Brief Overview and a Personal Reflection on the Diploma In Safeguarding Of Minors
In this short article, I will begin with the objective of the course followed by the guiding principles; a brief outline of the curriculum, the methodology used to impart the knowledge and skills to the participants/students and will close with my personal reflection.
The objective of the course is to enable the participants/students to acquire comprehensive knowledge, relevant facts and practical skills needed in the field of safeguarding of minors. These competencies enable the participants to respond to the challenges they encounter in the field of safeguarding with prudence and in a creative way. The competencies simultaneously inculcate in the participants/students the relevance of collaborative ministry within the church related institutions.
Safeguarding was the underlying primary objective of the course and it entails promoting the protection of minors and the vulnerable from harm and necessitates implementing relevant preventive measures. Consequently, the fundamental structure of all the course work was consistent with five guiding principles namely:
i) Victims first – reflections, commitments and actions are based primarily on listening to and learning from victims and survivors.
ii) Biblical image of the human person – every human person is valued as a creation in God’s image therefore is deserving of a charitable Christian response.
iii) Spirituality – safeguarding is foreseen from a spiritual dimension which directs theological reflections and faith responses.
iv) Cultural sensitivity – the respect for cultures and its impact along with the acknowledgement for the need to engage in critical dialogue so as to facilitate and implement culturally acceptable safeguarding measures.
v) Multidiscipline – safeguarding is simultaneously viewed from various perspectives or disciplines such as theology, canon and civil law, psychology, sociology and so forth.
Keeping in mind the five guiding principles, the course curriculum consisting of a period of 15 weeks divided into 12 weeks of classes and three weeks of workshops was designed. The workshops were inserted in between the classes corresponding with the topics discussed during the classes. The topics of the workshops are as follows:
a) Chastity and sexual challenges today – we discussed on the sexual challenges, how to live a positive chaste life and on psychosexual maturity especially in the areas of relationship boundaries and adequate emotional maturity.
b) Listening to Victims/Survivors – we practiced how to listen to the victims in a believing way without reacting but responding adequately (dos and don’ts when listening) and how to document any case disclosures.
c) Creating/conducting formation sessions – we practiced identifying objectives, target groups, appropriate content for the planned sessions and the various techniques of presenting the sessions.
The other 12 weeks were dedicated to the following topics:
i) One week on ‘Childhood’ – here we discussed how our particular culture viewed children and if our cultural concepts of children have taken into account the vulnerability of children, is it consistent with the Universal Rights of Children and are there positive laws in place in our country to address the vulnerability of children.
ii) One week on ‘Sexuality’ – the topic touched on the cultural attitude towards sexual education, gender roles and the development of cultural perspectives in view of the media influence and the internet. The assessments of healthy relationships were also discussed.
iii) Four weeks on ‘Victims’ – the first week covered the introduction to the various forms of child maltreatment and its consequences. The following week we realized that the abuse affects not only the victims but also had a deep-seated affect on secondary victims, safeguarding officers, church and society at large. The affect triggered a deep sense of empathy for the victims and a sense of awareness for self-care on the part of the people dealing with the victims. In the last two weeks of the topic we were taught how to cope with our emotions when confronting an abusive case, how to identify risk and protective factors that exist in a given situation, how to recognize the available challenges and opportunities in our pastoral journey with the victims and secondary victims.
iv) Two weeks on ‘Perpetrators’ – we began with becoming familiar with the various types of perpetrators, the possible signs and indicators of a potential offender and the possible causes for an abuse to occur. The following week was focused on the available therapies, pastoral accompaniment, pastoral care and after care for perpetrators. The legal, canonical and theological implications for the perpetrators were also explored.
v) Two weeks on ‘Institutions’ – the first week was committed to analyzing and reflecting on the past mistakes of the church and the appropriate remedies. The analysis and reflection entailed describing how the institutional structures and dynamics can either contribute or prevent abuse. The following week was focused on critically assessing theological and organizational convictions which included the interpretation of power, roles and responsibilities which also may either enhance or hinder abuse.
vi) Two weeks on ‘Preventive Measures’ – the first week covered the various effective approaches of prevention while the second week required the participants/students to develop a prevention formation or program for a church related institution based on the knowledge and skills acquired.
The methodology used to deliver the course curriculum was a student centered interactive approach. There were very few lectures during the course. Most of the course work dealt with group work such as having discussion, presentations role-plays and so forth.
After a brief introduction to the objective, guiding principles, curriculum and the methodology, I would like to close the article with my personal reflection.
In my attempt to synthesize the whole course, I reflected on the course curriculum from the beginning on ‘Childhood’ to the end on ‘Prevention And Intervention’ and it dawned upon me that the whole course was centered on four types of “sights”.
The first sight was “on-sight” meaning looking at the reality namely the whole crisis (cases) in the church where there were simultaneously an implosion of clergy sexual abuse and an explosion of the scandals namely the cover-ups highlightedin the media. Each time a new case emerged the re-implosion and re-explosion became fresh which certainly tainted the Faith of the People of God and the credibility of the Church. Therefore, the church in her sincere desire to prevent future repetition of such scandals embarked on an introspective examination by firstly deliberating on the possible causes which contributed to the intensity of this scandal.
For a thorough examination of the scandals the church consciously exercised another type of sight namely “hindsight”. The logical approach of looking back into the past and the church realized that there were many traditional practices in the church which were taken for granted. These traditional thoughts and practices certainly contributed towards the crisis/scandals.
The church realized that in the past when a child became very close to a priest it was never a cause of alarm as the child was believed to be in safe hands. In addition to that, children were often viewed as having no rights and they should basically just be seen and not be heard. Such an attitude often casted doubts whenever a child was trying to report an irregular behavior of the clergy. Next the traditional view of the clergy as ‘holy people of God’ who must be held at high esteem, trusted fully and therefore it is impossible for them to commit any serious sins was not helpful either. Finally, the Institution was traditionally viewed as divine therefore untouchable, powerful and appropriately secretive meaning that she should be safeguarded at all cost even at the expense of the victims of sexual abuse, the primary reason for cover-ups. It was precisely, for this reason that in the past if a priest had deep-seated sexuality issues and had manifested it in an inappropriate way then the best solution was to transfer him; to bring him out of his familiar zone and plant him into an unfamiliar one!
Next, in matching the “on-sight” with the “hind-sight” the church as the pilgrim church on earth journeying towards holiness mandated under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and especially through the Holy Father, Pope Francis decided that this scandal must not escalate any further and demanded that it be checked. Here the sight which came into play was “foresight”; a sight which dealt precisely with the appropriate prevention and intervention which must be put in place to restore the Faith of the People of God and the credibility of the Church. The church clearly wanted to put in place appropriate check and balance to ensure that this crisis by the Grace of God and through the efforts of the People of God under guidance of the Holy Spirit will be put to rest or will be brought down to the bare minimum. The Holy Father used the term “zero tolerance”. However, it is necessary to take note that the term ‘zero tolerance’ has various interpretations from the various particular churches!
Nevertheless, it is my conviction that apart from these three sights namely “on-sight”, “hindsight” and “foresight” it also necessary to prioritize the integration of “spiritual in-sight” for those involved in the field of safeguarding. Failing to give importance of spiritual in-sight in managing the crisis may result in those who are called to the Apostolate of Prevention to just merely become social activist driven by passion or worse still become clouded with un-regulated or unhealthy emotion or with personal agendas. Spiritual in-sight therefore, will assist those in the Apostolate of Prevention to be constantly open to the prompting of the Spirit and to be consistently engaged with God while serving in the Apostolate. The consistent encounter with God will ensure that those in Apostolate will be inspired not compromise or dilute the Teachings of the Church, avoid making assumptions before clarifying, refrain from stirring up any un-healthy emotions or even insinuating incorrect generalized perceptions of the Church, Clergy and the People Of God.
In conclusion, I am convinced that those serving of the Apostolate of Prevention must hold all four sights namely “on-sight”, “hind-sight”, “foresight” and “in-sight” in a healthy tension so that the Apostolate can move forward in a matured way to be an instrument contributing towards the on-going sanctification of the Holy Mother Church.
Source: Center for Child Protection, Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, Italy.
By Rev Fr Damian Charles Pereira