The Diocese of Great Falls-Billings is committed to ensuring that our parishes and schools are safe, open, welcoming, and protective of all people, especially our children. Since 2002, the Diocese has actively maintained a Safe Environment Office designed to educate adults and children alike about the signs of abuse and neglect. The lessons learned in just one Safe Environment course may change a person’s life.
Jesus calls upon us through the Gospels to protect each other and keep each other from harm. When safe environments are viewed as a ministry, we are ensuring that a Catholic parish and/or school is a safe place. It is within these sacred spaces that young people can safely grow in their faith. As Catholics, we are all tasked with participating in ensuring that every child feels safe in our parishes and schools.
Every priest, deacon, parish or school staff member, teacher and lay minister that is employed by a parish or school and any volunteer working with minors and/or vulnerable adults in our diocese is required to meet these requirements: 1) pass a background check; 2) take an on-line training session on how to recognize abuse and neglect; 3) read and agree to the Code of Pastoral Conduct.
In addition to our safe environment requirements for adults, our diocese requires all parish religious education programs and Catholic schools to provide Children’s Learning Programs that give instruction on personal safety and abuse prevention. The Diocese uses the Circle of Grace program which helps children and young people understand their own sacredness, the sacredness of others, and how to seek help through trusted adults. The Circle of Grace program is strongly rooted in our Catholic moral teaching and consists of age-appropriate lessons for all children in grades kindergarten through twelfth grade. The USCCB requires that Parishes and school to annually report their compliance with this program.
Employees and volunteers of the Diocese are essential to the success of this program because you have close contact with children. You may also be a Eucharist Minister to the homebound, a hospital volunteer, involved with your local soup kitchen or food pantry, you may be part of a ministry that assists the elderly or homebound. Whatever your role as a representative of your parish or school, you have the potential to make a profound difference in the safety of someone’s life. Employees and volunteers of the Diocese are mandatory reporters, and the Safe Environment program is designed to teach you how to recognize abuse and neglect, and how to report it to the appropriate authorities.
Preventing abuse, healing those who have been harmed, and modeling right relationships must be who and how we are with children and vulnerable populations. We invite you to be a part of this ministry of protecting, and of healing.
To explore more of what our Diocese offers in terms of adult and children’s safe environment programs, please feel free to contact Barbara Haacke at the Chancery: 406-604-1850 or bhaacke@diocesegfb.org.
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