NATIONAL News Updates

WORKING Group Update – Protecting Our Children

Protecting Our Children National Working Group Preparing to Survey Child Protection Policies Within the Church

A year in preparation, the Protection of Children National Parish Survey is soon to be sent to at least one parish in each of the 194 dioceses and eparchies in the United States (The U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops lists 18,992 parishes in the U.S.). VOTF affiliates throughout the country, responding to a draft survey, have contributed to the final version.

The goals of the “Protection of Children National Parish Survey” are

  • to assess the implementation of parish Safe Environment programs
  • to gather data on diocesan support to parishes in preventing child abuse

The analysis of Survey responses will be

  • sent to United States Conference of Catholic Bishops National Review Board members,
  • along with recommendations for ensuring the establishment and implementation of Safe Environment programs in every parish.

Your Participation:

The Protecting Our Children National Working Group needs and welcomes more direct contacts with VOTF members throughout the country. If you would like to participate in the survey, please send your contact information to protectchildwg@votf.org or to the Protecting Our Children National Working Group, VOTF office, P.O. Box 423. Newton Upper Falls, MA 02464.

We also value your comments and suggestions about the POC link on the VOTF website. In our continuing effort to keep the site current, we want to know, and to incorporate, the views and activities of our POC parish affiliates.

Watch for more details about the POC National Survey of Safe Protection Policies and about other POC activities in future issues of In the Vineyard.

Protecting Our Children Panel at October Meeting of VOTF Upper Cape and South Coast, Massachusetts Affiliates

Panelist Paul F. Walsh, Jr., District Attorney for Bristol County, reflecting on his experience dealing with clergy sexual offenders and those abused by clergy, noted the push for more legal accountability. He urged public awareness and education about pedophile behavior, symptoms of sexual abuse, and ways to protect children. He called on citizens to help raise public consciousness of the vulnerability of children, in particular the dangers posed by pedophiles over the Internet. The DA’s office in Bristol County has created an Internet-safety program.

Larry Finnerty, PhD., Assistant Superintendent of the New Bedford Schools, focused on the overlap between the Department of Social Services mandate to protect children and the mandate of schools to educate children. With a reminder that teachers must report suspicion of child abuse to DSS by completing a 51A form, he called for interagency collaboration to ensure safety and protection.

Patricia T. Gomez, PhD., representing Protecting Our Children VOTF National Working Group, talked about the mission and goals of POC. She called on the laity to work within their parishes to ensure that Safe Environment programs are in place. The mandates of the Bishops’ charter require that every parish have a Safe Environment program for adult abuse prevention training and child personal safety training. POC urges parishes to adopt a protection of children policy and establish a Code of Conduct for volunteers and ministers. The web page of POC on VOTF.org lists resources to help the laity set up these safeguards in their parishes. POC also recommends that parishes establish Safe Environment committees to oversee both the collection of criminal background checks and the distribution (and acknowledgement) of Codes of Conduct by all whose ministry or volunteer work brings them in contact with children. POC is currently in the process of surveying parishes around the country about their Safe Environment programs.

Arlene McNamee, LCSW, Director of Social Services for the Fall River Diocese, described the work of her diocese for child protection since 1994. She oversees all parish training of adults and children; her office posts all diocesan policies on their web page. Her diocese uses four curricula for child personal safety training. Her office oversees parish audits, which check employee records, CORI checks, and volunteer records of training; she reports a high level of compliance to date. She reiterated the need for parents to be aware of their children’s use of the Internet and warned about real dangers of unmonitored access. The USCCB web page has resources for Internet protection.

Carmen D’Urso, Esq., Boston attorney representing survivors of clergy sexual abuse, explained that the large number of children abused by a priest was due to priests’ privileged access to children and their position of authority. He recommended that teaching about sexuality in seminaries be revised and that changes be made in state legislation to protect the rights of survivors to accuse their abusers. He proposed that civil and criminal statures of limitations for reporting abuse should be eliminated.

Bob Moll of the Upper Cape VOTF served as moderator.

[Patricia Gomez also represented POC National VOTF at the November National Representative Council Meeting in St. Louis. Along with POC web page printouts – POC Action Initiative #2: “Working to Insure That Your Parish Is Safe” and Cynthia Crossen-Tower’s guide for assessing the safety of a parish – Pat distributed copies of the “POC National Working Group Survey of Child Protection Policies Within the Church.” She asked that the survey be completed and sent, with comments and suggestions, either by email to protectchildwg@votf.org or by regular mail to the National office in Newton. Pat’s audience was enthusiastic, many expressing surprise at the availability of “positive action that we can recommend to all of our affiliates and members.”]


NATIONAL Representative Council Meeting Update
November 10-12, 2006, St. Louis, MO

The semi-annual meeting of Voice of the Faithful’s National Representative Council (NRC) met at a retreat house outside St. Louis. Seventeen Representatives and four voting alternatives, plus all four of the Officers attended the meeting.

Much of the meeting was taken up with small group discussions and brainstorming sessions. On Friday evening, the newly formed Council Committees met to begin organizing themselves and to identify the issues they would tackle and how to work together going forward. On Saturday, participants and St. Louis observers met again in five small groups to identify priorities for VOTF beyond the two Accountability Campaigns now under way. The Council will be discussing this list of priorities on the internet and will reduce them to three shortly after the new year.

Mary Pat Fox, VOTF President, addressed the Council with her vision of the future. Her presentation can be found on the website (pdf). Other speakers were Brad Pritts, chair of VOTF Financial Accountability Advisors, who addressed the Council on the intricacies of monitoring financial statements and the importance of having lay people actively involved in budgeting at both the parish and diocesan levels. David Clohessy, National Director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), addressed the group about the importance of working to extend both civil and criminal statutes of limitations in order to protect children.

Representatives from each of the fourteen Regions made reports on the work of VOTF in their regions. This was a very encouraging and uplifting part of the meeting, because it became clear that VOTF affiliates and members throughout the country are making progress to advance the mission and goals of VOTF.

Ray Joyce, Executive Director of VOTF, reported that we have a balanced budget this year, but that if we are to accomplish all the works we have on our plates, we have to dramatically increase our income. He also indicated that the website redesign is well under way, and should be completed early in the new year.

Several resolutions were considered, including two on Accountability matters that had been presented earlier on-line by Frank Douglas. They were remanded to the Mission and Goals Committee for further editing and will be voted on after the first of the year. However, at the request of Kris Ward, one section of the resolution on legislation to protect children was unanimously approved. This motion was made to assist VOTF members in their efforts to attend a secret Vatican trial being held in Erie PA. The motion states:

“The NRC hereby adopts the section of the proposal which says: ‘Church officials should promptly inform the public by all means possible of cases known, admitted, or credibly accused abusive clergy that have been submitted to the Vatican, and should keep the public up to date on the progress and disposition of the cases.’”

The four Officers subsequently added their concurrence to this vote.

A resolution, presented by Jim Jenkins, concerning the promotion, distribution and viewing of the film “Deliver Us from Evil” was also voted unanimously. A vote was also taken to strike the word “Lay” from the Position Description for Representatives to the Council. The vote was 20 to 1 in favor.

In the final evaluation, all participants agreed that this was a successful meeting and that we are beginning to come together as an organization focused on common goals.




In the Vineyard
December 14, 2006
Volume 5, Issue 22 Printer Friendly Version (PDF)


Page One

Diocese/State Watch

Affiliate Highlight

National News Update:

Theologian’s Corner – “Excommunication: Neither Theology or Revelation” by Gaile Pohlhaus

BOOK Review: Living Vatican II, The 21st Council for the 21st Century by Gerald O’Collins

“Remembering Michael McKenna”


Structural Change Working Group

Voice of Renewal/Lay Education

Prayerful Voice

Goal 2 - Priest Support


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