St. Brendan the Navigator Parish

The present Diocese of Portland includes the entire state of Maine and is part of the Province of Boston. Established by Pope Pius IX on July 29, 1853, the Diocese of Portland then included the territorial limits of the present states of Maine and New Hampshire. Previous to that time, it was under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Baltimore and later of the Bishop of Boston. In 1884, the diocese was divided, and New Hampshire was established as a separate diocese with the Episcopal See located at Manchester. The Most Reverend James T. Ruggieri serves as the 13th Bishop of Portland.

The Safe Environment Program was implemented in the Portland Diocese in June of 2002. All clergy, employees and volunteers who work with children/youth on a regular basis must attend a Protecting God's Children training session which is a sexual abuse awareness and prevention program.

The 3-hour course utilizes video tapes produced by Virtus, the program of the National Catholic Risk Retention Group, Inc. (www.virtus.org) which features true stories of both victims and sexual abusers. Supporting workbooks, which reinforce the information, complement the program and include guidelines on actions to take should abuse be suspected or reported.

If you need to attend a session of Protecting God's Children please contact your Parish's Virtus Point Person. To see a schedule of future sessions please click on the Calendar Icon next to "Upcoming Training Sessions" below.

To date 21,106 individuals have attended the Protecting God's Children Program.

For further information, go to https://portlanddiocese.org/protecting-gods-children or please contact:

Gerald Coutu, Director of Safe Environment
510 Ocean Avenue
Portland, Maine 04103-4936
Phone 207-321-7809