By now, many of you have been notified about the necessity for undergoing a background check. Church employees go through this as part of a standard procedure. But increasingly, volunteers have also been faced with this obligation. As a Pastor, it makes me uneasy, informing a volunteer that he/she will need to take the necessary steps to have a background check completed. It comes across as if we are somehow having doubts about the person’s character. Furthermore, volunteers do the parish a favor by stepping forward and being generous with their time. And we are returning the favor by requiring them to go through this somewhat invasive process. It all seems rather unfair.
 
However, please understand that we would NEVER ask for something like this unless it was absolutely necessary. We basically have no choice in the matter. The U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops has contracted with an outside agency, for the sake of establishing safe environment atmospheres within our churches. We have now reached the point where audits are coming due. Our diocese will be audited this summer. Right now, we don’t know which of our parishes will be directly visited. The only thing we do know for sure is that nobody wants to be responsible for a failed audit.
 
So we don’t ask this lightly. We understand up front that something considerable has already been asked of you. That’s how you ended up in your particular area of service to the parish. Now we are in a position where we have to ask for more. Again, we don’t ask this lightly. You are subjected to various indignities when you pass through an airport. They subject you to this, not because you have crossed a line. Rather, they subject you because somebody else has previously crossed a line. You end up suffering for somebody else’s transgression. Try to take on a spiritual perspective. In the Book of Isaiah we hear about a Messiah who will suffer, not for his own collection of sins, but for the sins committed by others (53:5). We hear something similar in the First Letter of St. Peter: ”He himself bore our sins in his body upon the cross...by his wounds you have been healed” (2:24). In any case, thank you for your service. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation. And let’s remember that it’s for the sake of a greater good. May God bless your observance of Holy Week