Protection charter on-going in diocese By Fabvienen Taylor
JACKSON — This month marks the fifth anniversary of the U.S. bishops adoption of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People in 2002 to prevent child sexual abuse and to respond to allegations of abuse.
In 2002-3, the Diocese of Jackson incorporated and implemented policies and procedures outlined by the charter for clergy and laity who work/volunteer with children/minors into its existing policy.
Those procedures include responding to victims of alleged abuse; educating children, employees, clergy, and parents on preventing child sexual abuse; conducting background checks on clergy, church employees and volunteers working with children and minors; and reporting allegations to public authorities.
In 2002, along with the charter, the bishops approved “Essential Norms for Diocesan/Eparchial Policies Dealing With Allegations of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Priests or Deacons,” which established legal procedures under church law for applying charter policies. The norms were updated in 2006.
The Office of Child Protection was established and developed the “Protection of Children” policy and a “Safe Environment” program.
All dioceses were audited in 2004 to see if they were in compliance with the charter and are being audited this year.
The Jackson diocese will have an on-site audit the week of Sept. 17.
It is the job of Father Elvin Sunds, vicar general, to make sure the diocese is in compliance with the charter and the essential norms passed by the bishops.
“More specifically, I am responsible for the response component part of the program, that is responding to allegations of sexual abuse of minors,” he said.
Any allegation of sexual abuse is referred to the eight-member diocesan Fitness Review Committee, which does a preliminary analysis to determine if the allegation is legitimate.
“We have a wide variety of people – psychologists, social workers, a couple of lawyers — who have some expertise in the areas we feel would be important as we try to respond to any allegation of sex abuse by clergy or diocesan personnel or volunteers,” Father Sunds said.
“Our immediate concern is to provide help to the victim, or alleged victim, and secondly to try to protect the victim and the community,” he said.
Also, Linda Raff, executive director of Catholic Charities, is victim assistance coordinator for the diocese and is available for victim assistance.
The committee then takes steps, including whether to remove the alleged perpetrator from the situation to maintain a safe environment for children/minors and reporting the allegation to proper civil authorities.
“If it is determined any abuse has been confirmed, and is serious enough, the person can be permanently removed from ministry,” Father Sunds said.
“If something has occurred we make it public, it's not secret anymore. We are transparent in our operations,” he said.
The up-coming audit consists of the visit, interviews of the Fitness Review Committee, the victim assistance coordinator, and a review of the diocese’s response to allegations and its outreach to victims, Father Sunds said.
The audit team will also interview Vickie Carollo, the Protection of Children director, or safe environment coordinator.
“My job is to ensure all of our churches and schools are in compliance with the charter,” said Carollo. She makes sure all employees/volunteers who work with children undergo a criminal background check and attend the the diocese’s Protection of Children training program within 60 days their hiring.
To date, 5,953 — 2,054 employees and 3,899 volunteers — have been screened and received the training.
Over 814 motor vehicle reports of people transporting children/minors have been attained to check for driving violations, Carolla said.
As a follow-up, all personnel and volunteers must attend a review of the training every two years. This year’s training reviews begin in October, she said.
“Actually there is on-going training for new applicants all year,” Carollo said. “Protection training never stops.”
Two or three workshops are provided for persons who do the training in parishes/schools each year. Carollo said one will probably be offered before the start of the new school year.
An important component of the Protection of Children Program is the training, “Creating a Safe Environment,” provided to children and youth in parish faith formation/religious education programs and Catholic schools.
Carollo’s office provides the curriculum, or lesson plans, which summarize what children need to know to prevent physical, verbal and sexual abuse from occurring and how to respond appropriately if it does.
In addition to the inital lesson plans offered, “Protection of Children,” Carollo said other options include the “Smart Kids, Safe Kids” video and additional audio visual resource materials.
“Our curriculum is age-appropriate and based on gospel values. It gives children basic concepts of body safety and self-protection skills,” she said. “These are not sex education lessons.”
Carollo said after the initial shock of dealing with the idea of criminal background checks, the majority of people involved – clergy, educators, volunteers, and parents — are very receptive to the Protection of Children Program.
“I think people were primarily scared of the ‘unknown’,” she said. “Now our people know how much we care about our children.”
Several years ago when he was assigned to a parish, Father Sunds was approached by people from other denominations who wanted to know more about the “Creating a Safe Environment Program” — criminal background checks, providing training and educating young people.
“They wanted to learn from us,” he said. “They said the Catholic Church is really setting a high standard that the rest of the churches are going to have to live up to.”
In addition, the training was provided to a public school system that requested it, Father Sunds said.
“What we are realizing is that this whole Protection of Children Program came out of a bad situation in the Catholic Church. Things happened in the church which should not have happened. If there is one case of a child sexually abused, that is one case too many.
“Secondly, people have realized the abuse reported in the Catholic Church is not unique to the Catholic Church,” Father Sunds said. “Right now there are recent news articles about the number of abuse cases involving teachers, both public and private. Abuse is a societal problem.”
of the U.S. bishops adoption of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People in 2002 to prevent child sexual abuse and to respond to allegations of abuse. 