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	Safeguarding Kids Pamphlet Distributed By Conor Cullen New Ross Standard February 11, 2009 http://www.newrossstandard.ie/news/safeguarding-kids-pamphlet-distributed-1637735.html A NEWSLETTER which focuses on safeguarding children in the Diocese of Ferns diocese has been distributed throughout parishes of the diocese. The Bishop of Ferns, Dr. Denis Brennan, has asked that parishioners take home the newsletter, which was distributed by parish representatives last weekend, and read it closely. The newsletter gives an overview of where the diocese finds itself at present and what progress has been made since the last newsletter was issued in October 2005, at the time of the release of the Ferns Report, which identified more than 100 allegations of child sexual abuse, made between 1962 and 2002, against 21 priests. Issuing the newsletter, Bishop Brennan extended his gratitude to the diocesan child protection committee; to diocesan officials who continue to work in the area of child protection; to the parish representatives who have already been commissioned and to the many people who participated in information seminar and training at the invitation of their local priests. Parish representatives have been commissioned in most of the 49 parishes to date and these lay representatives will be the first port of call for anyone worried about a child's safety. 'I again apologise to any person who has suffered child sexual abuse by a priest of the diocese. With the many co-workers we have engaged in the area of safeguarding children, I resolve to continue to journey along the road of better practice which was begun some years ago now,' said Bishop Brennan. Bishop Brennan said that the diocese is not in receipt of any concerns regarding child protection and its personnel – or former personnel – which it has not shared with its own advisory panel, the Gardai and the Health Service Executive (HSE). The newsletter contains information on the Child Protection Committee in the Diocese of Ferns, which is chaired by Fr. Gerry O'Leary. The newsletter also contains a interview with one of the many parish representatives in the diocese, Tom Aherne (Clonard), and a profile of another, Una Murphy (St. Aidan's Parish, Enniscorthy). Fr. Aodhan Marken and Una Bird, one of the youth leaders for the Diocesan Lourdes Pilgrimage, give their accounts of child protection training.
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