St. Matthew the Apostle Catholic Parish believes that our children are the most important gifts God has entrusted to us, and we are committed to the protection and safety of all children and vulnerable adults. In compliance with the Safe Environment Program of the Diocese of Columbus, all volunteers, 18 years of age and older, who have “care, custody or control,” or regular supervised or unsupervised access to children or vulnerable adults must complete the following steps prior to volunteering:

1. Click HERE to create a Virtus account and register for the 3 hour Protecting God's Children Class (PGC).  It is important to do this step first.  Please create the Virtus account using your legal name.  Your fingerprint results will be sent to the diocese. If the name on the background check results isn't the name on your Virtus account, the diocese won't know who the background check belongs to.  Click on the yellow link, “Registration”, on the left side of the page to either view a list of upcoming PGC classes or begin the registration process.  When asked to select your organization, scroll to “Columbus OH” and then click “Select”.  You can register for any open session in the Diocese. SOME of the classes offered will have a third party present that will perform the fingerprinting (for a fee) before the class.  You can call the location for more information. When you register in VIRTUS you will also set up a FasTrax/Selection.com account which will perform some preliminary background checks. There is a one-time fee of $25 associated with this service.  Please do not confuse this with getting a civilian criminal background/fingerprint check (step 2 below).  You need to do both.
2. Undergo a Civilian Criminal Background/Fingerprint check (BCI) / Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) check (and have it sent to the diocese).   

• Volunteers: If you have lived in Ohio for 5 years or longer you only need to get a BCI report done (not FBI). If you have lived in the state of Ohio for less than 5 years you will need to have both the BCI & FBI reports done.
• Employees: Before starting work at the Parish and/or school, you must take the PGC class and the diocese must have the BCI & FBI fingerprint results. In addition to sending the background check to the ODE please remember to have the results sent to the diocese. (see below). 
• We canNOT accept paper copies of fingerprint results.

 
BCI & FBI background checks can be obtained at the following locations (Call to find out days and times as they fluctuate):

Education Service Center (must set up an appt on line)
2080 Citygate Drive, Columbus, OH   43219
(614) 445-3750 (Enter the rear of the building)

Gahanna License Agency
415 Agler Rd, Gahanna, OH 43230
(614) 476-0398

1st Choice Fingerprinting 
6480  East Main 
Reynoldsburg, Ohio   43068
614-721-5067 

Fast Fingerprints (fastest turnaround)

Items needed for a background check:

• Valid driver’s license or photo ID
• Reason for fingerprinting: 

          Volunteers use code: ORC 2151.86
          Licensed school employees – teachers, counselors, therapists, teacher assistants:  ORC 3319.291
           Non-teaching employees – maintenance, admin, parish etc.:  ORC 3319.39B1
(School employees must an FBI (not BCI) re run every 5 years. 
(Volunteers and Parish employees (don't interact with school children) only have to have the fingerprint check run once.)                                 

Have the agency running the check send the results to:
Catholic Diocese of Columbus
Attn: Safe Environment Office
197 E. Gay Street
Columbus, OH 43215
614-241-2568

(Fingerprint checks generally take about 30 days to turn around.) 

3.  Complete a Volunteer Application which includes the Code of Conduct. Please submit this document to Michelle Lantz [email protected].

Once you have completed steps 1-3 above and your PGC class and background check have been "posted" in VIRTUS, you are Safe Environment Compliant and free to volunteer with ministries that involve minors: thank you!

St. Matthew Volunteer Driver Form:
Please complete our Volunteer driver form if you will be transporting minors for a St. Matthew event/field trip.

Need to report a case of child abuse?
To report child abuse in the parish or school, contact both the county child protective agency and the diocese.  A confidential email can be sent to the diocese at  [email protected]  or contact:

The Reverend Monsignor Stephen J. Moloney
614-224-2251  OR  866-448-0217
_____________________________________________________

Diocesan Victim Assistance Coordinator

Laura J. Lewis, M.A., L.P.C.C.-S
866-448-0217
[email protected]
[email protected]