VIRTUS is a program created by the National Catholic Risk Retention Group in the United States with a "Protecting God's Children" component that combats sexual abuse

Sexual abuse

Sexual abuse, also referred to as molestation, is the forcing of undesired sexual behavior by one person upon another. When that force is immediate, of short duration, or infrequent, it is called sexual assault. The offender is referred to as a sexual abuser or molester...

 of children in the Church. It is currently in use in over 80 dioceses in the United States.

History

In response to the growing public awareness of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, Monsignor Kevin McCoy and Rev. Edward J. Arsenault of the National Catholic Risk Retention Group asked their colleagues how sexual abuse could be prevented.

This led to a convening of national experts in Washington DC in March 1998, where discussion led to the concept of the VIRTUS program. An Ad Hoc committee was chosen by the National Catholic Board of Directors to implement the project.

Goal and Implementation

The VIRTUS program began with consulting team, including:

• Rev. Edward J. Arsenault
• Rev. John P. Beal, J.C.D.
• Barbara Bonner, Ph.D.
• David Finkelhor, Ph.D.
• Jack McCalmon, Esq.
• Michael Morton, M.S.
• Fr. Stephen Rossetti, D. Min., Ph.D.
• Phyllis Willerscheidt

The goal of the VIRTUS program is primarily to be proactive instead of reactive when dealing with child sexual abuse. To prevent sexual abuse, VIRTUS advocates five steps:

1. Knowing the warning signs of abuse
2. Controlling access to children
3. Monitoring programs involving children
4. Being aware of how children behave
5. Communicating concerns

Specifically, VIRTUS also confronts what the consultants feel are major myths about childhood sexual abuse:

• Myth 1: Most sexual offenders are strangers
• Myth 2: Most sexual offenders are homosexual
• Myth 3: Children often lie about being sexually abused
• Myth 4: Vows of celibacy increase the desire to sexually abuse children

VIRTUS focuses on educating teachers, parents, and other adults who interact with children about sexual abuse and providing them with information to help prevent abuse. This takes place in 'awareness sessions' led by trained facilitators. The awareness sessions consist of videos, worksheets, and discussions. The videos incorporate interviews with both victims and convicted perpetrators.

Related programs

In addition to its most common Protecting God's Children program, VIRTUS also has Victim Advocacy Training and VIRTUS Investigation Training. The Protecting God's Children program is also available in an online form.

The creation of the VIRTUS program is similar to efforts in other Christian churches to help prevent child sexual abuse. One such program is Safe Sanctuaries, through the United Methodist Church

United Methodist Church

The United Methodist Church is a Methodist Christian denomination which is both mainline Protestant and evangelical. Founded in 1968 by the union of The Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church, the UMC traces its roots back to the revival movement of John and Charles Wesley...

.

See also

• Roman Catholic Church sex abuse scandal
• Roman Catholic priests accused of sex offenses
• Crimen sollicitationis
  Crimen sollicitationis
  Crimen sollicitationis is the title of a 1962 document of the Holy Office codifying procedures to be followed in cases of priests or bishops of the Catholic Church accused of having used the sacrament of Penance to make sexual advances to penitents.It repeated, with additions, the contents of an...
  
  
• Pontifical Secret
  Pontifical secret
  The pontifical secret or pontifical secrecy or papal secrecy is the code of confidentiality that, in accordance with the canon law of the Roman Catholic Church, applies in matters that require greater than ordinary confidentiality:...
  
  
• Deliver Us from Evil (2006 film)
  Deliver Us from Evil (2006 film)
  Deliver Us from Evil is a documentary film directed by Amy J. Berg which tells the true story of Catholic priest Oliver O'Grady, who admitted to having molested and raped approximately 25 children in Northern California between the late 1970s and early 1990s...
  
  
• Sex Crimes and the Vatican (Panorama Documentary Episode)
• Barbara Blaine
  Barbara Blaine
  Barbara Blaine is the founder and president of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests , a national advocacy group for survivors of clerical sexual abuse. She alleges that she was sexually abused during her teenage years from junior high school until graduation by a priest. She revealed this...
  
   founder of SNAP (Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests)
• Red Hot Catholic Love
  Red Hot Catholic Love
  "Red Hot Catholic Love" is the 87th episode of the Comedy Central series South Park. It originally aired on July 3, 2002. It was selected #2 of the "10 South Parks that Changed the World", and was also part of "South Park's Dirty Dozen." In the DVD commentary for this episode, Stone and Parker...
  
  , South Park television episode

Sources and links

• http://www.virtusonline.org The main VIRTUS site
• http://www.safesanctuaries.org The Safe Sanctuaries Site
• http://www.boston.com/globe/spotlight/abuse/ Boston Globe spotlight
• http://www.uuworld.org/2003/01/trend.html Article on Unitarian Universalist safeguards
• http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/childsexualabuse.html ChristianAnswers.net page about child sexual abuse