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Church in the WorldColouring book gives child-abuse warningUnited States Tim Lavin - 15 December 2007
One colouring book, entitled Being Safe, Being Friends, Being Catholic, aims to reach children aged six to 11. It is narrated by a cartoon guardian angel who teaches children what situations to avoid with adults and how to spot signs of potentially dangerous behaviour. "For safety's sake, a child and an adult shouldn't be alone in a closed room together," one page says. "If a child and an adult happen to be alone, someone should know where they are and the door should be open or have a big window in it." The second book with a cartoon format, called Archangel, is aimed at an older audience and depicts pupils at a Catholic high school who are sexually abused by a parent as they work on their school play. It counsels teenagers in such a situation to report what happened to a trusted adult, and says, "You will not be ridiculed or judged, you will not get in trouble, and you will not be alone." The books will be sent to 300 schools and 400 religious education programmes. |
 In this week’s issueMaking markets moral Iron and velvet Love in a Catholic climate Someone to talk to A good Lent takes planning South American surprise Can the Church support abuse victims on its own terms? Elena Curti Is the Church too slow in recognising that academies are the future for Catholic schools? Christopher Lamb Goodwin the scapegoat Elena Curti The pain of being a coeliac Catholic Sr M, guest contributor The Church's moral obligation to victims of clerical sexual abuse Speeches from this week's conference in Rome This week in Rome bishops and religious superiors met at the first Vatican-backed symposium devoted to forging a global response to the crisis of clerical sexual abuse that has disgraced ... Archbishop voices 'shame and sorrow' after priest's abuse trial Longley to visit parishes 'damaged' by Walsh Today, Tuesday 7 February, Bede Walsh, who served as a Catholic priest in the Archdiocese of Birmingham, has been convicted by a jury, following a 10-day trial at Stoke-on-Trent ...
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Books explaining threats posed by inappropriate contact with adults, both online and in person, are being given to children by the Archdiocese of New York in a bid to educate young people about protecting themselves from sexual predators, writes Tim Lavin.
