St. Clement Family Day stresses children's safety

By Jonathan Martinez - Florida Catholic

Photography: JONATHAN MARTINEZ | FC

WILTON MANORS | To mark Child Abuse Prevention Month, St. Clement Parish held a “Safe Environment Awareness and Prevention Family Day” on Palm Sunday. The daylong event began with an outside morning Mass on Palm Sunday in Creole followed by presentations. In the afternoon, Mass in Spanish was held in the church followed by a procession to the outside grounds.

“We decided to have this event at the beginning of Holy Week because it is when we have the highest attendance,” said Father Robes Charles, pastor. “It’s important that everyone in our community know about the programs that protect the children of God and the vulnerable.”

The procession from inside the church to the outside stage featured people of all ages holding posters indicating their support of the Virtus program. Virtus is the program used by most U.S. dioceses and has been used by the Archdiocese of Miami since 2002. It is designed to help prevent wrongdoing and promote “right doing” within religious organizations. Virtus empowers organizations and people to better control risk and safeguard the lives of all those who interact with the Church.

At St. Clement, parishioners distributed informational pamphlets and facilitators spoke to the crowd about the steps the Church is taking to help prevent and identify abuse in minors and vulnerable adults.

“We spoke to them about being aware and taking action, such as, if they see a child alone or out of place and what they need to do to take action,” said Father Charles.

“I was very happy with the turnout and how receptive everyone was to the message,” said Yanick Prince, Virtus facilitator at St. Clement. “It was important for us to explain to the parishioners what ‘promise to protect’ means, and what we are doing to protect those most vulnerable in our community. It was also important to reinforce our policy that no one is allowed to work or volunteer on our grounds without going through the training and getting fingerprinted.”

Prince came up with the idea of hosting the event. “My goal was to make sure the community knows that there is a safe haven, a place they can go to for help if they need to share either what’s happening to them or to someone else,” said Prince.

Hundreds of people attended the event in both Creole and Spanish.

“The importance of having this event at St. Clement is because the community here is very diverse. There are a lot of families with young children and many elderly people as well,” said Manuel Gallegos, director of the parish’s Hispanic pastoral council. “Spreading this information helps to protect everyone better. We need to create consciousness that if we see something that is wrong, we need to report it and we need to be made aware of where to go to resolve those types of problems.”

Since 2002, over 121,000 people have been Virtus trained throughout the archdiocese. Over the years, the program has adapted to the changes in technology and now incorporates the dangers of the internet and social media.

“It was very interesting to learn about these issues involving children and vulnerable adults,” said Ana Maria Martinez, parishioner for a year and a half. “They’ve given us a lot of great information and told us how to reach out for help.”

“I hope people learned that their church is here for them,” said Pricilla Villalobos, leader of St. Clement’s youth group. “We told all the adults, you are our eyes and ears, if you see something wrong, tell us or someone. If you see a child anywhere by himself/herself ask questions. ‘Why are you here? Where is your mom? Where is your dad?’ Etc.”

FIND OUT MORE

Nearly 200 Virtus sessions are offered each year in the Archdiocese of Miami. Sessions — in English, Spanish and Creole — are held in most parishes and schools. For more information on the archdiocesan Safe Environment Program visit www.miamiarch.org. Look up Virtus training in the Events Calendar to look for upcoming sessions, or visit www.virtusonline.org.