The mission of the Archdiocesan Office for the Protection of Children and Youth (OPCY) is to work with the community to help prevent the abuse of children, youth, and vulnerable adults. The office partners with parents, parish and Catholic school leaders, and others to provide safe environments through raising awareness about the societal problem of sexual abuse, offering effective personal safety education and enforcing screening requirements.
OPCY is responsible for implementing some of the requirements of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, specifically Article 6 (codes of conduct), Article 12 (prevention education for adults and minors), and Article 13 (background screening), as well as all policies of this archdiocese related to the protection of minors and vulnerable adults. Learn more: SafeEnvironmentSPM.org
In response to the Charter for Protection of Children and Youth, the Archdiocese of Minneapolis and St. Paul offers online training sessions for all adult volunteers having regular and/or unsupervised contact with children and youth. The program specifically addresses how entire parish and school communities can protect all of God’s children from sexual abuse.
This program is called: VIRTUS: Protecting God’s Children It is required training for all volunteers working with children, youth, and vulnerable adults. Virtus consists of online training, a code of conduct, and a background to be completed online. See the link below for a new user guide to walk you through signing up. To start your training visit:VIRTUSonline.org
If you are a first-time registrant the process will take about 1½ hours to complete. If you already have an account you might need to have it reactivated and renew your training and background check. Your account may have lapsed and become inactive, so please call Juanita Menke at the parish office at 952-445-1319 with any questions.
Thank you for being willing to step into a volunteer role and help to further God's kingdom in a safe environment for all!