Diocese Hosts Child & Youth Protection Leadership Conference

The Diocese of Tulsa and Eastern Oklahoma is the hosting diocese for the 15th annual Child & Youth Protection (CYP) Catholic Leadership Conference. Leadership from across the United States plan to gather in Tulsa from June 20 to 23, 2021. . The 2 and one half day conference plans to serve and support CYP leadership from around the country with presentations on topics such as prevention, canon law and child & youth protection, victim’s assistance, victim/survivor personal testimony, and sustaining our spirit through our ministry to protect the vulnerable among us. The goal of the conference is to provide opportunities for leaders to network and exchange best practices with colleagues from all of our dioceses. The Conference will be offered both in-person and virtually.

The Most Reverend David Konderla, Bishop of Tulsa, explains, it is good to gather and share fraternal support and encouragement. The efforts of those in CYP make the church the safest place in our society for children and youth and vulnerable adults. And this success is happening against the backdrop of a culture that seems to sink deeper in the mire of an aggressive secularism. Gender ideology, the rampant sale and use of pornography and increased child trafficking all represent threats to children and youth. So, our task must be to make sure our parishes and schools continue to be lighthouses pointing the way to a happy, healthy, holy and safe human sexuality and the flourishing that flows from it. Bishop Konderla prays that through the conference God fills participants with zeal for the important work that remains.