By Lou Ritter, MD, pediatrician (retired) - parishioner of St. Martin of Tours, Kalamazoo
We are, and we always should be, shocked by headlines about the sexual abuse of children--within or outside the church. The Episcopal Church has developed a training program to help protect our youngest members, especially within the setting of the church where we all should experience love and safety.  This training program is now required for all persons involved in any activities where they are in contact with children and youth in our churches. We plan to offer training sessions twice a year at St. Martin’s. Training involves three hours spent watching two videos and discussing the material contained in them.
The first video deals with behavior of both abusers and children who have been abused. Interviews with both are included. Some of the dynamics of how abusers approach children, how children might act, and responses of adults are demonstrated. This is really a well done video for all people to view. It can help you be observant of children in all settings, not just church related.  The second video is more focused toward how the institutional church functions to protect children in hiring personnel, interviewing volunteers, monitoring programs, etc. It is important for us to look at how we can best conduct our programs to the benefit and safety of our children--even in our small congregations.
Over the years I’ve been to a lot of conferences around issues of child abuse and neglect. I am very impressed with the material as it is presented in this program and I am very pleased that our church has chosen to truly put the emphasis on protecting the children--not on protecting the institutional church.