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SET FOUR WORKSHOPS ON CHILD PROTECTION
Close to 750 clergy, Religious and laity have registered to attend “VIRTUS: Protecting God’s Children” awareness training workshops set for Feb. 10 and 11 at sites in Douglaston and Bay Ridge.
The sessions are designed to educate adults about how abusers groom potential victims and their families, ways to prevent abuse and methods for properly reporting suspicions of abuse, said Sister Jane Scanlon, C.N.D., Vice Chancellor. She chairs the Diocesan Committee on Education Toward Awareness and Prevention of Sexual Abuse.
Dr. Paul J. Ashton, who has led “Protecting God’s Children” workshops in a number of U.S. dioceses, will conduct the sessions.
Two workshops will be offered at the Immaculate Conception Center, Douglaston, Feb.10 from 1 to 4:30 p.m. and from 6:30 to 10 p.m. Sister Jane said 375 have registered for the afternoon session, making it virtually filled, and 141 are enrolled in the evening program.
On Feb. 11, Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica in Bay Ridge will host two sessions, one from 8:30 a.m. till noon and the other from 1 to 4:30 p.m. Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio is among the 122 persons registered for the morning session and 96 are enrolled in the afternoon program.
Persons seeking to attend a workshop must register online on the VIRTUS Web site at www.virtus.org. Anyone who encounters difficulties in registering online may receive assistance by calling the Office of Human Resources at (718) 965-7362.
The workshops are a response to article 12 of the U.S. bishops’ 2002 Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, which called for “safe environment” programs that “make clear to clergy and all members of the community the standards of conduct for clergy and other persons in positions of trust with regard to sexual abuse.
Last year, 2,530 adults attended workshops conducted in the Diocese, Sister Jane said. Seven sessions sponsored by the diocesan committee between February and October drew 1,800 participants, including pastors, principals, parochial vicars, parish staffs and teachers.
Programs conducted by Catholic Charities, which reached 730 persons, used a model developed by Fordham University that was augmented by VIRTUS materials.
Representatives of VIRTUS also held two two-and-a-half-day facilitators training workshops that prepared 29 persons in the Diocese to give safe environment sessions in parishes, clusters of parishes and other groups.
In a letter sent to clergy this month, Bishop DiMarzio said VIRTUS training was required for all priests, deacons, teachers, employees, volunteers and “all who have regular contact with minors.”
The VIRTUS program was created by the National Catholic Risk Retention Group in Lisle, Ill., “to protect children and others who interact with the Church by preventing wrongdoing and promoting best management practices,” according to Jack McCalmon, who directs VIRTUS’s programs and services.
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