Author Topic: Church Workers Face Criminal Checks  (Read 1957 times)

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Suzanne

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Church Workers Face Criminal Checks
« on: November 15, 2000, 07:49:00 PM »
The nation's fourth-largest Roman Catholic archdiocese is requiring staff members and volunteers to undergo criminal background checks in a policy that eventually will extend to priests and nuns.

The Boston archdiocese is  requiring workers who may be alone with children or have contact with the disabled and the elderly to supply information including date of birth and Social Security number. The archdiocese will check that information against state records to see if the person has been arraigned for any crime.

The requirement will eventually be extended to priests, said John Walsh, a spokesman for the archdiocese. He did not offer a timeline.

Nuns also will be checked if they are part of a parish's paid staff or volunteers working with children, disabled or the elderly. Many nuns already are being checked if they teach at Catholic schools, he said.
--Riverside, Calif. Press-Enterprise, Sept. 21, 2000.

[This message has been edited by Suzanne Sutton (edited 11-15-2000).]