July 6, 2026
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
2026 USCCB Audit
The Office of Safe Environments is wrapping up the 2026 USCCB Annual Audit. We take all the data submitted from every parish and school, scrub it, and submit a C/D Chart to Stonebridge (this is essentially the same chart you submitted to us but on a bigger scale) and answer a series of questions asked by them as well. Of the 212 parishes that submitted their audit reports, only 10 parishes did not submit on time and 82% of our parishes and schools are compliant. Last year, 42 parishes did not submit on time and we were 65% compliant.
Words cannot express the patience, love, and care every one of you have provided this year. Lisa and I have visited over 80 parishes and schools in the last year, held several webinars, and implemented the fingerprinting process for our priests, employees of the Curia, and have begun with the employees of the parishes. Our office is so grateful for the dedication that all of you bring to your roles!
NEW: Mandated Reporter Training Now Available in VIRTUS
Attached is a memo about the Mandated Reporter Training that has been assigned to all of those with "Educator" and "Priest" roles in VIRTUS.
If your school uses another form of training and you would like to opt-out of this training, please email me at pierson.maegan@aod.org
This training will be assigned in VIRTUS on an annual basis and will include updates as needed. Local Administrators will also be able to assign the training to others by going to the Training tab of the user in VIRTUS, and clicking on, "Assign new Online Training to User" from there you will find the training under "Mandated Reporter Training - Archdiocese of Detroit"
Finally, if you need to run a report to see who has completed the training, you may do so by going to "Master Reports" >>Select your Location >> Roles = Educators >> All Profiles >> All Training Statuses >>User Field = First Name / Last Name / Database ID >> Training = Mandated Reporter Training - Archdiocese of Detroit and then you can run the report to see who has completed it.
NEW: Local Administrator Training
As part of our mission to provide better services in the Office of Safe Environments, we will be providing a Back-to-School VIRTUS 101 Local Administrator Training via ZOOM. This is a great opportunity for any Local Admin who is new to your organization to learn the basic functions of VIRTUS along with Local Admin who may have not had any formal training. The training will take place on Tuesday, September 8th from 10am-12pm. Please register HERE – If you cannot make it to this training, please know it will be recorded and posted on our TEAMS channel and provided in a future newsletter.
Reporting Abuse in Parish Bulletins and School Boards
UPDATE: The winner of the Starbucks Gift Card for their parish/school is St. Patrick Parish and School in White Lake 😊 Thank you all for your submissions! You are all winners in our offices’ heart.
As part of our safeguarding of children and vulnerable populations, we kindly require all parishes and schools to regularly publish in their bulletin and school board materials either the report abuse insert OR longer form abuse reporting guide (see below)
Fingerprinting Updates
The Office of Safe Environments and Compliance is working diligently towards rolling out our Background Check Policy that will include the updated Criminal Convictions Policy combined with our new fingerprinting policy. Please know that this will be coming out soon along with updates on timelines for fingerprinting certain categories of individuals and other fun website updates as well. Currently, we are only fingerprinting clerics and employees of the Archdiocese of Detroit. If you would like to have us come out and fingerprint your employees, please email me at pierson.maegan@aod.org. Due to some logistics and the number of people we can roll, we are currently slated to begin booking in July of 2026.
Bulletin Communication
There have been some questions about how to best inform our volunteers about the AOD requirements for Protecting God’s Children. I impart to you the gift of an updated bulletin communication. If some of you have bulletin communications, you have found to be helpful in your parish or school, please email them to pierson.maegan@aod.org
Upcoming PGC Dates
- July 13 | Online
- July 22 | Sweetest Heart of Mary, Detroit
- July 23 | Online
- July 27 | Online
- August 3 | St. Lawrence, Utica
- August 6 | Online
- August 20 | St. Patrick, White Lake
- August 29 | St. Pius X School, Southgate
- September 22 | St. Rene Goupil, Sterling Heights
