Safe Environment

A fundamental goal of the Catholic Church is to prevent occurrences of sexual abuse of children. Therefore, the Safe Environment Program offers detailed policies and procedures designed to protect children while they are in the care, custody, or control of any person working on behalf of the Church.

So, if you volunteer with children or youth at St. Brendan Church and School, you must fulfill these requirements:

  • Attend a Protecting God’s Children class.
  • Complete a background check with electronic fingerprinting
  • Obtain a volunteer badge, which must be worn while volunteering.
  • Fill out and return to the parish office a Code of Conduct form: Volunteer Code of Conduct Form

Details on the volunteer process are outlined below. For questions on this process, please email or call Teresa Boyne.

TERESA BOYNE  |  614.876.1272 ext 221  |  TBOYNE@stbrendans.net

Protecting God’s Children Class

Who is required to take the class?

The following adults are required to attend a Protecting God’s Children class:

  • All parish, school and diocesan employees, regardless of their level of contact with children.
  • All clergy and applicants to clerical formation who serve in the Diocese.
  • All volunteers in the school, a school program or ministry for children and youth, regardless of their level of contact with children.
  • Volunteers for other parish programs or ministries who have been delegated care, custody or control of children.

How do I register for the class?

All class registration is online at www.virtus.org.

Background Check (fingerprinting)

Who must have a background check?

  • All paid diocesan, parish and school staff members, regardless of their level of contact with children.
  • All volunteers in the school, a school program or ministry for children and youth.
  • All volunteers who have been delegated care, custody, or control of children or youth.
  • Anyone returning after a significant gap (1-1/2 years) in volunteer service.

BCI&I Background Check is required…

If volunteer or applicant has lived in Ohio for the past 5 consecutive years.

All requests for BCI&I civilian background checks must be submitted electronically through WebCheck. Locations are listed by county on the Ohio Attorney General’s website.

FBI Check is required…

If a volunteer or applicant has lived outside of Ohio at any time during the past 5 years.

Before scheduling an appointment with your local law enforcement agency, make sure they have the capability to do FBI checks electronically.

Below are the codes our employees/volunteers should provide as the reason for fingerprinting:

All volunteers, parish and school, should use ORC 2151.86.
All parish employees should also use ORC 2151.86.
School employees (non-teaching) should use ORC 3319.39B1.
Teachers use code ORC 3319.39B3.

Safe Environment Program Update

The Diocesan Safe Environment Program is the central repository of ALL background checks, both state (BCI&I) and federal (FBI). Therefore, all background check reports must be sent directly to the Diocesan Safe Environment Program office. ALL background reports will come from the the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation (BCI&I) directly to the Diocesan Safe Environment Program. We will no longer be legally permitted to accept reports, or copies of reports, from parishes, schools, agencies, or individuals. The Diocesan Safe Environment Program’s address is:

Safe Environment Program
Diocese of Columbus
197 E. Gay Street
Columbus OH 43215

Moving forward, those being newly entered into the Diocesan background check database will need to be handled in the following manner:

  • If a person has been fingerprinted within the last 30 days, that person can contact BCI&I and request a free copy of that report be sent to Diocesan Safe Environment Program.
  • If the most recent report was completed more than 30 days previously, but less than 12 months previously, the person may make a written request to BCI&I to have a copy sent to the Diocesan Safe Environment Program. There is a fee for this duplicate report.
  • If the most recent report for a new employee or volunteer is older than 12 months, the person will need a new background check. BCI&I does not provide copies of reports older than 12 months.

Questions on the processing of background reports may be directed to Regina E. Quinn, Manager, Safe Environment Program, at rquinn@columbuscatholic.org or 614-241-2568.

Record Keeping

The Diocese receives and retains the background check results (both BCI&I and FBI) and Protecting God’s Children class attendance verification. This information is then made available to the individual parishes. Please note that criminal background reports are treated confidentially by both the Diocese and our parish.

Individuals with no break in volunteer service and transferring between diocesan parishes can request that their information is transferred to St Brendan Parish.

Volunteer Badge

After St Brendan Parish receives verification that both the Protecting God’s Children class and the background check(s) have been successfully completed, the volunteer is then ready for a badge. Volunteers should contact the Parish Office (614.876.1272) to schedule a time for a photo badge. When you come in we will also ask you to complete a Volunteer Application and review the Code of Conduct. The volunteer badge should be worn when you are volunteering at parish and school events.

Please note that we may need at least five business days to obtain your PGC class attendance verification and background screening results. So, if you are scheduled to volunteer for an event, school class, etc., please contact us at least five business days in advance.

Questions?

TERESA BOYNE  |  614.876.1272 ext 221  |  TBOYNE@stbrendans.net