Column
by
Archbishop John G. Vlazny
|
Archbishop's
Column by Archbishop John G. Vlazny |
Archbishop’s Column
6/13/03
On Memorial Day, I traveled to Federal
Way, Wash., for a regional workshop
for bishops on the Charter to Protect
Children and Young People and the
Essential Norms for Diocesan Policies
Dealing with Allegations of Sexual
Abuse of Minors by Priests or Deacons.
I was accompanied by Father Dennis
O’Donovan, our Vicar General, Paulette
Furness, Archdiocesan Director of
Business Affairs and Cathy Shannon, our
Victims Assistance Coordinator. I
am confident that this matter will be
revisited during next week’s spring
meeting of the American bishops in St.
Louis.
You may recall that we American bishops
passed the charter and norms in
our spring meeting in Dallas last year.
After review by Vatican
authorities, these documents were amended
and eventually approved in
December. In the coming months, all 195
USA dioceses and eparchies
(dioceses of the Eastern Catholic Church)
will be audited for compliance
with the charter and the norms. The audits
are being conducted under the
direction of the National Review Board,
also established in Dallas last
June.
You may recall that the charter dealt with
several important issues that
it would be important for local churches
to face if healing and
reconciliation will be possible for victims
and survivors of the sexual
abuse of minors. They are 1) healing,
outreach and reconciliation, 2)
response and reporting, 3) confidentiality
agreements, 4) preliminary
investigation and actions, 5) standards
of conduct, 6) communications
policies, 7) studies and research, 8)
safe environment programs, 9)
background evaluations, 10) transfer of
clergy, 11) meetings between
bishops and major superiors of religious
men, 12) cooperative research and
13) priestly formation programs.
Here in the archdiocese, we have been working
hard to comply with the
mandates of the charter and norms. We
shall continue to work to improve
our compliance and to serve our parishes
and institutions even more
effectively. Obviously, the cooperation
of all our Catholic people is
important if we are going to be more effective
in protecting children, our
number-one goal. At this time, I would
like to share some thoughts about
the demands of a safe environment program
as called for in the charter.
There seems to be some confusion about
this matter in some of our parishes.
In order to implement a safe environment
program, it is important that all
pastoral ministers, educators, parents,
volunteers, church personnel and
all who have regular personal contact
with young people be included in
these programs. Necessary elements of
a safe environment program are an
established code of conduct and training
programs for the aforementioned
personnel. During these training sessions
the participants will learn what
constitutes child abuse, including sexual
abuse, what actions, procedures
and policies are used to prevent child
abuse in any form, how an adult can
identify instances of abuse of a child,
including sexual abuse, and which
signs an adult should look for in a child
who may be abused.
Furthermore, these training programs are
to focus on signs that an adult
should look for in a person who may be
abusing a child in any way, what
actions adults should take when they believe
that child abuse may be
occurring and what the laws and policies
are regarding the reporting of
abuse of our children.
Children also need to be trained. In dealing
with our youngsters about
these important matters, age-appropriate
materials pertaining to personal
safety should be utilized, and information
about improper touching and
relationships must be shared. Children
are not expected to be fully
knowledgeable about child abuse, but they
need to know when they should
seek assistance from a trusted adult.
Codes of conduct are also recommended for
students as well as employees
and volunteers. The children in our schools
and parish programs should
adhere to standards of behavior as well
as display respect for their
fellow classmates, teachers and volunteers.
Sad to say, although child
abuse is usually committed by an adult,
children and young people may be
offenders.
Parents also need to be informed about
these matters. It certainly will be
difficult to ensure that all parents in
a parish are adequately informed.
But attempts need to be made to provide
various types of instruction.
Formal training sessions, independent
reading material, videos and
information posted on the diocesan website
will help.
Our parishes will also have to make an
effort to see to it that children
in our parish religious education programs
also have access to safe
environment programs, in the local community,
in the public school or at
the parish. Obviously our training efforts
for parish religious education
programs cannot be as extensive as the
ones available in our Catholic
schools.
All of this will be costly, but it is an
essential service if we are ever
going to be reasonably successful in eliminating
child sexual abuse over
the long haul. Safe environment programs
must be a permanent part of the
long-time mission of this archdiocese.
They also need to be updated
periodically. When new employees arrive
on the scene, they too must
receive safe environment training and
must adhere to diocesan codes of
conduct.
Background checks on church personnel are
also required. Anyone who has
regular personal contact with minors is
subject to such an investigation.
These investigations are conducted by
a reputable professional agency.
They include criminal history checks,
and must, of course, be in
compliance with the laws of the state
of Oregon. Employees and volunteers
are asked if they have ever been accused
of or investigated for an act of
abuse or harassment. References need to
be checked. These background
investigations will be evaluated by the
supervisory personnel of the
archdiocese, particularly those with experience
in human resource
management.
I cannot say enough good things about the
staff at our Archdiocesan
Pastoral Center, which has been helping
implement the mandates of the
charter and norms over the past year.
The Church has been paying a heavy
price for the mistakes of the past in
dealing with this matter. The rest
of society watches and waits, wondering
when their mistakes will be
revealed and penalized. We can help our
fellow Oregonians in this matter
by complying fully with the charter and
by cooperating with the policies
and procedures being established here
in the Catholic community of Western
Oregon.
Please pray with me that God will bless
our efforts, bring healing and
reconciliation to all victims and survivors,
and help us thereby bring the
love and care of Jesus to all, particularly
those who have endured the
pain of abuse far too long in church and
society.