As the world continues to change rapidly, diocese across the U.S. consider safety, prevention, and accountability issues. While some Catholic churches have developed a reputation for crime and sexual misconduct, the faith’s purpose remains the same: to serve God and to help people find right-standing with their savior. As churches aim toward reconciliation and truth, here are five ways to improve the safety of your Catholic community.
1. Foster Healthy Relationships
Safe, healthy communities are a collective result of safe, healthy relationships. While the whole laity might seem more important to focus on, remember: any religious system is rooted in its smaller personal connections.
To encourage long-term safety and trust among your parishioners and clergy members, foster healthy expectations. Pay attention to signs of unhealthy behaviors, and don’t be afraid to address them respectfully. Remain open to people’s differences, and always lead with God’s love.
A few examples of this effort can look like:
- Setting a good example every day
- Intentionally improving clergy communication
- Investing in a family counseling program
- Discussing important real-world issues, such as mental health
- Allowing others to take responsibility for their actions
- Mediating controversial discussions
- Offering forgiveness
- Being direct and honest in your words and actions
- Preaching about love, friendship, family, and conflict resolution
Consider how to facilitate supportive communication between the rest of the clergy, no matter what leadership level is involved.
2. Educate Your Community
While relationship building is a powerful lesson in itself, educational presentations and training opportunities help parishioners make informed decisions. Whether it be mandatory youth volunteer training or continued education for priests, seek to spread awareness of today’s threats.
Today, there are several main aspects of parish to highlight:
- Physical safety. This includes the health and well-being of your community while physically present at church.
- Child safety. This ensures children are protected and provided for. Children should have safe, trustworthy adults they can confide in if issues arise. Church leaders and members know the warning signs of abuse and maltreatment, and can effectively report incidences.
- Liability prevention. This includes property damage, theft, acts of violence, natural disasters, litigation, and more. Does your parishes have a prevention and response plan?
- Digital protection. This encompasses the security and safety of digital assets, including fraud prevention, data security, and the personal privacy of your church.
If you don’t have education available for any of these risks, consider reaching out to local programs that can provide pieces of training as needed.
3. Have a Church Safety and Security Plan
Prevention and operating with best practices are the gold standard for safety. But in reality, no parish or faith organization is 100% safe from evil actions. You never know who might be a predator, or what unfortunate circumstance may arise. Because of this, you need a safety and security plan.
As faithful servants, your clergy shares an obligation to respond to any threatening events that come up. To do this effectively, you must first obtain greater awareness and action for such events. From indoor shootings to contagious diseases, recent tragedies have shown many churches just how unprepared they actually are. Fortunately, this can change.
While we won’t go into detail about developing or adjusting a parish safety plan in this article, here are some of the main plans to consider:
- Inevitable safety incidents (common risks like sickness, electrical outages, etc.)
- High-risk safety incidents (major risks like terrorism, illegal activity, etc.)
- Emergency response incidents (contacting local authorities)
- Media response incidents (scandals, politics, etc.)
- Financial incidents (theft, fraud, laundering, etc.)
As the saying goes, “Failing to plan is planning to fail.” If you need help securing church safety protocols, hire professional help.
4. Run Proper Background Checks
One of the surest ways to maintain safety throughout your diocese and parishes is to run rigorous background checks on all members who serve. This includes volunteers, paid staff, priests, and lay ministers.
Although background checks are becoming more advanced in the U.S., data from recent years shows the church gap is still strong. Up to 40% of churches today use a screening method that is inaccurate or inefficient. This means that out of every ten churches in the community, four are unknowingly allowing potentially harmful individuals to serve.
If your dioceses and parishes currently uses a screening program, make sure they follow all FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act) guidelines. You may also want to check if they’re a member of the National Association of Professional Background Screeners.
5. Maintain a Safe Environment Program
Background checks are the first step to a safe active church environment. Screenings should always be cleared before someone is given the metaphorical “keys” to your parish— no matter how likable they seem.
Rescreening, safety data reporting, and continuous compliance are other critical tools that make sure people remain in the clear. With the help of the Safe Environment Program from ParishSOFT, you get access to all the solutions you need.
The Safe Environment Program gives parishes and dioceses a way to easily track, calculate, and view background screenings at any time. Organizers can customize safety screening requirements based on roles, service duration, and historical records. It even integrates with Protect My Ministry, the leading faith-based background screening company.
Ready to make sure your parishes are secure? Contact ParishSOFT to learn about our all-in-one digital solution for parish and diocese safety.