*This week’s reflection mentions abuse

This past week, Donald and I went down to the Diocesan Synod Office at St. John’s Shaughnessy to be trained in the new Diocesan “Safe Church” training along with clergy colleagues from across the Diocese. Everyone who is in medium or high-risk ministry at St. John’s and in every part of the Diocese of New Westminster is required to take this training as part of our Screening-in-Faith process.  The Safe Church training includes learning about sexual misconduct, the duty to report, workplace harassment and discrimination, best practices for children and youth programming, vulnerable adults, and communication and accountability.

Some people (less and less I find, thankfully) roll their eyes at these mandatory trainings as an institutional box to check. Or they say, “no one here would ever…”, or “aren’t we all a family in the Church,” or “where is the trust,” or “this gets in the way of ministry and genuine relationships.”

No. These processes are not just a hoop to jump through, they are not a barrier to community and ministry. Screening-in-Faith, Safe Church and Safeguarding is part of our moral and spiritual duty as followers of Jesus to care for all persons, especially the vulnerable, that are in and come into contact with our churches. I don’t know how we could (or would want to) do ministry without these things at the centre of all that we do.

And the sad truth is, the Church has a long history of rampant abuse and institutional failure in our response to it. We can do better; we must do better. The truth is also that abuse can happen – and does happen today – within families, schools, in churches, in our communities. We need to make sure that we are equipped to prevent and to respond to these realities.

Ultimately, I am not bringing this up to be a downer. I am proud to be part of a church that is taking this seriously, that is trying to centre and protect victims and the vulnerable in how we operate, and that is working to be a place of safety for all.

May we all pray and work earnestly together for this to be the case at St. John’s and in our community.

Thanks be to God!

CG+