For the 2nd consecutive year, the General Council has subscribed to the Institute of Anthropology of the Gregorian University of Rome (Italy) to participate in an online course on the Protection of Minors. This course is part of ongoing formation proposals, but also as part of the Policy for the Promotion of a Culture of Protection of Minors and Vulnerable Adults within and through the Congregation of the Holy Spirit. In addition to the expertise that the content of the course itself testifies, each unit concludes with a review of the content, exchanges and questions with two Spiritans supervising this project and who have themselves followed a longer and face-to-face training in the same Institute of the Roman University.
Followed in English and French over a period of one pastoral year, the course allows students to follow 18 thematic units that cover a wide range of themes in the field of the fight against sexual abuse. This distance training makes it possible to make available training opportunities for the Protection of Minors and Vulnerable Adults (Safeguarding) to Spiritans and Spiritan circumscriptions (Provinces and Groups) where opportunities in this area are rare or difficult to access. It therefore complements the initiatives already taken and the more contextualized training given by the Spiritan circumscriptions.
For the first participation of Spiritans in this online course in 2024-2025, 19 religious and one Lay Spiritan, spread over four continents (Asia, Africa, Europe and America) participated in the experience. The evaluation at the end of this course having been considered very positive by the participants, a second edition was launched for the year 2025-2026 with an increased number of participants: 21 in English (including a lay teacher in a Spiritan school), and 9 in French. The participants in this second edition work in 16 countries in Africa, America and Europe.
The possibility of offering this same course in Portuguese in the future is being considered, but for the moment depends on what the Gregorian University itself is able to offer.
Marc Botzung, CSSp