Guide to Ongoing Formation for Priests

Appendix D. Boundary Education

302. The adoption of child and youth protection and boundary educa tion programming in US dioceses, eparchies, institutes of consecrated life, and societies of apostolic life has been a remarkable achievement in the years since the 2002 establishment of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People . Safeguarding programs implemented for adults and youth have been foundational resources for a broad and rapid change in awareness of and vigilance in the protection of minors. For more than two decades, much has been learned about recognizing and preventing grooming behaviors and carefully supervising people, programs, and facili ties. Experience with these tools has also deepened their effectiveness, even as the insights gained now offer possibilities for other kinds of boundary education. Although the protection of minors remains a priority, church leaders are increasingly aware that grooming behaviors and misconduct may be directed at adults and at vulnerable persons who might lack the capacity to protect themselves, even only occasionally. In addition to the critical concern for the protection of the young and the vulnerable, then, the social sciences also propose that awareness of interpersonal boundaries is foundational to a healthy emotional life and to healthy relationships. Those boundaries may be physical, sexual, or emotional. This appendix addresses a variety of ways in which boundary education matters in the ongoing formation of priests. 303.

HEALTH AND BOUNDARIES

304. As should be clear in the following paragraphs, the maintenance of healthy interpersonal boundaries begins with the priest’s own balanced and healthy living. The priest who prays, engages in spiritual direction, possesses appropriate and mature social skills, attends to good priestly fraternity and other healthy relationships, takes care of his health, and seeks to grow in