Diocesan safety efforts include Virtus training and online guards

As part of the implementation of "The Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People," two safe-environment programs have been put into place in the Albany Diocese:

* Virtus, which trains people to be aware of child sexual abuse and to spot offenders or victimized children, and

* Safe Eyes, a software program for parish computers that screens out objectionable content.

Thousands trained

Sister Marilyn Murray, RSM, director of human resources for the Diocese, said that Virtus training of diocesan and parish personnel began five years ago, and will continue with all new employees as well as with volunteers who work with children.

"To date, 17,877 people have participated in the program," she reported.

Through a video presentation, lecture and student interaction, those who take the Virtus course learn such things as recognizing the warning signs of abuse.

Ongoing effort

Meg Bergh, director of the diocesan Family Life Office, is one of several presenters of the Virtus program.

"All parish personnel were trained within the first year after the Charter went into effect," she explained. "But it's an ongoing process as we receive new employees.

"This program is highly effective in establishing awareness of abuse, so that people might be better attuned to recognize behavior that is out of the ordinary."

Online safety

In order to safeguard that parish computers are being used appropriately and within the moral teachings of the Catholic Church, Safe Eyes was adopted by the Diocese.

Developed by a company called SafeBrowse, the program monitors web content and blocks inappropriate information (go to www.safeeyes.com).

Elizabeth Simcoe, chancellor for pastoral services of the Diocese, said that nearly 60 parish computers have had the program installed since it was adopted at the beginning of the year. That represents about one-third of all parishes.

Blocked

Mrs. Simcoe said that the purpose of Safe Eyes is to make sure that parish environments are safe and that computer use is consistent with the teachings of the Church.

Objectionable categories include -- but are not limited to -- information on personal dating, gambling, hate sites, pornography, profanity, sex, violence, instant messaging programs and peer-to-peer file sharing.

"Installation of this software is just another component of the Charter process," Mrs. Simcoe said. "Our intent is not to be 'big brother,' but to ensure that our parish environments remain safe for everyone -- and that includes our computers not being used for inappropriate purposes."

(In addition to Virtus and Safe Eyes, the Diocese has instituted background checks for all employees.) 

(6/28/07) [[In-content Ad]]