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People Helping People

Virtus

To maintain the highest level of safety not only for our children and our volunteers, Saint Rita Parish continues to adopt a screening process for all employees and volunteers who have access to our students and parish youth.

"Virtus"is a Latin word that means, "valor or moral excellence."The VIRTUS Program assists our Church in being a safe haven for children and a messenger for preventing child sexual abuse within the Church and society in general.

If you are 18 years of age or older and you wish to volunteer in our parish or school as a volunteer or catechist, you must attend one 3-hour VIRTUS training session. Once you have completed your training sessions, you will receive a certificate and be permitted to volunteer in the school.

If you are new to Saint Rita Parish and School and are already VIRTUS trained, please provide a copy of your certification to our School offices. You will still need to perform a Criminal Background Check through Selection.com.


Our Screening Process Includes Four Areas:

  1. A signed acknowledgment form must be on file with the Parish Office that you possess and have read a copy of the Policy for the Safety of Children in Matters of Sexual Abuse written by the Diocese of Cleveland.
  2. A signed acknowledgment form must be on file with the Parish Office that you possess, have read, and will comply with the Standards of Conduct for Ministry written by the Diocese of Cleveland.
  3. Attendance at a 3-hour training course followed up by monthly articles which you must read. These articles are distributed via email. There is no cost to attend a VIRTUS training session. VIRTUS sessions are held all throughout the diocese, including Saint Rita Parish. Visit the VIRTUS website and click on "registration". Next, click on "view a list of sessions" then select "Cleveland Diocese."
  4. Registration for a background check via the online system Selection.com. Once you register for your VIRTUS account, you can choose Selection.com on the left sidebar. There is a one-time registration fee of $25 that will be reimbursed by Saint Rita Parish.  Please bring your receipt for reimbursement to the Parish Office

Click below to download a copy of Saint Rita Parish and School's Volunteer Screening Process.