Virtus (program)

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

1 History
2 Goal and Implementation
3 Related Programs
4 Sources and Links

[edit] History

In response to the growing public awareness of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, Monsignor Kevin McCoy of the National Catholic Risk Retention Group asked his colleagues how sexual abuse could be prevented. This led to a convening of national experts in Washington DC in March of 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.

[edit] Goal and Implementation

The Virtus program began with consulting team, including:

Rev. John P. Beal, J.C.D.
Barbara Bonner, Ph.D.
Sharon Doty, Esq.
David Finkelhor, Ph.D.
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:

Knowing the warning signs of abuse
Controlling access to children
Monitoring programs involving children
Being aware of how children behave
Communicating concerns

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

Most sexual offenders are strangers
Most sexual offenders are homosexual
Children often lie about being sexually abused
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.

[edit] 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.