How To: Get Ethics and Integrity in Ministry certified

The Diocese of Austin requires anyone in a parish who ministers to or with minors or vulnerable adults (i.e. elderly, homeless, ill, people in crisis situations) to complete their Ethics and Integrity in Ministry Training.  This means that anyone who participates in the following SJN ministries must get this certification:

• Alpha Prison Ministry
• Boy Scouts
• Care Communities
• Challenge
• Christian Medical Missions
• Coffee and Donut Social Hosts
• Communion to Sick
• Cub Scouts
• Extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion
• Engaged Sponsor Couples
• Faith Circle for High School Students
• Family Religious Education
• Catechists
• Vacation Religion School
• Bereavement Ministry
• Godly Play
• Hearts and Hands Respite Ministry
• K for J
• Life Teen volunteers
• EDGE volunteers
• Readers
• Ushers
• Sacristans
• Mary and Martha Guild
• Mobile Loaves & Fishes
• Parish library volunteers
• Southwest Austin Caregivers
• Summit / Querencia Communion Service Teams
• St. Vincent de Paul Society
• Touching Hearts, Bridging Hope
• Venture Crew
• Weekend collection counters
• Gift Shop volunteers

The reason the diocese asks most volunteers to go through the training is so that we can do our part to protect the vulnerable entrusted to our care and ministry.  You can read more frequently asked questions about the training on the diocesan Web site.

The training involves a two-part process -- one of which can be completed from the comforts of your own home!

1. Complete the diocesan Application for Ministry, which will run a background check.  This is best to be completed online, but you can go to the same link to print out a hard copy and mail it to the parish office for us to input into the system, if you wish.
2. Attend a basic workshop.  These are constantly being scheduled all around the Austin area (and beyond); schedules can be viewed at http://www.austindiocese.org/.  It's best to call the number listed ahead of time, but it's also perfectly fine to just show up the day of the workshop if it's a last minute convenience. 

Completing the application is a one-time requirement -- the system automatically runs a background check every few years with no extra work required on your part. 

Attending a workshop, however, must now be done every three years, so if it's been more than three years since you last attended a workshop, it's time to renew your certification!  The good news is that the refresher workshop, as they're called, is half the time that the basic workshop is.  You can also find the list of upcoming refresher workshops at http://www.austindiocese.org/department_home.php?id=9, under the header "Upcoming EIM Refresher Workshops.

Thank you for helping us do all we can to ensure the comfort and safety of those to whom we minister as a Church!
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Image courtesy of http://enrichmentjournal.ag.org/