The Associated Press

CLEVELAND - The Cleveland Catholic Diocese is training thousands of people on ways to protect children from encountering sexual abuse.

Cleveland Bishop Anthony Pilla has apologized for how the diocese has handled abuse matters in the past and has vowed to do all he can to protect children.

A key element of the church plan is a program that mandates criminal background checks and fingerprinting of everyone who has regular contact with children. It also requires all church workers and volunteers to attend a three-hour training program and receive twice-monthly updates on recognizing and responding to abuse.

More than 25,000 Catholics who work with children have already gone through the program. Up to 13,000 more must complete the training by Aug. 1, the deadline for fingerprinting and criminal background checks on all church volunteers and employees who work more than once a month with children.

The program teaches church workers and volunteers to call civil authorities if they suspect abuse, discusses several warning signs of potential abusers and explains ways to provide safe environments for children.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops requires all U.S. dioceses to implement training programs to prevent abuse.

Cleveland's training program and a similar one instituted by the Boy Scouts are still unusual, said Kathleen Kendall-Tackett, a researcher at the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire.

Cleveland's program should become a model for other religious groups and public and private schools in northeast Ohio, said Donna Albertone, the program's director.

"My school isn't doing this. My community isn't doing this. But by God, my Catholic Church is," she said.