The Archdiocesan Office for Child and Youth Protection (OCYP) will partner with Our Lady of Grace Catholic School in Penndel (Bucks County) to host the Archdiocesan 2024 Blue Pinwheel Awareness Garden.
The garden is being planted in observance of “National Child Abuse Prevention Month,” which is commemorated annually during the month of April. The garden is part of a national movement, “Pinwheels for Prevention.” It is as a grass roots initiative sponsored by Prevent Child Abuse America.
Thursday, April 4, 2024
11:20 a.m.
Our Lady of Grace Catholic School
300 Hulmeville Avenue
Penndel, PA 19047 (Bucks County)
Approximately 150 students in grades Pre-K through 8 will work collaboratively with school faculty and administration as well as OCYP staff to plant pinwheels. Monsignor Joseph Prior, Pastor of Our Lady of Grace Parish; Ms. Leslie Davila, Director of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia Office for Child and Youth Protection Mr. Eric Harper, Principal, Our Lady of Grace Catholic School will be in attendance.
Monsignor Prior will celebrate Mass at 10:00 a.m. for the school community at Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church (225 Bellevue Avenue, Penndel, PA 19047). Ms. Davila will offer brief remarks after Mass before the students walk approximately six minutes from the Church to the front of the Our Lady of Grace Catholic School gymnasium.
Monsignor Prior, Ms. Davila, Mr. Harper, and members of the Our Lady of Grace Student Council will plant the first pinwheels and the student body will plant the remainder. Following the planting of the pinwheel garden, Monsignor Prior will bless the pinwheels.
In addition to Pinwheels for Prevention, OCYP sponsored a number of events and activities during the month of April including the observance of Blue Sunday (April 28) and Blue Monday (April 29). For more information about OCYP, please visit childyouthprotection.org/.
Background on the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s Office for Child and Youth Protection
The Archdiocesan Office for Child and Youth Protection is comprised of caring professionals whose purpose is to support the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s commitment to create and maintain safe environments for the children who attend its churches, schools, and programs. Provide compassionate and supportive assistance to individuals who have been the victims/survivors of child sexual abuse and their family members.
The Archdiocesan schools and parish religious education programs offer age-appropriate child abuse prevention and technology safety instruction annually. During the 2022-2023 school year, 120,123 students in our Elementary, Secondary and Parish Religious Education program received Child Abuse prevention lessons. In addition, in 2022-2023, 5,514 adults were trained how to recognize and report abuse as mandated reporters.
OCYP takes its direction from The Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, which includes guidelines for reconciliation, healing, accountability, and prevention of future acts of abuse.
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Editor’s Note: For more information on the work and resources offered by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s Office for Child & Youth Protection, please visit childyouthprotection.org/. For information about Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, please visit aopcatholicschools.org/. For information about Our Lady of Grace Catholic School, please visit https://olgparishpenndel.org/.