Communications Mission Statement
The Office of Communications and Public Relations is responsible for spreading the good works of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark and the Catholic Church. It serves as the spokesperson for the Archbishop and the local Church, and is the primary contact for the media.
This office is responsible for preparing written statements and news releases; assisting parishes and Catholic schools; collaborating with other departments in planning special events; publishing Archdiocesan newspapers and magazines; and dispensing bulletin announcements.
This office also maintains and updates this website and all Archdiocese of Newark social media platforms.
Safeguarding Children and Addressing Abuse
With the release of the film “Spotlight,” which profiles The Boston Globe’s pursuit of the clergy sex abuse scandal in the early 2000s, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops says it welcomes anything that raises awareness around this important, painful issue.
The USCCB emphasizes that the Catholic Church has the strongest measures in the world in place for protecting children and young people, including safe environment training for children and adult, background checks, and zero tolerance. You can learn more by visiting their website.
Here in the Archdiocese of Newark, we require all staff and volunteers working with children and youth to undergo background checks and receive sexual abuse awareness training. More than 20,000 Clergy, Religious and Lay people have received this training and undergone criminal background checks.
Nearly 95,000 children annually receive safe environment training through our Catholic schools and through opportunities offered to public school students in our religious education programs.
The Archdiocese makes use of the services of a Licensed Clinical Social Worker to be the first contact with individuals bringing allegations of abuse so that counseling and other support services can be extended immediately – even before a determination can be made regarding the validity of an allegation.
A full-time Office of Child and Youth Protection dedicated to supporting the work of protecting children works with parishes and schools to ensure that safe environments are in place throughout the Archdiocese. Click here to visit their website.