December 12, 2005

Church requiring background check for all personnel

LA MIRADA (CA)
San Gabriel Valley Tribune

By Mike Sprague Staff Writer

When the New Year arrives, every member of the staff at the United Methodist Church of La Mirada and every Sunday School teacher, counselor and volunteer will have undergone a background check.

It's just one of the policies instituted by the La Mirada church and all of the United Methodist churches in Southern California, Guam, Hawaii and Saipan as part of an effort to stem any sex abuse scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church from occurring in United Methodist churches.

"We'd like the community to know that if they bring their children to our Sunday School, we're doing everything we can to ensure your children are safe at our church," said Linda Tremain, a member of the La Mirada church's Safe Sanctuary Committee that wrote up its plan.

"We've never had a problem at our church, but we are protecting ourselves," Tremain said.

Posted by kshaw at December 12, 2005 06:59 AM