October 20, 2026
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
NEW: Upcoming VIRTUS Improvements
The Office of Safe Environments is working with VIRTUS to give users the ability to log in to their account and see whether their background check is completed and whether they have signed all required documentation. Once these improvements are ready, we will provide a tutorial on how to view this information and kindly ask that you place this on your Safe Environments webpage for your parish and/or school.
NEW: Letters of Non-Compliance for the 2026 USCCB Audit
Letters of non-compliance will be sent out to the parishes and/or schools by Monday of next week. The priest and/or principal and safe environments local administrator will receive a letter from Fr. Birney via email with instructions on how to schedule a time for a in-person audit. All 34 parishes and/or schools who were non-compliant will be required to schedule a visit by January 5 and all visits will be conducted by March 31, 2027.
ICHAT, Fingerprinting, and Background Check Screening Webinar - November 11 at 9am
Are you unsure of what to do when you receive an ICHAT hit or what best background check screening processes would benefit your parish or school? Do you need a refresher for the multitiered complexities of background checks here in the Archdiocese of Detroit? That's great because the Office of Safe Environments is offering a webinar that will help you navigate all of this on Wednesday, November 11th from 9am to 10:30am.
Sign up here. We hope to see you there! 🙂
Safe Environments Website Page and Contact Information for Local Administrators
The number of emails our office is receiving that could be resolved on the local parish and/or school level is extremely high. To help streamline the work of the Safe Environments Office, we kindly request that all schools and parishes post our training and screening requirements and information about how to report abuse on their websites AND include the name and contact information for their Local Safe Environments Coordinator(s).
Please use our Requirements for Training and Screening and Report Abuse pages as a reference for the content that should be on your page. Here are a few examples showing how parishes have shared this information:
In addition to this, I would like to note that the Office of Safe Environments will soon remove the "Register for Training" option in VIRTUS until a better solution is available. The amount of confusion for the user has led to it being inefficient. We will share more information and updates in the near future.
REMINDER: 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 an "Educator" and "Priest" role in VIRTUS.
ALL MANDATED REPORTER TRAINING FOR PRIESTS AND SCHOOL AFFILIATED EMPLOYEES IS DUE BY OCTOBER 1, 2026. PLEASE SEND OUT REMINDERS.
If your school uses another form of training, and you would like to opt-out of the training, please email me at pierson.maegan@aod.org.
The 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.
Background Check Policy Bulletin Announcement
We have prepared a fingerprinting bulletin announcement to help you communicate this new policy with your parishioners. This version is editable, so that you may insert the name of your parish and/or school. You are also welcome to use this for a pulpit announcement as well. This announcement is not a requirement but a resource for you to use as you see fit.
Background Check Policy
The Office of Safe Environments has released the new Background Check Policy, which can be read HERE – along with a list of FAQ’s This policy is effective August 1, 2026. The most important thing I can say to you is this: Please do not panic; your volunteers do not need to be fingerprinted overnight. This policy is meant to be strategic and thoughtful, bearing the needs and capabilities of parishes and schools.
We had a great turnout for the Background Check Policy Webinar! I am attaching the slides HERE and the link for the recorded webinar below.
Webinar: Background Check Policy Webinar
Password: Fingerprinting2026
Please note: As we are getting more inquiries about fingerprinting, I thought it would be helpful to provide the following resources: A fingerprinting memo with the attached forms that need to be filled out ahead of time, a sign-up sheet, and a way to book appointments . The sign-up template is a READ-ONLY so please download the template before trying to use it. You are not required to use these resources; however, it may make the process more efficient. There are also a few things to keep in mind as you inquire about fingerprinting:
- The AOD will not cover all first wave volunteers. For some parishes, we will cover up to 50 volunteers. For some, we will not be covering the cost of any volunteers. This is based on the financial needs of the parish in light of limited funding for the project. Funding will only be able to support about 5,000 total volunteers in the diocese. Please be mindful of this as you are making inquiries.
- If you are thinking about having us come out to your parish and you do not have a large staff, please consider asking other parishes within your Family to come to your site. The more people we can capture at one location, the quicker we can make it to other sites. This initiative should be concluded by May 2027.
- The maximum number of people one person can fingerprint in a day is 60. Please be sure to always include an hour break for the individual coming to fingerprint if he/she is there for the entire day.
- If you have an employee who is not comfortable with fingerprinting, please have him/her email us to schedule a time to talk. We want to ensure that these conversations are funneled appropriately.
Finally, for ease I have created a Bookings calendar where you can schedule fingerprinting HERE
Reporting Abuse in Parish Bulletins and School Boards
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)
Upcoming PGC Dates
- October 22 | Online
- October 26 | Online
- November 3 | Online
- November 7 | St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Troy
- November 7 | Sacred Heart, Dearborn
- November 16 | Online
- November 18 | Our Lady of Good Counsel, Plymouth
- November18 | Immaculate Conception | Ira Township
- December 3 | Online
