your IP address to help diagnose problems with our server, and to administer our Web site. Your IP address is used to help identify you and your shopping cart.

Our site uses cookies to keep track of your shopping cart.

This site contains links to other sites. The National Sanctuary of Our Sorrowful Mother is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such Web sites.

Our site uses an order form for visitors to request information, products, and services. We collect visitor's contact information (like their email address) and financial information (like their account or credit card numbers). Contact information from the order form is used to send orders and information about our organization to our visitors. The visitor's contact information is also used to get in touch with the visitor when necessary. Users may opt-out of receiving future mailings; see the choice/opt-out section below. Financial information that is collected is used to bill the user for products and services.

Our online prayer requests and donation offerings ask visitors for contact information (like their email address). We use contact data from our online forms to send the user information about our organization. The visitor's contact information is also used to contact the visitor when necessary. Users may opt-out of receiving future mailings; see the choice/opt-out section below.

Security

This site has security measures in place to protect the loss, misuse and alteration of the information under our control.

The Grotto provides a Secure Web Server for it's users in order that they may place their internet purchases confident that their personal and financial information will remain private.

The Secure Server we use is Stronghold which is based on the Apache Web Server.

What A Secure Server Does

A Secure Server allows a browser visiting our Internet Order Form to establish a secure, encrypted connection with our web server. Once a secure connection is established, any information that the browser sends through our web server, such as data entered into the form, is encrypted so that even if the transmission is intercepted or misdirected it can't be read.

It uses encryption software already built into browsers, so users don't need to download anything else.

The strength of the encryption used depends on whether the browser connecting to the secure server is the domestic or "for export" version. U.S. Domestic versions of browsers use extremely strong 128-bit encryption, while export versions, because of U.S. restrictions on exporting strong cryptography, are limited to 40-bit encryption (still hard to break).

Choice/Opt-Out

Our site provides users the opportunity to opt-out of receiving communications from us at the point where we request information about the visitor.

This site gives users the following options for removing their information from our database to not receive future communications or to no longer receive our service.

1. You can send email to gifts@thegrotto.org
2. You can visit the following URL: http://www.thegrotto.org/feedback.htm
3. You can send mail to the following postal address:
   The Grotto, PO Box 20008, Portland, OR 97294
4. You can call the following telephone number: 503-254-7371

Correct/Update

This site gives users the following options for changing and modifying information previously provided.

1. email gifts@thegrotto.org
2. visit http://www.thegrotto.org/feedback.htm
3. You can send mail to the following postal address:
   The Grotto, PO Box 20008, Portland, OR 97294
4. call the following telephone number: 503-254-7371

Contacting the Web Site

If you have any questions about this privacy statement, the practices of this site, or your dealings with this Web site, you can contact