Protect our Children - A Course on the Protection of Minors

Protect our Children!

A course on protection and safeguarding of minors and vulnerable persons

Jesus held the children in high esteem. In his public life he announced “Let the children come to me; do not prevent them for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these” (Mark 10:14). He also warned, “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea...” (Matthew 18:6). Our Lord himself loved the children and condemned any maltreatment.

It is with profound regret that Pope Francis had to call our attention as Church to the issue of abuse of minors and vulnerable adults. He announced that “The protection of minors and vulnerable persons is an integral part of the Gospel message that the Church and all its members are called to proclaim throughout the world.” (Apostolic letter On the Protection of Minors and Vulnerable persons, 26 March 2019). The Pope repeated his teaching again in his most recent apostolic letter entitled “Vos estis lux mundi” (You are the light of the world) which came into force on 1 June 2019. “The crimes of sexual abuse offend Our Lord, cause physical, psychological and spiritual damage to the victims and harm the community of the faithful. In order that these phenomena, in all their forms, never happen again, a continuous and profound conversion of hearts is needed, attested by concrete and effective actions that involve everyone in the Church.”

The “Child Safeguarding Institute” of the Emmaus Center, Ateneo de Manila, seeking to respond to this urgent call of the Church, has been running a “Basic Orientation Workshop on Safeguarding of Minors.” This is a 5-day course which overviews basic aspects of child safeguarding, and emphasizes safe self, safe community and safe ministry.

One of the Verbum Dei missionaries, James McTavish, participated in the course and the subsequent 3 day “Write shop” for policy writing for his community. He said “this was an excellent course. I was impressed by the overall content and the new emphasis on care of victims first. The inputs by Dr Gabby Dy-Liacco, (a current member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors), Msgr “Nonoy” Maculino and Dra “Titay” La Vina were both helpful and thought provoking. I realized we all need to work together to make a new culture of safeguarding towards minors and vulnerable adults.”

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Further information about this theme can be found below.

New Apostolic letter “Vos estis lux mundi” of Pope Francis:
http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/motu_proprio/documents/papa-francesco-motu-proprio-20190507_vos-estis-lux-mundi.html
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Website for the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors:
http://www.protectionofminors.va/content/tuteladeiminori/en.html