This is part of a pilot project, which aims to create a "safety net".

The policy will be introduced in a handful of churches in Montreal, starting in September.

An archdiocese spokesman said the policy doesn't only apply to priests.

It will apply to all employees of parishes and churches, volunteers and "anyone else in the orbit of the diocese".

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Church of Ireland primate Archbishop Richard Clarke expressed his concerns during his church's general synod, the Irish Times reported.

While emphasising the necessity for strong child protection measures, he spoke of unwanted consequences.

"It is almost abusing children in a different way to deprive them of normal interaction [with adults]," he said.

"The first thing is, we have got to protect children.

"We know what dreadful things happened when we do not protect children, so that's a given," he said.

Children know about the "dangers" of adults and adults are "often scared" that children might "misunderstand" normal interaction, he added.

However, children had learned "almost as their default position" to "mistrust every adult".

The archbishop said it may be "safer", but "is it necessarily something that will create healthy relationship between those of different generations?"

He called for ways to ensure children's safety while dealing with unwanted consequences.

"Is there any way in which we can mitigate what are the unintended consequences of us holding children at arm's length, metaphorically?" Archbishop Clarke asked.

Sources

• Irish Times
• Image: Irish Times

The Pike River tragedy created a chance in a generation when seemingly everyone agreed that New Zealand's appalling workplace safety record must change.

The Government had the mandate and authority to say to all New Zealanders: you know we must change, we will take the decisions needed for real change, and we will support you in that change.

It will require change in the way the regulator, businesses and everyone in them think and act. But it will pay off in less pain, fewer grieving families and more productive workplaces.

The new law was to have been the cornerstone of change.

Instead it will be remembered as a farce about worm farms and paper-hanging being higher risk than quarries, explosive handling, sheep, cattle or dairy farms.

The Government has lost its moral authority and risks squandering this unique opportunity.

Rather than hear the message that change is essential, people will see the law as a result of powerful interest groups clamouring for exceptions - "everyone has to change except me, no matter how many people have died in my industry".

How can our health and safety culture change in such an environment?

It didn't have to be like this.

The Government commissioned an Independent Workplace Health and Safety Taskforce, of which I was a member along with three business people, two safety experts and an experienced secretariat, to design a new health and safety system.

Its report recommended a balanced and comprehensive set of actions saying: "It is our firm conviction that the Government must adopt the full range of recommendations made in this report if we are to deliver the outcomes that all working New Zealanders deserve." Picking it apart is folly. Continue reading

• Bill Rosenberg is the Council of Trade Unions' economist and director of policy.

Maria Noonan, who will develop and deliver the programme, was introduced at a Safe Church Training Day held in Wellington on July 30.

She will work as part of the Catholic Church's National Office of Professional Standards (NOPS).

Director Bill Kilgallon said the programme will be for priests, religious, staff and volunteers.

"It is partly about prevention, but is also about awareness-raising really," Mr Kilgallon said.

"Because there would be many people who attend Church who have been abused, not in the Church, but in families and other settings," he said.

"And the Church could and should be a place of healing and welcome for them."

Mrs Noonan is a teacher by background, and also worked for many years in a L'Arche community in the United Kingdom.

Born in New Zealand and with a degree from Otago University, her last job was working with students with poor school attendance.

The training day in Wellington was attended by about 45 people, including members of diocesan sexual abuse protocol committees and representatives from religious orders.

Canon lawyers, people who help NOPS with investigation work, diocesan staff and one bishop also attended.

They heard from Mr Kilgallon and Mrs Noonan, as well as from Msgr Robert Oliver, the promoter of justice at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Msgr Oliver is responsible for dealing with abuse cases that go to Rome and has been called the Vatican's "point man" for abuse.

He gave those at the Wellington event an overview of the issue "church-wide" and the role of the CDF, as well as discussing the new Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

Mr Kilgallon said Msgr Oliver would have liked the way bishops and religious orders in New Zealand work closely together on this issue.

But the New Zealand church still faces challenges in terms of supporting victims and education and prevention, Mr Kilgallon said.

Those at the training day were told the number of victims coming forward is expected to increase in this country, mostly reporting historic abuse.

Source

• National Office for Professional Standards
• Image: MSN Ireland