Formations to prevent violence against minors for clergy

Ivanka Rudakevych, head of projects and programs at the UCU Center for Child Dignity, and hieromonk-psychologist Sava Masnyk conducted training for about 500 priests of the Kolomyia Eparchy and Ternopil-Zboriv Archdiocese of the UGCC, as well as sisters of the Order of St. Basil the Great and their superiors.

"Why do we talk about preventing violence against minors in the church? Because children are the future of the church, and the church must take care of their safety," said Savva Masnyk during the training for the clergy of the Kolomyia Eparchy.

The Center for Child Dignity conducts formations for clergy on the prevention of violence against minors and vulnerable persons in the church. This fall, we organized a series of one-day seminars to introduce the basics of violence prevention to the priests and sisters.

Ivanka Rudakevych noted: "Violence is always the fault of the one who has an advantage in power. In the case of a child, it is always an adult.

The experience of violence results in a loss of trust: in the world, which is perceived as dangerous, in people, because you cannot trust them. And also in oneself because of the feeling of guilt: "how could I have allowed this to happen to me".

Therefore, the task of the Center for Dignity is to help create a culture of safety, so that our children feel safe and have no loss of trust, so that caring adults surround them throughout their lives in different environments.

Representatives of the clergy learned about the prevention of violence against minors and vulnerable persons. They learned about the types of violence, how to recognize an abuser, how to talk to a victim, and how the sacrament of confession and reporting violence relate. We received a mechanism for responding to cases of sexual abuse, contacts of relevant assistance services, and learned about algorithms for action when a disclosure has been made and where to refer victims.

We are grateful for the cooperation, we are happy to conduct training for all dioceses of the UGCC on the prevention of violence against children and vulnerable persons.

There will be new trainings, we will definitely share the news.

The Center for the Dignity of the Child offers training opportunities for parishes: https://cdc.ucu.edu.ua/uk/opportunities/?area_tag=cerkva&type_tag&fbclid=IwAR1cK0KZLdFtJ-V6-f8jQ1cniEEq-YeZg2fV-KojWYSawpu9wGLaODxkovw
Resources - videos and materials for use in your work: https://cdc.ucu.edu.ua/uk/resources/?area_tag&type_tag&fbclid=IwAR0TTjV72UXWMQ0G37PSTMfFLNq90g8ZUM2Fm0uuJCmY-Jcrk2lfhdAdIKE
If you have been a victim, witnessed violence, or if your loved ones need help, our website has contacts of services that you can contact: https://cdc.ucu.edu.ua/uk/if-you-are-injured/?fbclid=IwAR3DGp-r0xIDR2SC_Y5ZjwsKAM6h0NLp0MJ2cMgovXqrD0wFQgu2yHvlWFE