The Anglican Parish of Cooma is committed to providing abuse-free and harm-free, person-valuing and respectful spaces for ministry to God’s glory across all our worship centres. All that we do is centred on Christ's commandment to love the Lord our God with all our heart and all our soul and all our mind and all our strength, and to love our neighbour as ourselves. We see the reflection of Christ in every human being and, as such, all are welcome to worship in our parish without fear of judgement or harassement.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse handled down their final report in 2017. The Royal Commission exposed issues with the way the church accepted volunteers and trained people to protect children. The diocese has responded to this and is proactively updating their policies and giving assistance to parishes.
The Parish Administration Ordinance states Parish Council, in partnership with the Bishop and the Rector, are responsible for the ministry and mission of the parish. Any nominee for election to the Parish Council must successfully complete the Safe Ministry Screening & Training requirements.
As laid out in the Diocese’s Safe Ministry Protocol, the requirement for Category 3a are:
• Working With Children Check (NSW)
• Safe Ministry Questionnaire (Lay Volunteers)
• Interview and Endorsement
• Referee Checks
• National Register Check (carried out by the Safe Ministry Unit)
• Safe Ministry Training Units 1, 2, and 3. This is offered online and in person around the Diocese
• This information needs to be recorded and maintained in each worker’s Safe Ministry Information System (SMIS) account.
The Parish Council is committed to ensuring that all church workers (including paid staff and volunteers) complete Safe Ministries training, at the level determined by the diocese according to their role, within a reasonable timeframe of their appointment, election or commencing volunteer work in the Parish.
The Parish Safe Ministries coordinator is Karen Clark who can be contacted by emailing office@coomaanglican.org.au
If someone is in immediate danger or needs urgent medical attention, call 000. If it is not an emergency, you can talk to the Rector, the Parish Safe Ministries coordinator, or any of the church wardens. Alternatively, if you wish to speak to someone outside of the Parish, you can contact the diocesan Safe Ministry unit at:
Rev'd Dr Guerin Tueno
Director of Safe Ministry
E: safeministry@anglicands.org.au
PH: 02 6245 7158
Postal Address: GPO Box 1981 CANBERRA ACT 2601
Below is a link to the Safe Ministry page of the Anglican Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn which contains further resources and information regarding Safe Ministry.