ARLINGTON, Va., Sept. 15 (UPI) -- U.S. Catholic groups are struggling to balance the safety of children in their care with the need to find volunteers to provide that care.
On the one hand is the growing expectation that volunteer care-givers will be fingerprinted and have background checks; on the other hand is the reticence of undocumented Hispanics to submit to such scrutiny, the Washington Times reported Wednesday.
The diocese of Arlington, Va., for example, recently mandated fingerprinting of those allowed access to their children. But that has caused a new headache: how to deal with Hispanic church members who refuse to submit to background checks.
The diocese's new policy not only affects priests, seminarians, nuns and church employees but also lay volunteers who work with children.
Half of the 394,000-member diocese may be Hispanic, including thousands of undocumented immigrants, diocesan officials said.
"We could lose many volunteers," said the Rev. Ovidio Pecharroman, director of the diocesan Office of Spanish Ministry. "Most of the people working in the Catholic Church are volunteers; whether legal or illegal, I don't know."
