In this Lenten season of repentance and reform, we report a significant development in the monastery’s efforts to address the difficult topic of child abuse, an issue so present in our church today. In an important step forward to safeguard members of its extended community, the monastery recently completed its full, three-year accreditation with Praesidium, an accrediting agency specializing in abuse prevention. The monastery’s ongoing work to acquire Praesidium accreditation represents its recognition of the latest standards in the safeguarding of children and its ongoing commitment to uphold best practices when interacting with minors and vulnerable adults.

Praesidium is a private agency, not sponsored by the Catholic Church. It has partnered with hundreds of schools and universities, social service agencies, youth development organizations and faith-based organizations across the United States and eleven other countries to help prevent child maltreatment by employees and volunteers. In response to the clergy sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church, the Conference of Major Superiors of Men (the leadership organization for men’s religious congregations) partnered with Praesidium to develop standards in the broad areas of abuse prevention, response to allegations, and supervision of known offenders among religious priests and brothers. Praesidium has developed 20 standards specifically for “Catholic Religious Institutes”, addressing the areas of responding to survivors, prevention, responding to allegations, and supervision.

Praesidium accreditation requires demonstration of adherence to these standards and the documentation of compliance with prescribed practices relative to:

• screening and formation of candidates,

• ongoing formation of members,

• transparency in reporting and responding to allegations, and

• the pursuit of greater accountability to the laity in enforcing institutional policies and procedures.

You can learn more about Praesidium at https://website.praesidiuminc.com/wp/.