CANADA
Leader-Post
By Jason Warick, The StarPhoenix March 11, 2013
Saskatoon and area Roman Catholic priests and volunteers will soon be prohibited from meeting behind closed doors with parishioners.
The main goal of the new policy, which also mandates criminal record checks and directing those with criminal allegations to police first, is to eliminate sexual abuse, said Blake Sittler, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon’s co-ordinator of care. It should also protect priests and other workers from false allegations, he said.
“This is a major paradigm shift,” Sittler said in an interview Sunday after attending a Calgary conference on the issue.
“We do not want this (abuse) to happen. It disgusts and disappoints us as well.”
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