No matter how careful we are, and no matter how hard we have prepared beforehand, things happen. The question then is what do we do? One of the first things to do is to remember you're not alone. Please reach out to your congregation's primary contact, and we as a team will step in to help you.

The second thing is to review and follow your policies and guidelines. Sort out who begins the process? Who is involved? How do you determine what course of action to take? Be mindful too, of whether the incident requires you to report it to the authorities. In many states, religious professionals are required to report abuse against young people, as just one example.

If it's an offense that is going to bring media attention, you'll want to be clear who speaks for the congregation to the media, and help staff understand what they should and should not say. Reach out to your primary contact for help on preparing a statement and how to work with the media. Another complex question is, what do you tell the congregation? And when. There is no one answer to this. So it's best to have a deep conversation with your leaders and your congregation's primary contact.

We want to protect people who have been charged but not yet found guilty. And we want to protect our congregation and its members. We want to make sure we're as open as we can be, and that we don't cause alarm or tarnish someone's reputation before we know what actually happened. As I said, it's a complex question. So remember, you don't have to do any of this alone. More information on all safe congregations topics can be found on the UUA website at www.uua.org forward slash safe.