Thank you to all our Parish Volunteers who attended the recent Safeguarding Children Conference in the Diocese of Meath on Wednesday 14 October 2015, hosted by Bishop Michael Smith in Knightsbrook Hotel, Trim.
The purpose of the conference was to bring priests and parishioners together with Church personnel to examine how good child protection measures provide essential support to working with young people in parishes.
Bishop Denis Brennan addressed the conference on the transformation that has taken place in his Diocese of Ferns since the publication of the Ferns Report ten years ago. Bishop Brennan said “with the benefit of hindsight it is possible to see that the Church authorities, the medical profession, and society generally, failed to appreciate the horrendous damage which the sexual abuse of children, can and does cause.’’ The Bishop said the Church rightly has a zero tolerance approach to any manifestation of child abuse and that protocols are in place to prevent a recurrence of the suffering and scandal of the past. While these protocols sometimes give rise to fear on the part of volunteers and clergy working with children today, he emphasised that the Church is now in a better place to engage again with young people “and to close the gap that has opened up in recent years between adults and children. And this is why we must always be open to incorporating new insights into our pastoral and professional practice, always understanding that it remains a work in progress – and crucially – a Ministry for everyone”.
Aoife Walsh from the Diocese of Limerick re-enforced the Bishop’s point that good child protection helps priests and volunteers to overcome the fear which can be associated with youth ministry because of what happened in the past. “Some people will say that Safeguarding and all these policies and procedures have ruined youth ministry. They’ve taken away the spontaneity that used to exist and made it harder to for people to get involved. I really haven’t found that to be true. For me in my work I feel that safeguarding supports me and while it may initially have seemed like another layer of work I can see clearly now that what safeguarding has actually enabled my work by putting in place the structures necessary in order to meet the needs of the young people in my care. Safeguarding also protects me and keeps me safe because ensuring that children are safe and valued means ensuring that the adults who work with them are safe too.”
Photo: Nuala McLoughlin, Aoife Walsh, Bishop Michael Smith, Peter Kiernan, Joan Walsh, Bishop Denis Brennan
