OUR LADY OF DELIVEARNCE DIOCESE

STANDARDS FOR PROTECTION OF CHILDREN

AND YOUNG PEOPLE

Our Lady of Deliverance Syriac Catholic Diocese has issued its  “Standards for the Protection of Children and Young People,” which include updated guidelines to respond to the matter of sexual abuse of minors by clergy or church employees.

These “Standards” take into account the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, which was adopted by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in June of last year, and its complementary Essential Norms, which was adopted by the Conference of Catholic Bishops in December of last year.

The plan for the implementation of the essential elements of the national policy here in New Jersey is set forth in the statewide Policy in Response to Complaints of Sexual Abuse which has been adopted by the bishops of the State.

Earlier this year the bishops of New Jersey also entered into a historic Memorandum of Understanding with each of the local county prosecutors, which provides a mechanism to facilitate the reporting of sexual abuse of both adults and minors to law enforcement authorities, as well as the reporting of any abuse of children of any kind.  The Commentary on the Memorandum of Understanding Between Our Lady of Deliverance Diocese and the County Prosecutors helps to explain the responsibilities that the employees of the eparchy and its institutions have in this regard.

Bishop Younan stresses that the protection of children necessitates every possible attempt to ensure that those who deal with them do not have anything in their background that would preclude them from working with young people.  In 1990 the State of New Jersey amended the law to allow private schools to obtain criminal history background checks of teachers and other employees.  In 2000 the State further amended the law to allow nonprofit youth-serving organizations to obtain such background checks of employees and volunteers.  While the eparchy does not currently have any parochial schools, it nonetheless has adopted the norms that the New Jersey Catholic Conference adopted as a Statewide Policy on Criminal History Background Checks on September 17, 2001 to take advantage of the opportunity to have such checks conducted on new employees and volunteers in other youth-serving facilities. 

In addition to the implementation of this Statewide Policy, Our Lady of Deliverance Diocese has also adopted an Our Lady of Deliverance Diocese Implementation Plan which is tailored to its specific needs.  In essence, this means that when new teachers, school employees and volunteers or any person that will have substantial and direct interaction with children or could have individualized contact with them, will be fingerprinted for criminal history background checks. 

The Policy on Sexual Harassment sets forth the opposition of the eparchy to the sexual harassment of any person, and it seeks to ensure that there will be an appropriate mechanism for reporting and investigating any such allegation.

Bishop Younan has stated that each of us is morally obliged to provide for the protection of the young, the innocent and the vulnerable.  These documents not only state what is expected in this regard, but they also provide guidance as to how best to fulfill this obligation.

The documents are available on the diocese’s web site at www.syriac-catholic.org and will be made available to each parish community.