NY Archdiocese Presents: The Anti-Abuse Coloring Book

http://www.newsweek.com/id/73270

The New York Archdiocese of the Roman Catholic church has an unusual new weapon against child abuse.



At first glance, "Being Friends, Being Safe, Being Catholic" is what you'd expect from a Christian handout: lessons in loving thy neighbor and knowing we're all special in God's eyes, plus a fun word search with names of people whom kids can trust (parents, counselors, teachers). (HMMM Not so sure about that anymore!)

Many of the book's cartoon-sketch drawings, which were created by a church volunteer, are light in tone and narrated by an angel looming overhead. But on one page, the angel warns of an online predator—with chest hair exposed— ( ) who attempts to chat with a child; on another (shown above), the angel implies that children should make sure they're never alone in a room with a priest. (more at link)

What they need to do is give these books to the priest....they're the ones that need the lesson

Isn't this sad. For me, this is making the child responsible for their own safety rather than making sure that they have policies in place to ensure that kids are safe.

czechmate7 said:

What they need to do is give these books to the priest....they're the ones that need the lesson

Click to expand...

csds703 said:

Isn't this sad. For me, this is making the child responsible for their own safety rather than making sure that they have policies in place to ensure that kids are safe.

Click to expand...

:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

Well a child is somewhat for their own safety. Do not talk to strangers, never get into a car with a stranger, use the buddy system, report any car following you. That would be parents "teaching" kids to be responsible for their own safety.

Teachers are the same. A teacher and student should never be alone in the same class, without the door open and someone else who knows they are together in the class.

Remember predators will look and act upon a "slip" up or mistake, that is called their opportunity.

So you empower kids with information. Children are taught that priest are next to God and to trust the priest as you do God. So if a "terrible" priest wants to be alone with a child, guess what the child now knows not to be alone with that priest.

Or would you rather the child not be taught how to look out for their own safety...and then be victimized.

CyberLaw said:

Well a child is somewhat for their own safety. Do not talk to strangers, never get into a car with a stranger, use the buddy system, report any car following you. That would be parents "teaching" kids to be responsible for their own safety.

Teachers are the same. A teacher and student should never be alone in the same class, without the door open and someone else who knows they are together in the class.

Remember predators will look and act upon a "slip" up or mistake, that is called their opportunity.

So you empower kids with information. Children are taught that priest are next to God and to trust the priest as you do God. So if a "terrible" priest wants to be alone with a child, guess what the child now knows not to be alone with that priest.

Or would you rather the child not be taught how to look out for their own safety...and then be victimized.

Click to expand...

I think we all simply would rather that no one prey upon our children. That we could trust those who we are suppose to trust.

csds703 said:

Isn't this sad. For me, this is making the child responsible for their own safety rather than making sure that they have policies in place to ensure that kids are safe.

Click to expand...

There are plenty of policies in place to try to ensure that kids are safe. The hoops I jump through to volunteer at our Catholic Church and school would never happen at any public school. But in the end, there are bad people everywhere, and teaching our children to be safe is a critical component of good parenting.

This is ONE of the ways the church is trying to address this problem. It's certainly not the main or only way.

angelmom said:

There are plenty of policies in place to try to ensure that kids are safe. The hoops I jump through to volunteer at our Catholic Church and school would never happen at any public school. But in the end, there are bad people everywhere, and teaching our children to be safe is a critical component of good parenting.

This is ONE of the ways the church is trying to address this problem. It's certainly not the main or only way.

Click to expand...

Well I'm happy to hear that. What other policies have they put in place?

Well in a perfect world, not one would pray upon children or others. But as we all know, the world has never been nor will ever be perfect.

csds703 said:

Well I'm happy to hear that. What other policies have they put in place?

Click to expand...

In the Archdiocese of Atlanta (can't speak to anywhere else) where I have been an employee, volunteer, and parent, the following policies are in place:

Every single employee or volunteer must go through a background check. This includes parents who want to be the Mystery Reader in the kindergarten class or help with the Valentine's Day party to the fundraising coordinator all the way to the maintanence personel to the principal to the deacons and priests.

Every single employee or volunteer must view a video on prevention of abuse and answer a questionaire to make sure they understood it. It discusses everything from mandatory reporters to always having more than two people together to keeping the door open if you ever have to be alone with a child (teachers giving a makeup test or discussing a student's grade, for example).

Every single employee or volunteer is given the Archdiocese's policy on the prevention of sexual abuse and the warning signs, which we must read and sign before we can interact with any children. These include the "chain of command" to report suspicions and how to contact LE (including phone numbers for DFCS) if your supervisor is not responsive to your concerns.

These are just the ones that pop into mind that I have done. I don't know of another environment with children that does so much to protect the kids. I can almost guarantee you that none of my kids' sports activities (except through church and school) have done this kind of checking and education.

There is an entire office/ministry devoted to youth protection. Their policies can be viewed here: http://www.archatl.com/offices/cyp/

I truly do understand the hostility towards the Church on this issue, but it ticks me off that priests are regarded with such suspicion when in our community we have had soccer coaches, a rabbi, teachers, a Methodist minister and many, many parents and step-parents (almost all married, BTW!) abuse kids without it making front page news. If they all walked into a bar it would be like a sick joke.

angelmom said:

In the Archdiocese of Atlanta (can't speak to anywhere else) where I have been an employee, volunteer, and parent, the following policies are in place:

Every single employee or volunteer must go through a background check. This includes parents who want to be the Mystery Reader in the kindergarten class or help with the Valentine's Day party to the fundraising coordinator all the way to the maintanence personel to the principal to the deacons and priests.

Every single employee or volunteer must view a video on prevention of abuse and answer a questionaire to make sure they understood it. It discusses everything from mandatory reporters to always having more than two people together to keeping the door open if you ever have to be alone with a child (teachers giving a makeup test or discussing a student's grade, for example).

Every single employee or volunteer is given the Archdiocese's policy on the prevention of sexual abuse and the warning signs, which we must read and sign before we can interact with any children. These include the "chain of command" to report suspicions and how to contact LE (including phone numbers for DFCS) if your supervisor is not responsive to your concerns.

These are just the ones that pop into mind that I have done. I don't know of another environment with children that does so much to protect the kids. I can almost guarantee you that none of my kids' sports activities (except through church and school) have done this kind of checking and education.

There is an entire office/ministry devoted to youth protection. Their policies can be viewed here: http://www.archatl.com/offices/cyp/

I truly do understand the hostility towards the Church on this issue, but it ticks me off that priests are regarded with such suspicion when in our community we have had soccer coaches, a rabbi, teachers, a Methodist minister and many, many parents and step-parents (almost all married, BTW!) abuse kids without it making front page news. If they all walked into a bar it would be like a sick joke.

Click to expand...

Whenever anybody who is in a position of protecting children steps over the line into abuse of any kind it is beyond comprehension.
The reason why the Catholic Church is being targeted is because it protected the abusers. Priests were just moved around.
I am glad to see that the Church in your area and others have put policies in place to protect our kids.
I understand your point that sickos come from all walks of life. I also get that most priests are not abusers. The problem is that there were just so many cases of abuse and a huge cover up. Just the fact that the Archdiocese had to put such stringent policies in place shows that they acknowledge the problem.
Angelmom,
The hostility is NOT toward Catholics, it is toward the cover up.

csds703 said:

Whenever anybody who is in a position of protecting children steps over the line into abuse of any kind it is beyond comprehension.
The reason why the Catholic Church is being targeted is because it protected the abusers. Priests were just moved around.
I am glad to see that the Church in your area and others have put policies in place to protect our kids.
I understand your point that sickos come from all walks of life. I also get that most priests are not abusers. The problem is that there were just so many cases of abuse and a huge cover up. Just the fact that the Archdiocese had to put such stringent policies in place shows that they acknowledge the problem.
Angelmom,
The hostility is NOT toward Catholics, it is toward the cover up.

Click to expand...

I do understand that. But it wasn't just in the Catholic Church. Aren't there teachers and coaches who get caught, but the school doesn't want the bad PR so they are just allowed to resign quietly?

Do you think it never happens in other religious denominations, where the pastor or rabbi is allowed to "move along" without the new congregation being warned? I know of at least one case PERSONALLY where this happened in a Methodist community where multiple children were abused by a pastor and his wife who ran the preschool. There was videotape evidence from multiple congregations when they were finally caught, and many who believed that the man's busy work history reflected a pattern of suspicion and moving around.

How many times are there suspicions or accusations against a boyfriend, dad, step-father, etc. and DFCS doesn't do anything b/c they don't want to break up the family???

This is a societal issue - it is called denial. We don't like to think it can happen, and we don't want to believe it can happen to us. But making one group of people and their way of life the scapegoats is just another form of denial; i.e., "Our minister is married so he would never do that."

All it does is endanger more children.

angelmom said:

I do understand that. But it wasn't just in the Catholic Church. Aren't there teachers and coaches who get caught, but the school doesn't want the bad PR so they are just allowed to resign quietly?

Do you think it never happens in other religious denominations, where the pastor or rabbi is allowed to "move along" without the new congregation being warned? I know of at least one case PERSONALLY where this happened in a Methodist community where multiple children were abused by a pastor and his wife who ran the preschool. There was videotape evidence from multiple congregations when they were finally caught, and many who believed that the man's busy work history reflected a pattern of suspicion and moving around.

How many times are there suspicions or accusations against a boyfriend, dad, step-father, etc. and DFCS doesn't do anything b/c they don't want to break up the family???

This is a societal issue - it is called denial. We don't like to think it can happen, and we don't want to believe it can happen to us. But making one group of people and their way of life the scapegoats is just another form of denial; i.e., "Our minister is married so he would never do that."

All it does is endanger more children.

Click to expand...

Well then as a society, we need to speak up.
We should never put children in danger. I understand your frustration about feeling that your church is being singled out. In many ways it is.
There are creeps all over. It was/is being singled out though because of the policy of protecting the priests over the kids.
Unfortunately, when religious leaders are involved in any kind of scandal, they are scrutinized more harshly because we do expect a higher level of morality.
Anyway, Merry Christmas to you and your family.