Safe Environment is a responsibility to care, not a box to check

North Texas Catholic
(Oct 21, 2024) Faith-Inspiration

Safe Environment Coordinators attend training. (NTC/Juan Guajardo)

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In early 2019, right before beginning my journey as part of the Safe Environment team in the Diocese of Fort Worth, the extent of my knowledge of the department was that its training was a requirement.

A ministry would not have been the first word to come to mind describing its function.

Coming into this position, I suspected my time would be filled with policies and procedures from the very first moment I arrived at my desk in the office. That all started to change on my second day of the job as I looked over a map of the diocese and wondered how we could possibly oversee all those locations, to be in charge of all those people.

Then the former director of Safe Environment, Richard Mathews, gave me a change in perspective with a mindful but firm redirection, “Responsible. We are responsible for those in our diocese.”

A seed was planted that day in that quick exchange: We are called to serve, love, and protect each other as people of faith. We are one body, and no one is more or less important than anyone else.

That is what drives the ministry of Safe Environment every day for me personally. It is a call that drives 103 coordinators, 207 facilitators, and every parish volunteer to remember that we carry the responsibility of safeguarding those most vulnerable, keeping in mind that we do not know the battles others might be in — or have gone through — as we worship alongside them.

Too often we find ourselves preoccupied with our jobs and tasks, always asking ourselves what needs to be done next. Did I meet the requirements? Did I accomplish everything on my list?

Although both are very valid questions, we cannot let ourselves forget that Safe Environment goes far beyond filling in forms and attending sessions.

It means coming to the table with an open mind and an honest heart every two years when we renew our certification. Lay volunteers must ask themselves the tough questions and take accountability for their ministries as well as those actively participating in them.

We must take time to reflect if we are to be the voice that speaks up for others, and we must always strive to truly see and understand the dignity that every person inherently has.

As Father Jose Ignacio Olvera Alvarez, CORC — pastor of Holy Name of Jesus Parish in Fort Worth — so correctly stated in his presentation to our Hispanic Ministry leaders in September, these are our ministries, and it is our job to make our parishes safe places for everyone.

That evening, more than 80 ministry leaders from across the diocese made a commitment to their communities and to each other. That evening, the seed that was planted long ago grew its first leaf, and hope started to blossom.

Hope reverberated in the hallways of the Catholic Center that night as the leaders of the faithful reaffirmed answering the call and made a commitment to each other — to join Safe Environment’s important task of protecting the most vulnerable. In doing so with love and compassion, hope might yet reverberate in the hearts of all those to whom we serve.

Alma Garcia

Alma Garcia is a Safe Environment coordinator for the Diocese of Fort Worth. 

Safe environment, protecting the vulnerable, ministry versus department, responsibility, trending-english