By Renée St. Martin Wizeman

The Diocese of Helena was found in compliance with the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. An onsite audit was conducted by Stonebridge Business Partners in September, 2011.

Sister Rita McGinnis, the Safe Environment coordinator for the diocese, said this was the first year that Stonebridge Business Partners, a Rochester, N.Y.-based firm, conducted the audit. Prior on-site audits were conducted by the Gavin Group Inc., of Winthrop, Mass. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops commissions independent, third-party firms to conduct diocesan safe environment audits across the United States.

During the audit, diocesan personnel are interviewed, including those responsible for overseeing and monitoring safe environment training programs for youth and adults, and members of the Diocesan Review Board, a consultative body mandated by the charter. During this audit, phone interviews were also conducted with several pastors in the diocese, said Sister Rita.

Audits are conducted each year, with on-site audits every three years. The audits examine a diocese’s efforts to fulfill the requirements of the charter, including providing training and conducting background checks. All diocesan employees, and volunteers who work with children and vulnerable adults, are required to have background checks and to receive ongoing safe environment training, including learning to recognize signs of abuse.

In 2003, the diocese contracted with Virtus, a program and service of the National Catholic Risk Retention Group Inc., to provide materials for this training.

The three-hour Virtus training program for adults includes the viewing of two videos with statements by actual abusers and children who have been abused. Program facilitators then lead a group discussion, and participants are told how to report abuse or suspicions of abuse.Continued training features monthly bulletins for all priests, deacons, lay employees and volunteers working with children or vulnerable adults.

The Virtus children’s program helps children understand how to identify inappropriate conduct. The programs use ageappropriate material, based on grades K-2, 3-5, 6-9 and 9-12. Parents receive a booklet explaining the program, and have the option of excluding their children from the training. Two lessons are taught each year. They cover matters such as touching safety; safe friends and adults; boundaries; telling someone who is trusted; recognizing the risky adult behavior sometimes known as “grooming”; Internet safety; and creating and following family rules.

Both the diocese and parishes are required to keep accurate records relative to training and background checks. On the parish level, all volunteers who work with children, in any capacity, and all staff are to be trained in the Virtus program, said Sister Rita. And parishes are to track youth attendance at the safe environment lessons provided each year in religious education classes. “They also should have posted, in the public areas of the church, how to report abuse,” said Sister Rita.

“Compliance means we are in compliance with the charter, that we are doing what was promised by the bishops through the charter and we’ve shown evidence that we are meeting the expectations of the charter,” said Sister Rita.

“While it’s a lot of scrutiny, I think people need to know there’s a lot we’re doing now. It’s tragic what happened in the past and we’re doing everything we can to make sure the past is not repeated. That’s why we do this and will continue to do it,” she said.

The charter was adopted by the U.S. bishops in 2002, following the sex abuse crisis, and revised in 2005 and again in June, 2011, during the USCCB’s general assembly meetings in Seattle.


Published in The Montana Catholic Online, Volume 27, No. 12, December 16, 2011.