Parishes, schools and other Catholic institutions in the diocese have been notified of the changes, said Patricia Kornfeld, diocesan victim assistance coordinator. New provisions of the policy will begin implementation in July, with full compliance expected by January 2013.

Policy on volunteers

Kornfeld said a major change to the policy — and the one that will have the biggest impact on parishes and Catholic institutions — is that terms of the policy are no longer limited to volunteers with significant contact with minors.

"Under the previous version of the policy, volunteers who came in contact with children were required to undergo a criminal background check and to attend the diocesan child safety training programs," Kornfeld said. "The revised policy covers all volunteers in a parish or school regardless of position or reason for volunteering."

The policy specifies "any volunteer capacity in the parishes, schools, agencies and other institutions of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois to include volunteers in ministries of the liturgy (i.e., Eucharistic/Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion, Lectors, Ushers, Greeters/Hospitality, Choir members, Musicians and Equipment Technicians), volunteering in the parishes, schools, agencies and other institutions of the diocese. ... This includes, for example, volunteers working at parish festivals and fundraising events, etc."

To accommodate the additional volunteers that will fall under the training mandate, more facilitators will be needed to conduct sessions of the Virtus® Protecting God's Children Program, Kornfeld said. Five different two-day training sessions for new facilitators have been planned during May and June at the Catholic Pastoral Center.

In addition, each parish will be advised to appoint a safe environment coordinator to ensure that all parish employees and volunteers are compliant with the training and background checks required by the updated policy. An all-day training meeting for parish safe environment coordinators will be held March 14 at the Catholic Pastoral Center in Springfield.

Kornfeld said that the diocese is working on a web-based criminal background check process that in most cases can be completed on line.

"These new requirement arise from what we have learned during these past years," Kornfeld said. "Volunteers are a special blessing to the entire church community. We hope they see this training requirement as a positive step toward providing an environment safe from child sexual abure. Adults volunteering in the church can be extra eyes and ears to ensure our churches, schools and church-sponsored programs are safe."

For information on training programs, check with the parish office or contact Kornfeld at the Catholic Pastoral Center, (217) 698-8500, email .

Posting names

The second major change in the diocesan Policy on Sexual Abuse of Minors by Church Personnel is that the name of "any priest, deacon or employee of this diocese or its parishes or schools convicted of criminal sexual assault of a minor or sexual abuse of a minor or who is withdrawn or removed from ministry or employment due to any substantiated allegation of sexual misconduct with a minor will be posted on the diocesan Internet website."

"This information will remain in a designated section of the diocesan website until the death of the alleged perpetrator," the revised policy states.

"In our diocese, priests that have had substantiated allegations of sexual abuse of a minor have been publically announced in the past in Catholic Times and other secular media," Kornfeld said. "However, the vast majority of the clergy that have been accused were deceased prior to the claim and thus were unable to offer a response or defense. Under these circumstances it would be a great disrespect to post names when allegations are not able to be substantiated.

"We do, however, recognize the moral obligation to post names where claims have been substantiated in order to protect children," Kornfeld said.

Updating

Kornfeld said that periodic updates of policies are not only customary, but necessary.

"The policy in its previous form had been in effect since June 2003, when it was changed by Archbishop George Lucas, when he was still bishop of the Springfield diocese," Kornfeld said. "That policy in turn was based on one promulgated by then-Bishop Lucas in 2002, to reflect the requirements of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People written by the Catholic bishops of the United States at the historic 2002 meeting in Dallas."

The diocese's first formal policy to protect children and young people took effect in 1994.

Copies of the revised policy will be distributed in April and also be posted on the diocesan website at www.dio.org.

"We hope this policy will help achieve enhanced awareness and protection for children," Kornfeld said. "Let us not forget that children are God's most precious gift to us so that we rejoice in keeping them safe from harm."