April 23, 2025

By Darcy Fargo
Editor

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month, and while the diocese hasn’t had a claim of recent abuse in years, it’s not time to be complacent, said Safe Environment Office & Charter Compliance Coordinator John Morrison.

“We certainly continue to make significant progress and strides in our efforts to create a culture of safety at our parishes, schools and institutions,” Morrison said. “We haven’t had an allegation in a number of years. It’s easy to think the problem has been addressed, but the problem is ongoing. Even if it’s not in church, abuse is happening in our communities. It’s important to train as many people as possible to spot the warning signs of abuse and to know what to do when they see those warning signs. We’re here for the protection of all children, not just children who are in the custody of the Church.”

Morrison said the diocese continues to run background checks and complete abuse prevention training with clergy, employees and volunteers.

“We have background checks, re-checks, training and recertification required every year,” he said. “We’re hitting those marks. We can look at our database and say ‘every single person has a background check and nearly every single one is trained. It gives me a feeling of success in what we’ve been able to accomplish.”

And while background checks and VIRTUS trainings continue, Morrison said more work will be done in the coming year and years.

“The Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People is due for revision this year,” Morrison said. “My understanding is that it will be voted on (by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) in November. Once we see the revisions to the Charter, we’ll likely need to revise our policies to be in compliance.”

Morrison said the diocesan Review Board works with administration and staff to revise the local Safe Environment protocols.

“We’re required to update our policies every five years,” he said. “We last updated our policy in 2020, so it’s due again this year. Because we need to see the Charter revisions, we may defer our revisions until early 2026 depending on the timing of the Charter revisions and how many changes we need to make.”

Morrison said he hopes to see additional clarity and instructions around Safe Environment protocols for vulnerable adults in the next version of the Charter.

“If you look at the definition of ‘vulnerable adult’ in the Charter, it’s different from a definition Pope Francis has used,” Morrison said. “With children, everyone knows what that is – anyone under age 18. It’s a bit more ambiguous when you consider the definition of a ‘vulnerable adult.’ I’m hoping we get more clarity on that.”

Also coming later this year, the diocese will be transitioning to a new training program to use with children in Catholic Schools and catechetical/faith formation programs.

“For a number of years, more than a decade, we’ve been using the Child Lures program,” Morrison said. “The operators of that program went out of business at the end of last year. We’ve been continuing to use the program while we consider a replacement option. I’ve been reviewing programs working with the Faith Formation regional assistant director and (Director) Sister Ellen Rose (Coughlin), and we’ve selected the VIRTUS (youth) program for next year. We use VIRTUS for our training with adults, so many of us are familiar with the platform, but it’ll certainly be a big challenge switching.”

For the adult training, Morrison said he hopes to identify individuals who would be willing to provide VIRTUS training to others.

“We have a couple trainers on staff, and we’d like to add additional facilitators,” he said. “Throughout the pandemic and after, we had a few facilitators step back or cut back. Having people spread around the diocese makes the training more accessible and reduces the amount of travel involved for facilitators.”

For more information about the diocesan Safe Environment Office or policies, visit https://www.rcdony.org/safe-environment.html or call 315-393-2920.