Annual Safeguarding Announcement from Bishop Keenan, 2025
My dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
As we celebrate the Feast of the Guardian Angels, I would like to take this opportunity to update you on the steps we have taken over the past year to strengthen our Safeguarding approach within the Diocese.
As always, our primary goal remains to foster a culture of care – a shared commitment to creating safe church environments and offering shelter, support and compassion to those affected by abuse.
This year, our commitment was visibly demonstrated through the LOUDfence event we held at St Mirins Cathedral in August where people were invited to tie ribbons and leave messages of support on specially created fences symbolising solidarity, care and hope for all that has been lost through abuse.
The Key Messages of our LOUDfence event were as follows:
It is a visible act of our solidarity with those affected by all forms of abuse.
It empowers our church community to express support and accompany those most affected on their journey to recovery.
It reflects our ongoing commitment to learn, grow, and better protect our parish communities.
As part of the event, a craft workshop was also held within the Cathedral Halls where participants created their own craft mementos to attach to the LOUDfence and talk in safety & confidence about ways we can reach out to those most affected and walk with them on their journey of healing and recovery.
Designated Listeners and members of the Diocesan Safeguarding Team were also present throughout to support, encourage and help with signposting to wider support services.
As an ongoing symbol of care and compassion, Our Lady of Paisley, was designated as the patron Saint of the event with her icon used to demonstrate our commitment to stand by anyone affected by abuse and help bring them to her beloved care.
We received significant and heartfelt feedback, with many messages of encouragement and appreciation for the positive impact the event had on so many.
In addition to this, in May this year we held our first joint meeting of Parish Priests & Safeguarding Co-ordinator’s, where over 50 people participated in discussions on recent changes to the PVG scheme, strengthening parish safeguarding governance and accessing local child and adult protection training for Parish Safeguarding Coordinators. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive and we are now planning for this to be an annual event.
I am deeply grateful to all our clergy, Parish Safeguarding Co-ordinators and the Diocesan Safeguarding Team for their vital work in ensuring our parishes remain as safe as possible. This collaborative effort is one of our greatest strengths and is deeply valued.
Looking ahead, on 8 November 2025, members of the safeguarding community from across Scotland will gather at Strathclyde University for our Annual Safeguarding Conference. This year’s theme is ‘Journeying in hope – Transforming the Safeguarding Culture of the Church’. It will be a valuable opportunity to share insights, ambitions and developments across our Catholic Communities.
As always, contact details for our Diocesan Safeguarding Advisor, Gerry McBride and your Parish Safeguarding Coordinators are available in each church and via the Diocesan website. They are there to help and will respond sensitively to anyone wishing to raise a safeguarding concern.
You can also find links to our Safeguarding Action Plan, the Scottish Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency, and the current version of ‘In Gods Image’ manual which outlines our safeguarding policies, procedures and standards.
Thank you for your continued prayers and support for our Parish Safeguarding Coordinators, volunteers, priests, deacons and religious. We are also deeply
grateful to everyone who gives their time, expertise, and care to build up our parish communities.
Please continue to pray for all those affected by abuse. May we be generous in spirit to protect the vulnerable and compassionate in our hearts so that we continue to reach out to those who have been wounded.
With assurance of my closeness, prayers and blessings,
+ Bishop John