Reconciliatio provides abuse prevention training for a group of priests in Brazil
The Apostolic Personal Administration of São João Maria Vianney successfully concluded the comprehensive training: “Prevention of abuse of minors and vulnerable people: The role of the Church” held in the Passa Quatro municipality, in the state of Minas Gerais (Brazil) from the 8th to the January 11th, 2024. The event, part of the Clergy Study Week, had the Reconciliatio team as speakers
In addition to the priests, Mons. Fernando Arêas Rifan, current Apostolic Administrator of São João Maria Vianney, participated in this training.
One of the participants, Father José Edilson de Lima, who is also an instructor for cases reserved for the Holy See of the Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro and a member of the Commission for the Guardianship of Minors, highlighted the importance of addressing the problem of abuse. Quoting Pope Francis, he noted that “abuse, in all its forms, is unacceptable.”
“With this ecclesiastical spirit and pastoral care, the Apostolic Administration of São João Maria Vianney promoted the Reconciliatio Group training course for its clergy in January 2024 ,” shares the priest.
Showing his gratitude for those days of updating, he said: “I thank Reconciliatio for their dedication and love for our children and the Church.”
For his part, Father Everaldo Bon Robert expressed: “The formation was of great depth and in perfect accordance with the doctrine of the Church.” The course offered us many important reflections and many useful tools for a responsible and safe exercise of ministry.”
Broadening the perspective on the Reconciliatio program
Monique Bernardi, member of the Christian Life Movement and Coordinator of Reconciliatio, as well as a member of the Diocesan Commission for the Protection of Minors and people in vulnerable situations of the Diocese of Petrópolis, shared her experience.
“It was an extraordinary opportunity to be able to contribute through our studies to the training of the priests of the Apostolic Administration of São João Maria Vianney.”
Furthermore, the coordinator expressed her conviction that initiatives such as Reconciliatio play a crucial role in building a culture of care and protection, especially for the most vulnerable.
Echoing Pope Francis’ words about the need for churches to be the safest places, he stressed the importance of solidifying a culture of love and care in the practice of the Catholic faith.
“It is undoubtedly a blessing to be able to contribute positively to the construction of safe environments in our beloved Church.”
Finally, he commented that “the Sodalit family cares a lot and continually invests in spreading the topic of abuse prevention. And this, without a doubt, contributes in a very significant way to the construction of the culture of which we dream so much.”
Preventive culture in the Church
For his part, Dante Carrasco, member of the Sodalitium, Coordinator of Reconciliatio and member of the Commission for the Guardianship of Minors of the Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro, shared his reflections on the importance of prevention in the Church during the recent training offered to the clergy of the Apostolic Administration of São João Maria Vianney.
“I believe that prevention in the Church is something important, it is not controlism, nor mere behavioral practices, such as codes of conduct or prevention protocols, this can cause us to fall into automatism or criticism.”
According to Dante, it is crucial to go beyond codes of conduct and protocols, seeking a deeper understanding that culminates in a preventive culture. “We must discover the positive and apostolic dimension, and come to speak of preventive culture, which is what will keep prevention alive.”
“Understanding culture as a dynamism of humanization in which man becomes more of a man, we must better cultivate good treatment and safe environments in ourselves and in our ecclesial environments. This is how today it is even said that we have to integrate prevention into the evangelizing mission of the Church. Working in this area of prevention is an apostolate,” says Dante.
He also shared that Reconciliatio has been dedicating itself to abuse prevention work, especially within ecclesiastical environments, since 2017.
“We have made progress in studies on this topic, acting in person and virtually offering various services, as well as cooperating with the Sodalitium Safe Environments Office.”
Born within Sodalit spirituality, in Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro, Reconciliatio seeks to integrate the experience and integral vision of the human being through psychology to offer health prevention services and promotion of the integral development of the person. Its program for preventing sexual abuse of minors and building safe environments focuses on providing courses, consultancies, training and interventions in psychology in order to address this challenging problem facing society and the Church.