Code of Ethics and Integrity

General Norms

Church personnel (1) will exhibit the highest Christian ethical standards and personal integrity.

Church personnel will conduct themselves in a manner that is consistent with the discipline and teaching of the Catholic Church.

Church personnel will not physically, sexually or emotionally abuse a minor or an adult.

Church personnel will not engage in physical, psychological, written or verbal harassment of employees, volunteers, or parishioners and will not tolerate such harassment by other Church personnel.

Church personnel shall provide a professional work environment that is free from physical, psychological, written, or verbal intimidation or harassment.

Church personnel shall not engage in sexual intimacies with the persons they counsel. This includes consensual contact, forced physical contact and sexually explicit conversations not related to counseling issues.

Church personnel assume the full burden for setting and maintaining clear, appropriate boundaries in all counseling and counseling-related relationships.

No counseling sessions should be conducted in private living quarters.

Church personnel will share concerns about suspicious or inappropriate behavior with their pastor, the Vicar-General of the Eparchy, or the Eparchial Bishop.

Church personnel will report any suspected abuse to the proper civil authorities.

Church personnel will accept their personal responsibility to protect minors and adults from all forms of abuse.

Houses used for residences of priests and religious are exclusively for the use of the religious.  With the exception of occasional visits from immediate family members, minors are not permitted to be overnight guests in the residence of a priest or a religious.

1. Church personnel includes priests, religious permanent and transitional deacons, seminarians, all paid and volunteer personnel who are employed by or work in eparchial parishes or institutions.