The diocese’s announcement last week to require fingerprinting and criminal history background checks for all priests, deacons and seminarians and all parish staff and volunteers who have regular direct contact with children may not have come as the most welcome of news for those who have to balance budgets, run programs and recruit volunteers.

There is no question but that the new requirement that will affect an estimated 10,000 individuals across the diocese is inconvenient and costly and brings with it the risk of delaying, if not paralyzing, some parish and school operations, projects and ministries. It compelled many parish administrators to ask the very real question: Why would someone who is volunteering his or her time to this community agree to pay nearly $50 just to give of their time and effort?

In responding to the recently enacted policy, one priest even described it as "a violation of one’s civil rights."

Even so . . . the Church can and should do nothing less.

The fingerprinting and criminal history background checks that thousands of people connected to the 108 parishes and 47 schools of the diocese will have to undergo in the coming months represent a baseline of protection for the children placed by their parents in the care of the Church. They are measures in keeping with directives of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, who in their "essential norms" for dealing with the issue of sexual abuse by clergy, pledged to evaluate the background of all Church personnel who have responsibility for the care and supervision of children and young people.

But here are a few things that the new policy on background checks is not:

• It is not a fail-safe solution to the problem of child sexual abuse by Church personnel. The fact that an individual has never been caught abusing children, or even that he has never committed this crime in the past, does not preclude the possibility that he or she may do it at some point in the future. That is why our diocese is working on a number of different fronts to ensure that our parishes and schools are safe environments for our children. Other measures include training for personnel in identifying and preventing child abuse, and the establishment of clear guidelines for ethical and moral behavior.

• Despite the catchy headlines in secular newspapers, such as "Diocese to probe priests," this measure is not a rooting out of suspected child abusers. As explained by diocesan officials, there is no expectation that background checks will reveal a criminal history among the clergy and other Church workers. The misguided and unfair idea that all priests are guilty, which has been fueled by a lot of irresponsible reporting in the media, could lead one to see the new policy as an aggressive investigative tactic against a group of known offenders. But that is far from the truth. The fingerprinting and background checks are proactive steps toward the goal of creating safe havens for children. Our clergy are not being hunted down, they are stepping up to offer assurances that they, along with those they employ and appoint to work with children, have never been guilty of an act that makes them unsuitable to exercise this ministry and be in the presence of children and young people.

We all need to embrace this idea . . . that the extra steps and the extra money needed for this new protective process are now a necessary part of ministry. We need to hold out the hope that this act of humility and sacrifice that Church workers are called upon to give will deepen their faith in God and strengthen their sense of service to his children.