A reader writes:

Our Catholic school has required parents to complete a ‘"Safe Enviroment" training for the past couple of years.  I have had very mixed feelings about the program.  I completely agree that volunteers who work regularly with children should be trained in recognizing and preventing child abuse (the need for which was exemplified in your recent post on laypeople who don’t report sexual abuse).  On the other hand, the programs seem designed more to protect the diocese than to meet the parents’ and children’s needs. 

This year, however, our diocese has begun charging parents for the mandatory on-line training session, and I’ve jumped from ambiguity to full-fledged outrage.  I find it absolutely obscene that the Church is charging parents for programs that stem more from ecclesial wrongdoing than children’s needs.  I don’t care that the fee is only $10 or that the cost of the training program would eventually trickle down to us as parishioners or school parents anyway.  There’s something about paying this fee that makes my blood boil. 

Before I hit full protest mode, I’d love to hear about what is happening in other dioceses.  Have other folks run into this issue?  Am I over-reacting here?  Also, I’d be curious to see if anyone is familiar with the training offered by shieldthevulnerable.org, which is a service of Lawroom.com.

Well, folks? Any experiences with this?