SAFEGUARDING. Child’s safety in the church environment

International project of Eastern European Catholic churches “SAFEGUARDING. Child’s safety in the church environment”

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Project description

You are looking at a unique art project created by experts from six Eastern European countries: Croatia, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary. In all these countries, the topic of creating a safe environment for children in the Catholic Church is equally relevant. That is why we have jointly created an online course, which aims to find out the basic things that make abuse of minors possible and how we can prevent it in the church. Through this course, we initiate a series of important discussions to talk about the experience of creating a safe environment for children simultaneously on six local levels of the Catholic church.

Для кого

For whom

bishops, archbishops, cardinals and metropolitans
clergy, seminarians, consecrated people
laypeople who work with children directly or have decision-making position in the church institution
organisers of children's camps
administrative staff of parishes and dioceses
for everyone who works in the church on a paid or volunteer basis

Course program

Lecture 1 “The place of the child in the church.”

- definition of a ‘child’
- why minors and some adults are vulnerable and need protection?
- what is safety? Can the church be an unsafe place?
- signs that the parish cares about the dignity of children and vulnerable adults
- Catholic church documents on the protection of children and vulnerable adults from violence
- goals and components of the course

Lecture 2 “Concept of abuse and its influence on minors and vulnerable adults.”

- what do we understand by abuse?
- types of abuse: physical, psychological, neglect, spiritual
- what is sexual abuse and its signs?
- how sexual abuse affects children and their future?
- factors that affect the severity of crime
- reasons why victims remain silent about what happened

Lecture 3 “Factors that cause abuse. How to prevent it in the church environment?”

Lecture 4 “Who can commit violence against children and vulnerable adults? How to identify a criminal?”

- who can commit sexual violence against children or vulnerable adults?
- myths and stereotypes about perpetrators
- perpetrator’s profile
- preconditions for committing sexual violence against children after David Finkelhor
- grooming process - befriending with the victim
- how to recognise an offender? Danger signals in adult behaviour

Lecture 5 “Appropriate responding to alleged violence”

- can we recognise a victim from the outside appearance?
- stereotypical perceptions and expectations of victims
- what if announcing the fact of violence is defamation?
- what to do if someone tells you about an experience of abuse? what not to do?
- what to do if children demand that you keep silent about an incident of abuse against them?
- what should a priest do if the disclosure of child abuse fact takes place during confession?
- the concept of secondary victim
- what actions should be taken after listening to the victim?

Lecture 6 “Responsibility for protection of minors and vulnerable people in the church. Accountability and transparency principles”

- who is responsible for responding to cases of children and vulnerable adults abuse?
- who is responsible for working to prevent violence
- how to know if we are really creating a safe environment and responding to cases of violence responsibly?
- transparency and accountability principles
- points to analyzing your activities to create a safe environment for children

Authors

The course is illustrated in the original author`s style - a quick video sketch

“Today, we are learning to talk openly about evil and danger in plain language to be heard by the world. This project is like a continuation of my experience of visual and associative illustration of war, crime and injustice. A quick dynamic line, a spot or a simple, naive expression of a figure allows you, without any fear, to deepen into the topic of abuse of minors and, by analyzing, reduce a complex situation to the simple truths of human life… no matter how trite it may sound.”

Uliana Krekhovets, illustrator of the course