Protecting God's Children

St. Wendelin Parish, along with the Diocese of Pittsburgh, is committed to keeping our children safe.  Therefore in accordance with the Pittsburgh of Diocese it is our goal to get everyone in our parish that does any kind of work with children signed up in the Centralized Diocesan Database.  Non-paid and voluntary personnel who perform services for the Church should consider themselves to be mandated reporters if they come into unsupervised contact with children during the course of their volunteer Church work.

“The protection of minors placed in our care and their well-being is of primary concern to the Diocese of Pittsburgh,” Bishop Paul Bradley

St. Wendelin Parish will pay the $7.00 for each application filed.  It only takes about 20 minutes and what is 20 minutes for the safety of our children.

Information asked for and given on the Database Application is not stored on the internet. For the split second it travels from the site administrator’s computer or the applicant's computer to the secure computer in Texas it's transported on the internet but the information is encrypted so it cannot be read even if it were accessed.  Austin Computing employs the latest security measures (lock box, fire-walls, etc.) to protect this data.

All lectors, Eucharistic ministers, choir members, ushers, employees (school/parish), St. Wendelin School volunteers must submit an application. If not they will be in violation of the Diocese of Pittsburgh Safe Environment Policy. If you do not have a computer to do this yourself, applications are in the vestibule. Fill out the application, making sure all asterisk information is completed, all declarations are initialed, seal in an envelope and drop in the collection basket with Jane Neigh’s name on the outside. Any questions, please contact Jane directly at 724-283-2119.

The link below will take you directly to the Diocese of Pittsburgh.  Scroll down the left hand side of the home page to the “Diocese of Pittsburgh Database Application” box.  Click on this box and it will take you to the application login.   Here you will also find the instruction card on how to go about filling out your application.

http://www.diopitt.org/

**  If you need any help with filling out our application or have any questions regarding this, please contact:

Jane Neigh:  724-283-2119

Prevention is the key!

Make sure you children feel that they can talk to you about anything!

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Resources Beyond

If you or someone you know is already affected and are looking for resources to help and guide you or for other resources on how to keep your children safe, please see some of the links below.   

The Saint Joseph Foundation – Defending Catholic Rights since 1984

http://www.st-joseph-foundation.org/index.php

AdvocateWeb – Helping Overcome Professional Exploitation

http://www.advocateweb.org/hope/ineedhelp.asp

Resources for Ensuring the Safety of Our Children

http://www.ncea.org/departments/nabccce/SafetyResources.asp

**  It is also important that if you or someone you know has been abused within the Catholic Church to contact your diocese for help.

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Abuse

–verb

to use wrongly or improperly; misuse

to treat in a harmful, injurious, or offensive way

to speak insultingly, harshly, and unjustly to or about

to commit sexual assault upon

–noun

wrong or improper use; misuse

harshly or coarsely insulting language

bad or improper treatment; maltreatment

a corrupt or improper practice or custom

rape or sexual assault