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NY Diocese's Coloring Book Warns of Abuse

Angel tells kids not to be alone with an adult; priest not mentioned

By Sam Gale Rosen,  Newser Staff

Posted Dec 5, 2007 9:06 AM CST
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(Newser) – A coloring book handed out by the Catholic Church to kids in New York warns them not to be alone with an adult in a room with the door shut, Newsweek reports. It doesn't specifically name priests as a risk, but it does depict an angel warning an altar boy not to "be alone in a closed room with an adult." A man with his back turned—possibly a priest—is smiling at the child.

"If a child and an adult happen to be alone, someone should know where they are, and the door should be open or have a big window in it," says the smiling angel who floats overhead in a panel of the book on safety, sent to hundreds of schools and religious groups. "We wanted to be fair to the priests so we weren't stigmatizing them," an Archdiocese of New York rep told the New York Post.

This image, provided by the Archdiocese of New York, shows a page from a new coloring book being distributed by the Archdiocese using a cartoon guardian angel to warn kids against predators in what is apparently the first such effort by a Roman Catholic diocese in the United States. But...
This image, provided by the Archdiocese of New York, shows a page from a new coloring book being distributed by the Archdiocese using a cartoon guardian angel to warn kids against predators in what is...   (Associated Press)
We welcome any innovation, he says, especially from an institution that has such a horrific track record, That's an unusual approach, said David Clohessy, the national director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests.
"We welcome any innovation," he says, "especially from an institution that has such a horrific track record," That's an unusual approach, said David Clohessy, the national director of the Survivors Network...   (Shutterstock.com)
A new tactic in the fight against child abuse has been released by the New York Archdiocese in the form of a surprisingly direct coloring book on the subject for the education of young parishioners.
A new tactic in the fight against child abuse has been released by the New York Archdiocese in the form of a "surprisingly direct" coloring book on the subject for the education of young parishioners.   (Shutterstock.com)
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education • Catholic Church • New York • children • clergy abuse scandal • priest • priest sex abuse • clergy

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