Talk about Touching and the Harrisburg Program

[estesbob]

Joe Kelley:

The program seems more devoted to the legal protection of the diocese than the moral protection of the children.

Amen! And it is more concerned with disuading anyone from believing homosexuality had anything to do with the Priest abuse scandals than it is getting to the root of the problem. i took it becuase i was told i would no longer be able to read at Tuesday mass if I didnt. needless to say i did not make myself popular when i started ripping apart the bogus stats they were presenting.

 

[puzzleannie]

Halo:

I attended the virtus training in our Parish. It bothered me to watch those “reformed predators” talking about their past.
Isn’t the church now saying that these people can’t be reformed?Wasn’t that the big beef against the Bishops who moved priests from …

just as a note to this, the two convicted molesters interviewed in the Protecting God’s children video (the one presented to catechists, employees and parents, not the one shown to children) are not “reformed” and both admit they are not “reformed” --both have served or are serving time for the offenses for which they are convicted and both are registered sex offenders. The video and accompanying material makes it clear they themselves and others realize they are still capable of offending again.

 

[Joe_Kelley]

estesbob:

Amen! And it is more concerned with disuading anyone from believing homosexuality had anything to do with the Priest abuse scandals than it is getting to the root of the problem. i took it becuase i was told i would no longer be able to read at Tuesday mass if I didnt. needless to say i did not make myself popular when i started ripping apart the bogus stats they were presenting.

Too bad you and I couldn’t be in a class together; we could have real fun. I have never been popular in diocesan classes.

 

[JCPhoenix]

I need to add this to the conversation, because I think all those in favor of VIRTUS or those who don’t feel threatened by it (on behalf of their children) should take note.

I have worked with adolescent sexual predators, and vicitms of predators. (both adolescent), so I learned a few things that maybe the general public doesn’t know.

If a child cries “abuse” of any form, there is an investigation of the appropriate authorities. It happens every day that a parent, for example, uses a child as a pawn in a divorce/ custody battle, and coaches the child to claim sexual abuse.

I was a pawn like that, by the way, so I have an inside view of this sort.

Anyway, these children are investigated, they are questioned very sensitively, and I remember not being led at all. I was asked to demonstrate. I was asked to talk about the “parts”…what were they called?

Some words were deemed as “age approrpiate”, such as “pee pee”. I happened to know the word for male anatomy, but I knew nothing more than it was different than mine. I still called it a “pee pee”, as I called my own “equpment”. (I’m a girl, by the way).

Kids who suffer real abuse might have picked up a word here or there, but they don’t know what it means, or how it really applies. If the kids know “too much”, it sends up BIG RED FLAGS.

This program removes some of the RED FLAGS because it makes the terminology being used “normal” when that child should know nothing of the sort. It blurs the lines, and here’s what really scares me: some of that technical terminology, which leads to slang terminology, was used to remove some kids from abusive situations.

I shudder to think that with the implementation of that program, this huge red flag is going to be buried under the red tape of VIRTUS and that some of the kids I worked with, some who had suffered very severe abuse, might not have been found if this program were in place.

I shudder to think that if the lines are being blurred, kids who are really being abused won’t give the known, tried and true signals, and they won’t be rescued.

This program is evil, it is wrong, and it is being inflicted upon the innocence of children.

YES, I have a HUGE problem with this and SO SHOULD ALL OF YOU!

 

[estesbob]

Joe Kelley:

Too bad you and I couldn’t be in a class together; we could have real fun. I have never been popular in diocesan classes.

Woulda been fun!

 

[puzzleannie]

JCPhoenix:

I I shudder to think that with the implementation of that program, this huge red flag is going to be buried under the red tape of VIRTUS and that some of the kids I worked with, some who had suffered very severe abuse, might not have been found if this program were in place.
!

I don’t know about other programs, but the Virtus program does not name the specific genital body parts in any of the lessons through grade 8. It refers only to “our private parts, those which are covered by a bathing suit”. This is the reason our diocese chose to stay with this program, since the other progams we reviewed are more explicit.

 

[Halo]

Puzzleannie,
Thankyou for the clarification on the predators in the Virtus video.
It has been a while since I viewed that and was unclear.

Still hate the program though and don’t think it helps in any way.
It will probably be forgotten about in a year or two and nobody will have to be Virtus trained, just like so many other worthless programs that have come and gone.

 

[slyboots]

I emailed our RE director about these programs. She was unfamiliar with Virtus or Talking about Touching, thankfully. She did say our archdiocese has a two class session program which all the children take (at their various levels) concerning child. It is directed more at encouraging children to go to a parent, teacher etc if someone is attempting to touch them in ways in which they are uncomfortable. And it does indicate to them that private areas are just that…private. It also is the beginning of teaching about purity, a subject which seems to be missing in most public schools.
I will continue to be on the look out for the other curricula though