Program helps San Francisco church workers to 'shield the vulnerable'

Published: 2007-03-20

SAN FRANCISCO (CNS) -- The Archdiocese of San Francisco's broadly required screening and training of volunteers and employees who work with the young could be acting as a strong deterrent to potential abusers, according to officials overseeing the implementation of the program. More than 6,000 priests, educators, catechists, coaches and volunteers who work with the youths and youth programs of the archdiocese have taken the training mandated last October by Archbishop George H. Niederauer, the officials told Catholic San Francisco, the archdiocesan newspaper. Part of the archdiocese's "Protecting God's Children" pastoral outreach, the curriculum focuses on how to recognize, report and prevent child abuse. Titled Shield the Vulnerable, it was developed by archdiocesan human resources, pastoral ministry and legal offices in cooperation with an independent vendor, LawRoom.

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