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Resources and Information for EIM Oversight
- General Resources
- For Elderly Adults or Adults with a Disability
- For Parents
- For Parish & School Administators
- For EIM Workshop Facilitators
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General
Podcasts
- The Catholic Project is an initiative of The Catholic University of America that falls into three basic categories: education, research and events. Crisis Clergy Abuse in the Catholic Church is a podcast series about the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church: its origins, characters, causes, and reforms.
Documents and Articles
- Pain Never Disappears from Unhealed Wounds, August 28, 2018, Nineteen Sixty-four is a research blog for the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University edited by Mark M. Gray. CARA is a non-profit research center that conducts social scientific studies about the Catholic Church. Founded in 1964, CARA has three major dimensions to its mission: to increase the Catholic Church's self-understanding; to serve the applied research needs of Church decision-makers; and to advance scholarly research on religion, particularly Catholicism. Follow CARA on Twitter at caracatholic.
- Separating Facts About Clergy Abuse From Fiction, August 23, 2018
- Annual Report on the Implementation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People
- A 10-year Progress Report on the Charter, June 2012
- The Causes and Context of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests in the United States 1950-2010 (published 2011 by John Jay College of Criminal Justice)
- The Nature and Scope of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests and Deacons in the United States 1950-2002 (published 2004 by John Jay College of Criminal Justice)
- Nature & Scope Supplementary Report, 2006
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Program for Education Minors
Empowering God's Children - promulgated by Most Rev. Joe S. Vásquez, Bishop of Austin on January 1, 2023
Empowering God's Children - Information for Parents/GuardiansAs Catholics, we believe that every human being is created in the image and likeness of God. Each of us is sacred and our lives — body, mind and soul — should be treated with respect. Empowering God's Children (EGC) is an age-appropriate comprehensive safety education and sexual abuse prevention program that gives our youth practical tools, using simple activities, to help them understand this fundamental teaching of our faith.
Each parish and Catholic school in the Diocese of Austin is required to use Empowering God's Children every school year to help educate all K-12th grade students about abuse prevention and personal safety. Besides being developmentally appropriate and sequential for each age group, EGC differs from other Ethics and Integrity in Ministry programs in that it is classroom-based (rather than a facilitator-led workshop) and the program instructors are the teachers/catechists the students already know.
Students are not “required” to attend EGC, but they and their parents should understand the importance of this program as part of their education about boundaries, appropriate interactions between adults and minors and related personal safety issues. This should not be considered an optional program; students that cannot attend should have a valid reason for their absence. Parents may choose to complete an opt-out waiver to excuse their child from the program; this can be obtained from the parish/school representative coordinating the session. Students that do not attend are not required to “make up” the session, but parents may be asked to provide supervision for their child during the session. Parents of students that do not attend EGC for any reason (opt-out or absence) receive the curriculum information to teach their child.
Links and Resources for Parents
- USCCB Child Safety Information
- Education Services - Center for Child Protection
- Youth Protection/Safe Environment resources from the Knight's of Columbus
- The Catholic Church is Committed to the Safety of Children
- 10 Points to Create Safe Environments for Children
- Faith and Safety - Technology Safety through the Eyes of Faith
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If you are interested in serving as an EIM-VIRTUS Facilitator, please fill out and return this facilitator application along with a current resume. We will reach out to you with an RSVP Invite when we have training dates scheduled.
Training is typically one day long, from 9am – 5pm and we ask that our facilitators teach at least 4 workshops a year. With VIRTUS, our workshops are around 3 hours long.
We are grateful to our current facilitators, who are so dedicated to the safety of our diocese.
If you have any questions about the roles and responsibilities of a facilitator, please reach out to [email protected] for more info.