Published Sept. 24, 2004
Churches must be safe for children and youth
Editor’s Note: This is the first "Safe Environment Notes" installment. This feature will be produced by the archdiocese’s Safe Environment Committee and forwarded to the Anchor, where it generally will be published on the back page.
We are called as a faith community, as disciples, to create a safe environment in our churches for our children and youth. As an archdiocese we have taken the initial steps to ensure a safe environment by:
• Completing criminal background checks on all priests, deacons, seminarians and all who have contact with our youth and children and all employees of the archdiocese and its parishes.
• Implementing policies so that all new diocesan employees and volunteers working with our children and youth receive a background check.
• Revising and promulgating our Archdiocesan Code of Pastoral Conduct and Sexual Misconduct Policies to address the mandates of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Youth agreed to by the United States Bishops in June, 2002.
• Appointing a Victim Assistance Coordinator, Sister Barbara Scanlon.
• Conducting the first training session for sexual abuse awareness for parish priests, deacons, directors of religious education and youth ministers.
Now I am asking that as a community, as parents, as a family, we work together to further develop a safe environment in our churches. You may be asking how we can do this. I am proposing that together we learn about the reality of sexual abuse and how to speak about this with our children and youth. To assist us in learning together, I appointed a Safe Environment Committee, which reviewed the many materials that could be used. The committee identified a number of resources and a packet of these materials will be made available to each parish as reference. In addition, there will be periodic bulletin inserts recommended to the parishes, and a regular column in the Anchor called Safe Environment Notes which can be replicated in parish bulletins.
I pray that together we can grow to be a welcoming, safe environment where we are community and family for one another.
