Guidelines for Receiving Pastoral Ministers in the USA

Child and Youth Protection and Safety

The Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People , adopted by the bishops of the United States in 2002 and last revised in 2011, is a foundational document for the protection of children and young people in the Church’s pastoral care. In the Charter, the bishops state, “Let there now be no doubt or confusion on anyone’s part: For us, your bishops, our obligation to protect children and young people and to prevent sexual abuse flows from the mission and example given to us by Jesus Christ himself, in whose name we serve.” To assist in the realization of this promise, the bishops promulgated in December 2002 the Essential Norms for Diocesan/Eparchial Policies Dealing with Allegations of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Priests or Deacons . This document, also revised in 2011, con stitutes particular ecclesiastical law for all dioceses, eparchies, clerical religious institutes, and societies of apostolic life in the United States with respect to all priests and deacons in the ecclesiastical minis try of the Church in the United States. Norms and policies for these juridic and physical persons con cerning the protection of minors are to be developed in line with the provisions of the Essential Norms . The Charter, the Essential Norms , and particular and proper norms and policies, in turn, are applied in accord with the universal law of the Church. Other chapters of the Guidelines discuss the many logistical and administrative issues surround ing the reception of international pastoral ministers. This chapter highlights issues of particular concern with regard to the reception of international pas toral ministers and the protection of children and young people. In May 2011, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a Circular Letter to assist episcopal conferences throughout the world with developing guidelines or policies regarding the protection of minors. The letter requires each episcopal confer ence that has not already done so to develop child protection policies that address several topics, such as care for victims, cooperation with civil author ities, formation of ministers, and the process to be used to resolve allegations. The United States remains one of very few countries whose bishops have promulgated particular law concerning cleri cal sexual abuse of minors. Most others have issued guidelines or policies that vary in their binding force

and in the provisions that they make regarding the protection of children and young people. So, too, the manner in which policies are applied varies from country to country. For instance, not all episcopal conferences have mandated criminal background checks for all clergy, paid personnel, and volunteers, whose duties include ongoing, unsupervised contact with children. Because of this diversity, international pastoral ministers received into the United States will come with differing backgrounds and experiences regard ing child and youth protection. At the same time, while serving in the United States they must take into account and abide by the requirements of the Charter, the Essential Norms , and particular and proper norms or policies as well as civil law. This means that international pastoral ministers should be well educated in the expectations and require ments regarding child and youth protection. This can be done through preexisting programs estab lished for this purpose in dioceses, eparchies, insti tutes, or societies. However, special attention should be paid to several areas where there might exist dif ferences in policies or practices between the United States and some other countries. Sexual Abuse of a Minor The first area that deserves special attention concerns the fundamental question of what constitutes sexual abuse of a minor. The universal law of the Church states that it is an ecclesiastical crime for a cleric to commit a sin against the Sixth Commandment of the Decalogue with a person under the age of eigh teen or with someone who habitually has the use of diminished reason (see Sacramentorum Sanctitatis Tutela , art. 6). The Church’s universal law does not provide a list of what acts would fit under this cat egory. For this reason, ministers received into this country should be made aware of what constitutes sexual abuse and other prohibited behaviors. In a similar way, universal ecclesiastical law pro vides for punishment of clerics for the production, distribution, or possession of images of minors under the age of fourteen for purposes of sexual gratifica tion (see Sacramentorum Sanctitatis Tutela , art. 6). However, the state and federal laws of the United

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