This page is to help our volunteers and employees to maintain their compliance of state laws and the Diocese of Rockford’s requirements for Protecting God’s Children.
The Diocese of Rockford requires our volunteers to complete the Safe Environment Program. (Volunteers for the prayer tree are not required to take this program.) There are basically two parts to this program:
- Conduct the Virtus training course to obtain the Protecting God’s Children Certificate. You can connect to this training through a link on the front page of the Rockford Diocesan Website or go to http://www.virtusonline.org/virtus. Upon completion, please print out the certificate. If you have already taken this in the past you do not need to do it again, but please inform the office of when and where you completed the training.
- If access to the web is difficult for you or you prefer to do it in person, please contact the office at 815-232-8271 to arrange a time to come in.
- Click on the corresponding documents and then print out and sign the following forms. These forms will need to be renewed every year:
- Code of Pastoral Conduct (Español)
- Norms for the Prohibition of Sexual abuse of Minors and Sexual Misconduct (Español) (Not available online. Available only in the office)
- Guidelines for those working with Youth (Español)
- Code for the Pastoral Use of Technology and Social Media. (Español)
- IL DCFS Acknowledgement of Mandated Reporter Status Background Check Authorization. (Español)
Please return all signed forms and your Protecting God’s Children certificate to the church office. Please call 815-232-8271 if you have any questions. Thank you for your cooperation with this program and for all that you do for St. Joseph & St. Mary Parishes.