VIRTUS's Empowering God's Children
In order to continually enhance the efforts of the Catholic Church regarding the protection of children and the creation of safe environments, in 2010 the Diocese of Cleveland adopted a training program for parents and children titled Called to Protect™. To remain in compliance with the national charter for the protection of children and youth, the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland began implementing Empowering God's ChildrenTM in 2024-25. The multi-media training program was created by Virtus, a national leader in risk management.
Children, even very young children, can learn about boundaries: what boundaries are, what to do when someone violates those boundaries, and how to tell a trusted adult when that happens. Empowering God's Children™ is designed to prevent the abuse of children by giving them these skills and by facilitating conversations between children and appropriate adults about keeping safe.
This program is meant to be offered to all Catholic day-school students, as well as PSR students and is included as part of their education in these programs in some manner from as early as pre-school through 8th grade. Empowering God's Children™ does not replace the VIRTUS training program that must be completed by all adult diocesan employees and volunteers who work with children and youth. In-service opportunities for VIRTUS continue to be offered as new volunteers and employees begin to serve in our parish programs.
For more information, on our implementation of this program, please contact our Director of Faith Formation:
- Linda Zvoncheck, 440.238.5555, Turn on JavaScript!
All reports of suspected abuse should be made to the local police department and the Diocesan Response Service at (216) 334-2999. Here's a list of county agencies that are also available to file such a report.