The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and St. Bonaventure Catholic Church has begun a program to heighten awareness of the need to provide children and vulnerable adults with safe environments, especially within the church; also because the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is mandating that each diocese provide such programs for all personnel and volunteers who have regular or on-going unsupervised contact with children and/or vulnerable adults.

Background Checks For Staff:
According to Clergy Bulletin Volume XVIII, Number 3, all candidates for employment within the Archdiocese must have background checks conducted through the appropriate sources.

For Volunteers:
Shared Ministry with the help of each Ministry identifies volunteers that work with children or vulnerable adults. Background checks are performed to make sure every child and vulnerable adult is protected from offenders who would bring them harm.

Virtus: Protecting all God's Children for Adults
A Virtus training session includes awareness of the many ways that sexual abuse harms its victims, their families, the parish, and the community. The awareness session also helps adults learn to recognize the warning signs of abuse and appropriate ways to respond to suspicious behavior. The goal of the awareness session is to empower each person with five steps to help prevent sexual abuse within the church environment and/or within society in general. The staff of St. Bonaventure parish was trained by the VIRTUS staff last September. They continue to receive information and workshops from VIRTUS

The Stewardship/Shared Ministry Committee is forming a communications group. This group will oversee the web site, the weekly bulletin and announcements for publication with the media.

The Shared Ministry Facilitator, with the help of Ministry Leaders, updates the descriptions, times, and locations of each ministry. Names of volunteers enlisting in a ministry (based upon sign-ups from the Ministry week-ends, which include the 2nd and 3rd weekends in October) are distributed mid-November to each of the Ministry Leaders so they may contact and inform these newest members. A Gift Discernment Workshop may be offered, as needed or requested, to help parishioners identify skills and interests so as to pinpoint areas of ministry at St. Bonaventure in which to volunteer or become involved.