The word “virtus” derives from Latin, and means valor, moral strength, excellence, and worth. In ancient times, virtus denoted a way of life and manner of behavior that always aspired to the highest, most positive attributes of people and aspects of human interaction.
One of the programs that we use through Virtus is Teaching Safety-Empowering God’s Children. This program can be taught either in two separate thirty minute lessons or the lessons can be combined for one class. The classes for youth run in 3 year cycles for each age group, K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12 respectively. This means that each child will be learning new material each year and the materials are designed for where that age group is in their physical and emotional development. Of course, as the primary teacher and caregiver, parents are free to “opt out” for their child if they feel that they would prefer to instruct their children in their home. This is absolutely fine and understandable, which is why we provide a form for this purpose. We are required by the Diocese of Toledo to report when each class is taught, what materials were covered as well as our attendance. Therefore we do ask that if you are planning on instructing your children personally rather than them attending this particular instruction at St. Charles, kindly fill out this online form so that we may add it to our records. This information is confidential and is only used by the Diocese to ensure that our parishes are being responsible in the instruction and protection of our children.
If you are a volunteer under the age of 18 and are working with younger children in a position of authority, we require that you sign an acknowledgement of your responsibilities for the protection of youth to be kept on file. Here is the link and can be signed digitally.
If you are a volunteer over the age of 18 at St. Charles and are working in any way with our youth, you are required to go through the certification process offered through Virtus as well as submit to a background check. The Virtus certification should take about 2-3 hours and is absolutely free. The background check will only take a few minutes, but you will need to enter your information exactly the same as it is listed on your driver’s licence, so you may wish to have that handy before you begin. The cost of this is $25 and both the certification and the background check are good for 5 years. If you would like St. Charles to pay for the background check, please contact Courtney Neumeier at 419-228-7635 ext. 3007 or by email at neumeierc@stcharleslima.org before you begin and she will issue you a Token, which functions like a coupon code. Both of these requirements must be met before you are able to begin working directly with our youth here at St. Charles.
To be redirected to the Virtus website, please select the button below. If you have never used Virtus before, you will need to create an account under “First-Time Registrant” on the left side of the screen. Follow the prompts and it will walk you through the process. You will select “Toledo Diocese” as your organization. Please note that the videos cannot be skipped through, the system will not allow you to proceed without watching the videos in their entirety. After you have completed the online certification, Virtus will provide a link to a company called Select.com. You cannot get to the link by typing into the search bar, you must use that specific link provided by Virtus in order to go through the background check. They will require you to enter a credit card or a token issued by St. Charles to pay the $25 fee at that time.