Catholic Dioceses Promoting Child Abuse Awareness Month

WASHINGTON, March 31 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Catholic dioceses nationwide
will promote Child Abuse Awareness Month in April. Plans call for raising
awareness through special prayers during Sunday Masses, diocesan and parish
lectures, and other educational activities.

Child Abuse Awareness is a major initiative of the Catholic Church in the
United States. As a result, an estimated 1.6 millions persons have undergone
background checks; 1.8 million priests, deacons, candidates for ordination,
educators, employees and volunteers have gone through safe environment
programs and approximately 6 million children in parish school and religious
education programs have received age-appropriate instruction in this area.

Some, such as the Diocese of Corpus Christi, Texas; and Grand Island,
Nebraska, also are joining their efforts with the Blue Ribbon Campaign of the
National Exchange Club Foundation, which promotes the blue ribbon as a
national symbol of child abuse awareness. The foundation produces materials
for public awareness.

The diocesan and parish efforts were urged by the U.S. bishops' Committee for
the Protection of Children and Young People. It provided educational
materials, homily resources, prayer cards, intercessory prayers, posters and
other materials to each of the 195 dioceses in the United States.

"We can never rest when it comes to protecting children and teenagers," said
Bishop Gregory Aymond, Committee chairman. "The prevalence of child abuse in
our society calls for vigilance of parents, pastors, teachers, indeed, all
responsible adults. Child Abuse Prevention Month deserves our attention in
both prayer and action."

In the Corpus Christi Diocese, for example, the Office for Safe Environment
has distributed brochures outlining hiring, screening and training
requirements related to preventing child abuse. The diocesan newspaper, "South
Texas Catholic," also scheduled a series of articles such as "Grooming
Behaviors of Sex Offenders" and "Preventing and Identifying Child Sexual
Abuse." The newspaper also plans to offer a tribute to local Safe Environment
Coordinators in mid-April.

Others, such as Diocese of Davenport, Iowa, the Archdiocese of Dubuque, Iowa,
Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kansas and Diocese of Monterey, California, will
promote awareness through their diocesan newspaper.

Dioceses are providing information via their Web sites. The Diocese of
Manchester, New Hampshire, for example, plans to post on its site a coloring
book, originally developed by the Archdiocese of New York for sexual abuse
awareness. The resource can be reproduced and distributed or used in schools
or religious education programs. Each Monday in April the diocese will feature
articles and resources about child safety.

The Diocese of Orlando, Florida, will provide a child abuse prevention video
on its Web site. The video can be viewed by anyone, but all diocesan employees
are required to view the video and there is a corresponding test that
employees must pass. The video was part of a diocesan training program.

Some dioceses are printing "Did You Know" announcements developed by the
Archdiocese of Los Angeles for weekly parish bulletins. One announcement
highlights the prevalence of child abuse in society and reports that "an
estimated 9.6 percent of all school children will be molested by an educator
or an employee of a school between kindergarten and 12th grade." The
information comes from Professor David Finkelhor's article, "Current
Information on the Scope and Nature of Child Sexual Abuse."

The Diocese of Orange, California, will host a guest speaker who works with
adults and child sexual abuse victims to address "The Impact of Sexual Abuse
on the Child and the Family."

The Diocese of Paterson, New Jersey, is publishing on-line a special spring
edition of St. Raphael's Messenger, its parent training series so pastors can
print it for parents in their parish.

The resource materials sent to dioceses were developed by the Secretariat of
Child and Youth Protection and underwritten by the Catholic Communication
Campaign, which is supported by a collection taken up annually in parishes to
support church media efforts. The resource material is available at
http://usccb.org/ocyp/april_cap_month.shtml.

SOURCE U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Sr. Mary Ann Walsh of U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, +1-202-541-3200,
home, +1-301-587-4762