The Pope John Paul II Award values and encourages the participation of young people in activities that allow them to live their faith in Jesus Christ in their parish and wider community. The award is designed to facilitate involvement in school, parish, religious and community activities. The majority of activities carried out as part of the award fall within the scope of the safeguarding policy of the Church or school, but there are other activities that do not. Therefore, it is imperative that the protocol below is strictly adhered to, especially when the activities engaged in by the participant in the award fall outside the scope and remit of safeguarding children covered by the diocese or congregation, parish or school policies and procedures. In addition to what is set out in the Pope John Paul II Award handbook, in particular its code of ethics, the following protocol applies to those who engage in the award: 

  • Parental/guardian and children’s consent is a requirement for all those participating in the award who are under eighteen years of age ; 
  • A completed application form must be given to the award leader prior to engagement in the award ;
  •  For activities associated with the award that take place within diocesan, congregational, parish or school contexts, the participant must abide by the safeguarding policy and procedures of the relevant location, including its codes of behaviour;
  •  Specific activities may require additional parental/guardian consent, at the discretion of either or both the Pope John Paul II Award committee/coordinator and the award leader;
  •  It is highly recommended that participants in the award scheme carry out their parish involvement and social awareness activities in groups of two or more;
  •  Where activities associated with the award fall outside the scope of the diocesan, congregational, parish or school safeguarding policy, the following procedure applies (if unsure, please contact the Pope John Paul II Award committee/coordinator to verify if diocesan, congregational, parish or school safeguarding policy applies to any particular activity)
  1. Activities must be approved by the Pope John Paul II Award committee/coordinator. It is the responsibility of the award leader to ensure that this happens using the parish and social activities form.

  2. The external organisation must complete the safeguarding agreement form.

  3. The activity cannot commence until both forms are completed and returned to the award leader.

The following three reference documents can be downloaded from
Standard 1 – “Creating and Maintaining Safe Environments”
via the www.safeguarding.ie website 

Pope John Paul II Award permission form
Download 1.4E Template 1

Pope John Paul II Award Parish & Social activities form
Download 1.4E Template 2

Pope John Paul II Award Safeguarding Agreement form
Download 1.4E Template 3