2009
January

If you got as far as this line, you have come more than halfway!
I can predict that the first response of many readers when they see "Mandatory Reporting" as the headline for this column will be, "I know all about that already."
If I only had a dollar for every time I have heard, "We went over that already."
Without a doubt, we do spend a lot of time in our diocesan Safe Environment Program hearing about Arizona's law that requires mandatory reporting of child abuse.
That's because training on the law is the foundation of everything we do in our Safe Environment Program.
And, mandatory reporting has been a topic that I have written about frequently in this column.
So, why am I bothering to write about it again?
Three reasons.
First, having heard about Arizona's law for mandatory reporting of child abuse is not the same thing has having internalized the law's requirements deeply enough so that in an emergency you will actually follow the law.
Every crisis team knows that a plan has to be rehearsed and practiced if there is to be any chance that it will be implemented effectively when it is really needed. That holds true for mandatory reporting. Just reading this column is a kind of rehearsal of mandatory reporting.
Second, we must remember that it is possible to "know about" something without really understanding it. Sometimes the most familiar subject is actually the least well understood. We become so used to the words that we fail to grasp their essence. That certainly applies to mandatory reporting
Third, as with any complex subject, there are challenges involved in reporting a suspicion of child abuse. Making a report can be an emotionally and socially complicated event.
I want to focus now on the essence of the mandatory reporting law.
To understand the essence of the mandatory reporting law, we need to look to the past.
Only in the mid 1960s were model mandatory reporting statutes first proposed in states. To its credit, Arizona was on the cutting edge of that movement.
Prior to that time, it was up to the judgment of any person, professional or not, as to whether a report should be made to law enforcement. Also in play were the privacy of families, the reputation of institutions and the privileges of professional communication.
Mandatory reporting laws proposed a different priority. Under the requirements for mandatory reporting, the welfare of the children and youth trumps concerns about privacy, reputations and even, with a few exceptions, professionally privileged communication.
In the Diocese of Tucson, all clergy and religious and all employees and volunteers are considered mandated reporters.
When we follow the mandatory reporting law, we participate in a process that in its essence is intended to bring to bear effective remedies to stop harm to minors.
Although we understand the essence of the law and rehearse its application, the process of reporting is not without its challenges.
More about those in next month's column.

2009
February

In last month's column, I wrote about the three reasons we spend a lot of time in our diocesan Safe Environment Program talking about Arizona's law on the mandatory reporting of child abuse.
Reason number one is that we need to rehearse what to do if we find ourselves in a situation that invokes the mandatory reporting law. Reason number two is that we are committed to honor the essence of mandatory reporting: that is, the priority it places on keeping children safe from harm.
And now, reason number three: we know there are challenges involved for anyone who must make a report of suspected abuse under the mandatory reporting law.
It is not easy to make a report. It is one thing to know what to do; it is another to find the courage to do it. In some ways, faced with a situation that calls for a report to law enforcement, there is a part of us that would rather not know and wishes not to become involved. We need to recognize and face such feelings directly, then work around them.
It also is sometimes difficult to determine when concern for a child becomes reasonable suspicion that a child is being abused. One simple way to work through that difficulty is this: if you are worrying about a situation for more than a few minutes you have cause enough to make the report.
This works when you remember that making a report does not mean that abuse has occurred or even that you believe abuse has occurred. Reporting is simply an expression of reasonable suspicion that abuse might have occurred.
Fortunately, we are blessed by fine law enforcement agencies in Southern Arizona. I have found that the response of law enforcement in our area is so professional that it is really like getting a consultation.
Just as you would involve others you respect in helping you determine what to do in a complex matter, think of law enforcement as partners in sorting out situations that involve possible abuse of a minor.
That being said, there are consequences to making a report, among them are the reactions that people may have.
Persons who are the subject of the report may take offense and become angry with you. They may leave the Church or end their association with you.
Knowing that these types of reactions can happen is one of the many reasons that it is important to educate all the adults in the parish and school about the mandatory reporting law.
Education about the law helps them understand when a report is made why it was made. That knowledge may not solve everything, but it may moderate their reaction.
I hope that this column and the last have been helpful to you in thinking about the mandatory reporting law and strengthening your own commitment, based on understanding, to follow it.

2009
March

Last December, when Bishop Blase Cupich of Denver began his term as chair of the Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, he reflected on all the progress that has been made since the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People was agreed upon by the bishops in June 2002.
Studying the results of audits of diocesan Safe Environment Programs from 2003 through 2007, he noted that dioceses had:
-- trained more than 1.8 million clergy, employees and volunteers in parishes in how to create safe environments and prevent child sexual abuse;
-- run criminal record checks on more than 1.53 million volunteers and employees, 162,700 educators, 51,000 clerics and 4,955 candidates for ordination;
-- prepared more than 5.8 million children to recognize abuse and protect themselves.
"This is a record of accomplishment that deserves to be widely known and expanded by our ongoing commitment," said Bishop Cupich.
We in the Diocese of Tucson are part of that record of accomplishment.
In the last audit year alone in our Diocese, 351 priests and deacons, 1,209 employees and 7,442 volunteers had been both screened and educated.
To give them tools to help in their own protection, 19,787 of our children and adolescents had been given education as to how they might recognize, resist and report abuse.
We in the Diocese of Tucson also are part of efforts to expand that record of accomplishment through our ongoing commitment.
This month, we begin the process for auditing our efforts in 2008. We will be meeting as compliance representatives from our parishes and schools in Tucson, Yuma and Globe. 
In July, we will collect the data that will be submitted to the auditors sent by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to inspect what we have been doing to maintain safe environments.
Audits are difficult and stressful, but they are absolutely essential in keeping us on the right course.
That fact is especially true when considering a task as complex and important as maintaining a safe environment for those we serve and those who serve them.
We must review the policies that guide us, the process of criminal history checks, the educational materials and the way they are delivered, the system of supervision, the relationship with law enforcement in each of the jurisdictions in which we serve and our practice with respect to the mandatory reporting law.
And we must do this in every parish and school that is part of the Diocese of Tucson.
There are a lot of moving parts! It is not easy to keep up.
But, the results more than justify the effort.
This came home to me after a local professional in child abuse prevention and response gave an in-service presentation to our diocesan staff at the Bishop Moreno Pastoral Center.
As she concluded her remarks (and speaking broadly of our diocesan, parish and school Safe Environment Programs), she said, "Because of all you have done, you are now part of the solution, not the problem."
That is a record of accomplishment that inspires us to expand our commitment to the safety of children and youth.

2009
April

One of the most important decisions in the development of the Diocese of Tucson Safe Environment Program was the determination not just to respond to the immediate problems that faced us, but to think broadly about how we as Catholics might use the painful reality of what had happened in the household of the Church as a transforming experience, making us more proactive in the community-wide desire to recognize, resist and prevent child abuse.  
It was horrifying and demoralizing, of course, to read and hear the stories of sexual abuse perpetrated by priests and other workers for the Church. As I wrote last month, in response we set in place procedures that make it now much more difficult for abuse to occur undetected or unchecked in our parishes and schools.
It did not take long, however, for us to realize that the most common dangers facing children are neglect and physical abuse and that these events occur most often within the children's own families.
Our commitment to be proactive led us to decide that all employees and volunteers in a parish or school would consider themselves mandated reporters under the law and would make reports to law enforcement and CPS whenever there was suspicion of abuse, no matter what type or where from.
Our efforts to combat child abuse did not end there.
A second way in which the Diocese of Tucson and its parishes and schools have gone beyond their boundaries to help children in trouble has been in support of the important work of the Southern Arizona Children's Advocacy Center. Since 2003, the Diocese has been represented on the Center's governing board.
The governmental and law enforcement agencies of Pima County, the City of Tucson and many neighboring jurisdictions have been forward thinking and generous, even in this difficult economic environment, in their funding of the Center's work to maintain the safety of children.
Last year, for example, the Center was able to move into a welcoming, child-friendly new building in which various collaborating agencies also have a presence. In this setting, sensitive, well-trained professionals provide medical examinations and forensic interviews that will stand up in court without traumatizing the children further. 
The Center itself goes beyond its boundaries to provide support to victims of crimes other than abuse. Two recent stories really touched me.
In one, four children were brought to the Center to be told in its supportive atmosphere that their mother had been murdered. It was very hard for the team, but the result was an experience as good as it could be under very sad circumstances.
In another, a mother came with her child from Phoenix. She was concerned for her child, but it was evident that she also had been severely beaten. The Center personnel formed a team with a domestic violence counselor also located in the building to provide help to the mother as well as to the child.
As a Catholic of the Diocese of Tucson, supporting the system of prevention and response that is the Safe Environment Program, you are part of the Center's important mission.
Together, within the Church and as members of the community, we are making a difference for the children of Southern Arizona.

2009
May

Staying vigilant for new sources of danger to our children and youth is a priority for our diocesan Safe Environment Program.
Because of their easy access to and frequent use of the Internet and cell phones, our children need us to say vigilant about dangers that come with the benefits of information technology.
One such danger that is getting our attention is “cyberbullying.”
It’s a term that describes the process of tormenting, threatening, harassing, humiliating, embarrassing or otherwise targeting a young person by another young person using some form of digital communications technology. (When an adult is the perpetrator, the action is usually called cyber-harassment or cyber-stalking.)
Here at the Bishop Moreno Pastoral Center, Mary Ann and Ace Hendrickson in our Department of Catholic Schools attend to all dimensions of school safety, including how to keep students safe from cyberbullying.
They point out that cyberbullying is usually not a one-time communication. Except in cases in which a credible threat of serious bodily harm is communicated, the bully picks at the victim persistently as long as the victim will take it. It is the sadistic nature of bullying that gives pleasure to the perpetrator from the pain of the victim.
Mary Ann and Ace are working hard with our schools and parents to help them recognize and stop cyberbullying situations. 
They accomplish this goal in part by educating both students and parents on cyber-ethics and the law. This education is conducted as part of the personal safety education for middle school and high school students that is a component of the Safe Environment Program.
Complementing education is enforcement of rules to prevent cyberbullying.
Mary Ann and Ace work with schools to adapt their “acceptable use policy” to keep it up-to-date with evolving technology.
Schools not only monitor activity on school grounds, they also reserve the right to discipline students for actions taken off-campus if they are intended to harass or affect the safety and well being of another student while in school.
Even though many of us parents and grandparents are not very adept with the latest digital tools, Mary Ann and Ace remind us that keeping children safe in the digital world isn’t about knowing technology; it is about common sense and communication.
While they recognize that we can’t be expected to sit at our children’s side every second they are on-line, Mary Ann and Ace promote these basic points that we can share with our children and teens:
• We have already taught you not to talk to or accept anything from a stranger. On-line, everyone is a stranger. Anyone can masquerade as someone else.
• We have already taught you not to wander around the city after school. You know you will find trouble. So, don’t spend unending hours on-line, wandering (surfing) aimlessly. Get off the Internet and interact with our family.
• Don’t tell people personal things about yourself. Let’s discuss what is personal information and how disclosing it might lead to trouble. Be wary of contests and requests to register for a website; there is a reason they want your information. Ask me before you enter anything.
•You know I want to know your friends from school or the neighborhood. I want to know who your on-line friends are as well. Teach me. Let’s discuss how you set up your social networking site and let me visit.
After we have talked about these points, Mary Ann and Ace advise us to sit with our children at the computer when we can.
“Who knows,” they say, “you may learn something about the technology. And, while you are setting the rules or guidelines that make sense about Internet safety, you will certainly teach your child some valuable lessons hard-won from your life experience.”
Mary Ann and Ace recommend the Websites below for more information about Internet safety for children.
Log on and take a look.
Then, get involved in your child’s on-line life.
www.stopcyberbullying.org
www.Isafe.org
www.wirelessfoundation.org

2009
June

Parents are so important that we have special days just for them. Last month, it was Mother's Day. This month, we honor our fathers. 
Singling out mom and dad for special attention highlights for us the essential role they have in our efforts to prevent child abuse, maltreatment and neglect.
The sad realities are that parents are the number one abusers of children and that most all child abuse takes place within the family.
We know that distressed families present an immediate danger to the children within them. Parents who are stressed sometimes act out that stress on their own children.
Stressed parents are also distracted parents. They are less able to take time to learn what they can do to keep their children safe. They are less likely to build relationships with their children that will encourage honest sharing when a child is troubled.
So, whatever we can do to help moms and dads be good parents and whatever we can do to build emotionally healthy families will help to reduce child abuse.
With our program year winding down in our parishes and schools, I am recommending for your summer reading an excellent resource.
"Strengthening Families and Communities: 2009 Resource Guide" is a free resource created to support service providers (which include staff of our parishes and schools) and communities in their desire to strengthen families.
The guide is the product of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Children's Bureau, Office on Child Abuse and Neglect, Child Welfare Information Gateway, and the FRIENDS National Resource Center for Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention. Many other national organizations and parents themselves contributed.
The guide presents in simple, clear language strategies that can strengthen families by promoting five key protective factors that have been shown to prevent child abuse and neglect.
The key protective factors for parents are resilience, social networks and knowledge of parenting and child development.
The key factor for children is social and emotional competence.
The key factor that only those outside the family can bring is concrete support in times of need.
The resource guide includes strategies to promote community awareness of these key protective factors, as well as tip sheets in English and Spanish to share with parents and those who support them.
The tip sheets address a range of topics, including bonding with the littlest children, dealing calmly but effectively with temper tantrums, maintaining connection with teenagers, supporting very young parents, learning to be a loving father and living the role of grandparent.
To view or order the guide, go to the Child Welfare Information Gateway website at www.childwelfare.gov/preventing or contact Information Gateway at 1-800-394-3366 or info@childwelfare.gov.
This resource is useful both to leaders of marriage and family outreach programs and to individual families.
Applying the strategies in "Strengthening Families and Communities" as part of the ongoing work of our Safe Environment Program is yet another way that we can help our parishes and schools become communities that protect and nurture family life -- communities in which children are much safer.

2009
August

Keeping children safe from harm is a concern that goes beyond our Diocese and the Catholic Church.
Nationally, efforts to protect our children from harm receive considerable attention and resources.
Are these efforts having an impact on the societal problem of child abuse?
Updated statistics on child abuse are released each spring, tabulating the data from two years earlier.
Here is a quick scan of the most recent data as presented in "Child Maltreatment 2007," issued by the Children's Bureau of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, that compiled information from more than three million reports made to child protective service agencies, reports that touched on the lives of nearly six million children.
In 2007, initial screening eliminated more than 38 percent of the reports. Of the investigations that were opened, more than 25 percent resulted in confirmed cases of abuse or neglect. These cases involved approximately 794,000 children.
Clearly, the reports of suspected child abuse exceed the confirmed findings of abuse by a large factor.
This is not a failure of the system. It is the way the mandated reporter law is designed to work. It is better to have reports that do not lead to findings of abuse than to have calls that were not made, with potentially catastrophic results.
Who is making the reports?
In 2007, nearly 58 percent of the reports were made by professionals. A professional is simply defined as someone who had contact with the child as part of his or her job.
In the Diocese of Tucson, this definition includes anyone who is ministering or serving in any capacity on behalf of the parish, school or agency.
 In our experience, most reports are made by those who come into regular contact with children in their ministry or service. But, any person who is educated as to what to look for and motivated to act with courage can be the source of a report that might save a child from harm.
Although each state has its own definitions of child abuse and neglect, Federal law sets this minimum standard: any act or failure to act that results in or presents an imminent risk of serious harm will be classified as maltreatment, which is defined as neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse and psychological maltreatment.
The most common form of maltreatment was neglect. In 2007, almost 60 percent of documented cases fell into this category.
Neglect may be associated with many causative factors and can be very serious in its consequences. More than 30 percent of child fatalities (the great majority in children under four years of age) were associated with neglect alone.
Physical abuse was the second most common form of maltreatment (more than 10 percent) and was also a major contributor to the death of the children.
Sexual abuse again ranked third (7.6 percent) among the four major categories of maltreatment.
Who is abusing these children?
Unhappily, nearly 80 percent of maltreatment was perpetrated by parents, almost all of them biological parents. Another 6.6 percent of abusers were other relatives.
For all of us in ministry in our Diocese, the lesson of these statistics is clear: your eyes and ears, your courageous willingness to act, may lead to the call that saves a child's life.
What are we looking and listening for?
There is an old saying in health care, "common diseases are common," meaning that health care personnel should be on the lookout not only for the more unusual diseases that might be misdiagnosed, but also for the common diseases that are most often the cause of symptoms and that might be overlooked in the fear of missing the more unusual diseases.
As you see from the statistics, the most common source of danger for a child comes within the family and will be recognized in signs of physical neglect, physical damage or remarkable changes in usual behavior. These statistics are supported by the experience of our parishes and schools.
If you would like more information, check out the related publication, "The Role of Professional Child Care Providers in Preventing and Responding to Child Abuse and Neglect," available online at www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/usermanuals/childcare.

2009
September

A newspaper story caught my eye a few weeks ago.
It was about child molester who had been arrested in Tennessee after hiding from authorities for seven years.
He had been convicted in Georgia and had fled after violating his probation by failing to register as a sex offender.
As described in the story, he literally recreated himself.
He established a new life in Tennessee under an assumed name. He worked at a retail store. He was a volunteer youth minister in a local Baptist church.
It is not known yet whether he harmed any children under his care at the Baptist church, but you can imagine the anxiety that the leaders of that church must have experienced when they learned of his background.
The story did not make clear whether the church had tried to do any kind of background check or how completely the fugitive had covered his tracks. He may have taken on not only a new name, but also a new Social Security Number.
That notwithstanding, it is likely that the "low tech" aspect of a background check, a simple set of phone calls, might have been enough to expose him.
I read this story with particular interest because it coincided with the completion of this year's education video for our diocesan Safe Environment Program.
In the video, we listen to the chilling account by a child molester who specialized in church settings. He describes how he infiltrated churches, committing his crimes against children while hiding in plain sight.
The video helps us to understand that child molesters can look like ordinary people who work their way into the heart a church community by being pleasant and useful.
As they gain trust, they gradually take liberties with the behavioral limits built into the policies -- like the Code of Conduct and Standing Operating Procedures (SOPs) of our Safe Environment Program -- written for their particular ministry.
If they are not called on these violations, child molesters know that they are safe to act out.
They are a small percentage of all the persons who so generously give their time to carry out the ministries of churches, but that small percentage does untold damage if they are not detected in time.
The video -- as does the newspaper story -- also emphasizes for us just how critical it is to follow through on background checks for any person new to a parish or school community.
If you are an employee or volunteer at a parish or school, you will see the video during these next few months. I hope that it will encourage you to advocate for and follow the policies and procedures that your parish or school has put into place to protect those that our parishes and schools serve and those, like you, who provide the service.
If you are a parishioner or member of a school family, I hope this column will give you the confidence that the persons responsible for the care of children at your parish or school are receiving education that will help them to recognize child molesters and to respond to situations that put a child's safety at risk.

2009
October

Is there anyone out there who enjoys an audit?
I bet not.
But no matter how time consuming they are and no matter how nit-picking they may seem, audits are a standard part of how we operate in every important endeavor in our society.
 In the Diocese of Tucson, audits are a regular part of how we operate in the Safe Environment Program.
In fact, we have just finished another on-site audit of the Safe Environment Program conducted by the Gavin Group.
This independent firm does the audits of dioceses nationwide that are required by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the National Review Board that collaborates with the Conference to prevent the sexual abuse of minors by persons who serve the Church.
Exactly what does our audit involve?
Before all else, the audit requires preparation. Preparing for an audit is hard work, but it provides the framework for a thoughtful review of what has been done. 
This preparation goes on in each parish and school of the Diocese. It is not a job that is taken lightly.
The review of what has been done leads inevitably to what might have been done better. This is the real fruit of an audit.
An operation as complex as that of a parish, school or a diocese has so many moving parts, it is unreasonable to believe that they will all be working well at any given time.
From that perspective, audits are simply an opportunity to discover those areas that need more attention so that a timely correction can be applied.
So, as much as we might wish that we could do away with the stress of audits, dispassionate consideration suggests that timely "maintenance" of the Safe Environment Program would suffer if we did.
In the Diocese of Tucson, we put such store in audits that we not only commit to the annual audit through the Bishops' Conference, we also have the professional services of our own internal auditor, Katherine Preble.
Katherine visits each of our parishes and schools on a two-year cycle to examine financial records, human resources practices and, importantly, Safe Environment Program implementation. 
Many people have commented to me about the positive impact Katherine has made through her visits.
In addition to these more traditional types of audits, the Safe Environment Program also includes another type of audit process: the review of the Compliance Plan.
A compliance plan is a policy statement of the parish or school that outlines the way in which the Safe Environment Program will be implemented in that particular place, so an audit of the compliance plan is central to the planning process of each parish and school.
Each year, when the leadership of the parish or school reviews the plan, they consider whether the plan still fits the local circumstances and whether is actually being carried out.
These three audit processes -- annual collection of data, internal auditor visits and annual review of the compliance plan -- are just the formal ways in which the audit component of our complex Safe Environment Program is carried out.
Also, in the course of each year, there are many other specific checks that are done as issues arise, augmenting our common commitment to try to do the right thing and to keep on doing it.

2009
November

We don't know when.
We don't know who.
 But, we do know that it can happen.
In September, I wrote about a report that caused a chill for those of us who work to prevent abuse of children in churches and schools.
It was the story of the arrest of 53-year-old employee of a discount store in Tennessee who was a trusted volunteer youth pastor at a Baptist church.
It turned out that he had fled another state where he had been on probation after his conviction for molesting children. The church that had let him become a volunteer had no idea who he really was.
This is why we set up systems and follow them, systems not only for screening of new volunteers and employees, but for supervision and education of existing personnel and the education of our children and youth so that they can play a part in their own safety.
Screening includes careful review of the background of any person entrusted to work with minors or entrusted with the care of vulnerable adults.
Supervision and education of employees and volunteers includes regular review of the Code of Contact, our diocesan Guidelines for the Prevention of and Response to Sexual Misconduct and the ministry-specific guidelines in each parish and school that we have come to call Standing Operating Procedures (SOPs).
As critical as all that is, the education of our children and youth in personal safety is equally important.
This education is another level of protection from a past sex offender who somehow gets through all the other safeguards.
When the education of children in personal safety was first introduced in our Diocese, the concern from some parents was obvious.
I listened to their worries that children would be traumatized or be led to file false reports. There also were misunderstandings about the nature of personal safety education that confused personal safety education with "sex education."
Because these same concerns were being raised in other dioceses as well, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops commissioned a study that examined the scientific and religious evidence about personal safety education.
The study found that education in personal safety does not traumatize children or lead them to file false reports.
Personal safety education does, the study showed, develop in children and youth greater trust in the great majority of adults who act in appropriate ways and are clearly there on behalf of the children's welfare. That trust leads them to speak with adults about what troubles them rather than to keep secrets.
While that study is solid evidence of the value of personal safety education, it does not speak to us as eloquently as our personal experience.
Not long ago, I had a conversation with a mother that made the study come alive.
She told me that her daughter, since she was very young, had lived with a fear of being abducted and harmed by a stranger. How this fear came to be, the mother didn't know.
She told me that in the last year her daughter's fear had lessened greatly because she had received personal safety education in her parish and at home.
Even more, when the mother shared with her daughter that she had heard (in our new educational video) a convicted sex offender say he backed away from children who had received personal safety education, the daughter's reaction was: "I am so excited!" -- excited because she realized that now she knows what is inappropriate behavior by an adult and what she is to do if she feels uncomfortable or unsafe.
She felt confident that she would not be a victim because she has been told that she can speak up, say "No!" and tell someone.
Her mother was so happy to see this confidence in her child, and I was very happy to hear of it.
I would like to hear from you about your experience with personal safety education of children. You are welcome to contact me at 520-838-2513 or pauld@diocesetucson.org.

2009
December

Straight out of the headlines come three lessons on just how important it is to have policies and procedures in place (and followed) for parish ministry to youth.
A 59-year-old youth minister for a church in Tucson recently was convicted on six counts of sexual molestation of a 13-year-old girl, a member of the youth group.
A 25-year-old youth ministry intern, who had been serving in a church in Tempe for only six months, recently was arrested after admitting to having sex with a 14-year-old girl in the youth group.
Two 13-year-old boys recently were arrested in Tucson for using their mobile phones to send a nude photo of a 13-year-old girl that she had sent to one of the boys using her mobile phone.
These three stories, all very close to home, illustrate how vulnerable youth is to predators and, sadly, to youth themselves.
In the first story, an older man volunteers his time, but takes advantage of the trust of the church community. He violated prudent boundaries by taking children home in his car. I am sure it seemed harmless enough to those in charge, but he used the opportunities to size up potential victims, eventually picking out a girl whose need for a father figure must have been obvious to him.
This predator moved slowly but surely, molesting her for more than a year while he went about his other duties as a youth minister. He dominated the girl's psyche by professing his care for her and threatening suicide should she reveal the abuse.
In the second story, the youth ministry intern, still a student, offended in a very different manner than the older man. He convinced the girl to sneak out of her house so they could have sex in his car. In the wake of his arrest, two other girls from a church in another state where he had worked also accused him of abuse.
In the third story, the two boys, still minors themselves, and the girl who sent the picture of herself, got caught in what is an increasing source of danger to our children and youth -- the use of the electronic communication devices to share inappropriate images and information.
In this case, the crime was committed only by minors. It could have easily expanded to involve adults who would use the image and information for even worse purposes.
I can only imagine the sense of betrayal, failure and disappointment that those responsible for supervising these youth ministers and the young offenders must have felt.
The impact of these crimes goes beyond the churches themselves. Such incidents further erode in our communities the trust that parents have in people of faith who are involved in youth ministry. 
We don't know what policies to prevent abuse were in place in the churches involved or how well they were followed. We do know what we are to do to prevent such things from happening and how to respond if they do.
This year, I am collaborating with Joe Perdreauville of our diocesan Office of Pastoral Services and John Shaheen of our diocesan Property and Insurance Office to enhance our policies, procedures and resources to make our youth ministry programs as safe as possible for young persons and those who serve them.
How important and challenging it is to provide ministry to our youth!
I sometimes use the analogy of the electrical system to bring home this point.
We can't really live our normal lives without electricity, and we certainly can't use electricity safely without the skills and dedication of electrical engineers and electricians.
Youth ministry is essential to our parishes, and we certainly can't have safe youth ministry without skilled and dedicated youth ministers -- people who know the techniques of good youth ministry, people who know the boundaries of proper ministry and people who want our young persons to be safe.
Nothing we do will completely eliminate the risks of youth ministry, but whole-heartedly implementing our Safe Environment Program allows us to carry on this critical work so that our young persons are safe as they learn about and experience God's presence in their lives.