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The Secretariat of Child and Youth Protection has compiled for your consideration a number of resources to use this coming April which has been designated Child Abuse Prevention Month. These resources were designed for use at the diocesan and parish level during the month of April and can easily be duplicated and distributed to your parishes.
Below are a number of articles concerning the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, what the Church has done to address the issue of clergy sexual abuse as well as on a number of other child abuse prevention topics.
It is the hope of the Secretariat for Child and Youth protection that these articles are helpful resources.
A list of all the resources can be found here.
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Protecting Youth on the Internet By Kate Blain One of the biggest threats to children using the Internet today, says Kenneth Lanning, is their parents’ outdated understanding of technology. Just as problematic is the fact that the “children” who are meeting sexual offenders online are often teenagers, willing victims who believe they have developed a relationship with the offender. “The use of the word ‘predator’ is a waste of time, because these kids almost never perceive the person as a sexual predator, but as a ‘BFF’ [Best Friend Forever],” asserts Lanning, a retired FBI agent now heading CAC Consultants, a Virginia-based consulting firm specializing in crimes against children. |
 Kenneth Lanning
 Robert Farley
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| DOWNLOADS: Article in .pdf (En Español) | Article in .doc (En Español) Hi-rez Lanning | Hi-rez Farley |
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What Parents Need To Know To Keep Children Safe By James Breig Parents used to worry about having the “birds and bees” talk with their children. Now, they have to fret over adding the words “abusers” and “predators” to their vocabulary. Womazetta Jones has some suggestions for how adults can proceed. She is director of the Safe Environment Office in the Office for the Protection of Children and Youth of the Archdiocese of Chicago. She worked for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services for more than 15 years, and was involved with child sex abuse investigation before joining the Archdiocese. |
 Womazetta Jones
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| DOWNLOADS: Article in .pdf (En Español) | Article in .doc (En Español) Hi-rez Image |
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How To React to Reports of Sexual Abuse By Beth Dotson Brown It’s not a situation anyone wants to be in. Hearing someone say he or she has been sexually abuse can make the listener feel inadequate, overwhelmed and that someone more experienced needs to deal with the revelation. But according to Mary Beth Hanus, Victim Assistance Coordinator for the Archdiocese of Omaha, every person can and should do what the situation requires. “I think it’s a moral and ethical responsibility,” says Hanus, a trained mental health and social worker who has been assisting abuse victims for 25 years. Beyond government and church laws and regulations, people of faith have a responsibility to safeguard every life and to treat it as sacred. |
 Mary Beth Hanus
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| DOWNLOADS: Article in .pdf (En Español) | Article in .doc (En Español) | Hi-rez Image |
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Healing: A Slow, Steady Process By Peter Feuerherd The healing of adults who were victimized by sex abuse when they were children doesn’t usually happen in courtrooms or press conferences. Healing is more likely to take root in the quiet repose of a therapist’s office or group counseling session. It’s a process that rarely occurs with a dramatic flourish. It is more likely to begin with a quiet recognition of patterns that have, often without conscious notice, taken over the lives of victims. |
 Father Ken Schmidt
 Sharon Froom
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| DOWNLOADS: Article in .pdf (En Español) | Article in .doc (En Español) Hi-rez Schmidt | Hi-rez Froom |
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Moving from Compliance to Conversion By Stephen Kent “Put this behind us, let us move on” is a response to many scandals. But it is not one available to a church wishing to do more than just what’s required to recover from instances of sexual abuse of children. The bishops of the United States, meeting in Dallas in 2002, adopted the Charter for Protection of Children and Young People in the wake of a national scandal. The Charter sets forth specifications and requires annual audits of compliance. Yet compliance is not enough. |
 Archbishop Alex J. Brunett
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| DOWNLOADS: Article in .pdf (En Español) | Article in .doc (En Español) Hi-rez Image |
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Child Sexual Abuse: An Old Problem Just Discovered By Anne LeVeque Child sexual abuse has existed for all of human history. What has changed is society’s perception of it and response to it. For thousands of years, women and children were considered property. Beating a wife or child was once considered a man’s prerogative, even if his peers thought less of him for doing so. Child sexual abuse was seen similarly, though more secrecy and shame surrounded it. |
 Monica Applewhite
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| DOWNLOADS: Article in .pdf (En Español) | Article in .doc (En Español) Hi-rez Image |
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Protecting Children: The Job Goes On By Tara Little The Catholic Church in the United States has made great strides in protecting children from clergy sexual abuse, according to Teresa Kettelkamp. But she adds that the job is not done, and “I don’t think the job will ever be done.” Creating a safe environment for children has been the goal of the U.S Conference of Catholic Bishops since the sex abuse crisis came to light in 2002. The same year they developed the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. The Charter is a comprehensive set of policies and procedures that outline how the Church is to provide outreach to victims, report abuse to civil authorities and the public, as well as train clergy and personnel to create that safe environment. |
 Teresa Kettelkamp
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| DOWNLOADS: Article in .pdf (En Español) | Article in .doc (En Español) Hi-rez Image |
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Safe Environment Programs Promote Awareness, Prevention By Terry McGuire Every so often Joan Vienna will hear someone bemoan the fact that children today have to be warned about child abuse. “And my point back to them,” says the coordinator of the Safeguard the Children program for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, “is always, ‘No. Isn’t it too bad we haven’t done this years ago!’” For as she notes, the more people are educated about the topic, the more they talk about it, the more they look for it, the more they spread awareness to the wider community, and the greater the chances are that perpetrators will be stopped before the damage is done. |
 Joan Vienna
 Beth Heidt-Kozisek
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| DOWNLOADS: Article in .pdf (En Español) | Article in .doc (En Español) Hi-rez Vienna | Hi-rez Heidt |
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Forgiveness: Where Healing Begins By María de Lourdes Ruiz Scaperlanda At a climax in The New York Times bestseller novel “The Shack,” the protagonist Mackenzie argues with God about the impossibility of forgiving the man who killed his youngest daughter. God simply responds: My grace is “the only way true forgiveness is ever possible. Don’t let the anger and pain and loss you feel prevent you from forgiving him and removing your hands from around his neck.” |
 Bishop Gregory M. Aymond
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| DOWNLOADS: Article in .pdf (En Español) | Article in .doc (En Español) Hi-rez Image |
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Bishops Work To Assure Safe Haven for Children By Lynn Williams In what has been called a mammoth undertaking, the U.S Catholic bishops are working to eradicate child sexual abuse, seven years after releasing the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. The Charter, adopted by the bishops in June 2002, is a landmark statement that outlines mandates to respond to accusations involving children and clergy. “There has been a seismic shift in our whole approach” since 2002, said Bishop Blase Cupich, Chairman for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People (CPCYP). Bishop Cupich, who heads the Diocese of Rapid City, SD, said “We made a promise that we would aggressively make sure that the abuse that has occurred will never happen again.” |
 Bishop Blase Cupich
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| DOWNLOADS: Article in .pdf (En Español) | Article in .doc (En Español) Hi-rez Image |