Protecting God's Children

You can create your own VIRTUS account by clicking the link below and clicking on "First Time Registrant". Follow the prompts to create your account from there!

Virtus Online

Check out the document linked at the bottom of the page for a step by step guide on creating your VIRTUS account and completing the next three tabs. 

• Click the button below entitled "Instructions to Create Your VIRTUS Account"

After you create your account you should immediately be prompted and taken through that process to submit your acknowledgement form for reading two documents. 

1. Policy Regarding Sexual Abuse of Minors (revised 2023)
2. Standards of Behavior for Those Working with Minors (revised 2023)

Every potential volunteer and all members of staff across the diocese are required to participate in a Protecting God's Children Workshop, currently being offered online. Information is provided when you log into your account. 

You must complete the online Protecting God's Children workshop within 30 days of establishing your VIRTUS account or your account will automatically become inactivated. 

Finally you should be prompted to submit your background check through Fastrax.

Virtus should automatically take you to the secure Fastrax site where you can follow the given prompts in order to complete this task. (Please note that your social security number is NOT needed for the background check. this field will be pre-filled with 999-99-9999 and should be left as is.) Once submitted, Background Checks need to be pushed through by the local administrator. Contact Theresa Pratt to complete your background check. 

In January 2020, Illinois began requiring all volunteer teachers to take online Mandated Reporter Training to learn to look for signs of child abuse and to report them. This training is automatically prompted through the VIRTUS website for new catechists as they sign on and complete their PGC training.  Employees and any ongoing catechists, youth helpers and classroom aides, or volunteers with youth whether serving in-person or virtually, will need to complete this training from DCFS. Again, this is a State of Illinois requirement. You can learn more about the new law here. 

DCFS Mandated Reporter Training Includes:
1.     A pre-training assessment (13 multiple-choice questions)
2.     60-90 minutes of self-paced interactive training
3.     A post-training assessment (13 multiple-choice questions)
4.     A Certificate of Completion

DCFS Mandated Reporter Training webpage

IMPORTANT! After Completing Your Training: Two items need to be sent/given to the PGC Coordinator to complete this portion of your PGC requirements:

1. Your DCFS Mandated Reporter Training Certificate 
2. Your DCFS Mandated Reporter Acknowledgement Form

All adults in a recurring volunteer role with children must complete an APPLICATION. Submit the application to the person in charge of the activity for which you are volunteering so that the references can be checked. The application will then go the the Adminsitrator to be logged into your acount.  

1. If you do not have a VIRTUS Account: You can follow all of the steps above under "Never Done PGC Before" as all of the items you will need to complete can be done easily through the creation of your Virtus Account. 
2. If you do have a VIRTUS Account: You may already be PGC Compliant! Please verify your primary location includes Saints Peter and Paul and verify you have the proper roles listed. (e.g. if you are volunteering in the parish school, Volunteer:Parochial School should be listed. If you are a catechist When you create or update your VIRTUS account, make sure you designate Volunteer: Religious Education or Youth Ministry for your primary role, etc.) The dashboard/homepage of your VIRTUS account will highlight any areas you need to complete; you can complete all of the required items relatively easily though your VIRTUS account. Upon your next login you will be asked to complete those items before doing anything else in your account. 

Any other outstanding items will show in red.

As mentioned previously your next step is to make sure you have read and acknowledged the required documents and have submitted your background check and had it pushed through by the local administrator.

When completing the background check information, do NOT enter your social security number. That box comes prefilled as 999-99-9999 and should be left as is. If you try to enter a SSN, the info won't be submitted properly. The background check can take upto two weeks to get fully approved. If you recenlty submitted a background check but it is still showing as missing, know that it won't show as complete until it is fully approved.

Once sumbitted, background checks need to be pushed through by the local administrator. Please contact Theresa Pratt to complete your background check

If you already have a VIRTUS Account there is a good chance you have completed this step already and you should be able to see this through your VIRTUS Account homepage. Ongoing training may be required, depending on how long ago you last took the class. Details will be indicated on the homepage of your VIRTUS account. 

Please Contact Theresa Pratt if you need help completing this. 

In January 2020, Illinois began requiring all volunteer teachers, or those who have a recurring role with children to take online Mandated Reporter Training to learn to look for signs of child abuse and to report them. This training is automatically prompted through the VIRTUS website for new catechists as they sign on and complete their PGC training.  Employees and any ongoing catechists, youth helpers and classroom aides, or volunteers with youth whether serving in-person or virtually, will need to complete this training from DCFS. Again, this is a State of Illinois requirement. You can learn more about the new law here. 

DCFS Mandated Reporter Training Includes:
1.     A pre-training assessment (13 multiple-choice questions)
2.     60-90 minutes of self-paced interactive training
3.     A post-training assessment (13 multiple-choice questions)
4.     A Certificate of Completion

DCFS Mandated Reporter Training webpage

After Completing Your Training: Two items need to be sent/given to Theresa Pratt to complete this portion of your PGC requirements:

1. Your DCFS Mandated Reporter Training Certificate 
2. Your DCFS Mandated Reporter Acknowledgement Form (CANTS 22)