Paul Sayre is the Diocesan Director of Child, Adolescent and Adult Protection

It is a great honor to join the Diocesan Team as the new Director of the Office of Child, Adolescent and Adult Protection (OCAAP). I recently began this new position the second week of August and I am grateful to the Bishop and his team who have welcomed me. I am humbled to fill the very large shoes of Mr. Richard Serrano who has been leading the office since January.

Our family is not new to service. My father was in the Air Force and a dentist in Tucson for over forty years. My mother worked at St. Cyril’s School for over twenty-one years as a Junior High Math and Science teacher, then the school’s principal. After principal, she was the Diocese’s Assistant School Superintendent for another six years.  

My wife Renee and I have four children, all graduates of St. Cyril’s and Salpointe.  All four are currently serving or have served in the US Naval Reserves and US Marine Corp. Our oldest son and new son-in-law are both firefighters with the Tucson Fire Department. Our daughter is a nurse at Banner Hospital.  Recently we were blessed with the newest member of our family, our first grandchild, James Paul. We raised our family attending St. Cyril’s school and Church. Upon graduation of our youngest and a move to the eastside of Tucson and joined Corpus Christi Parish.

I am a 1982 graduate of Salpointe Catholic High School and a 1987 graduate of the University of Arizona in 1987.   Prior to OCAAP, I served thirty years in local law enforcement, retiring in June 2018 as a Captain with the Tucson Police Department. Following my retirement, I had the great privilege to work at St. Cyril’s school as the Religion Instructor for 5th thru 8th grade students for two years.  My law enforcement and short teaching careers have provided me valuable experience, which I hope will well benefit those in our parish and school communities.  

Given the size of our Diocese, the mission of OCAAP is simple yet challenging to accomplish. It is our duty to ensure that our vulnerable groups; children, adolescents, and elderly, who either attend or work in our churches, schools and affiliated Catholic organizations are free from sexual or physical abuse.  Through a combination of education, training, and investigation, the OCAAP Office helps identify high risk behaviors and violations of our Safe Environment Guidelines. We accomplish our mission through the assistance and work of our numerous compliance officers, many of whom volunteer and work many long hours to help our office fulfill this goal. Ultimately, it is the duty of all who attend and work in our churches and schools to report high risk behavior so that our vulnerable communities remain safe.

It is a sad reality within any organization of people, that a very small percentage will attempt to use their position to ingratiate themselves to these vulnerable groups and abuse the trust granted to them. If you know or become aware of any such cases, your first call should be to law enforcement and next to either OCAAP and your Parish Pastor or School Principal. Our Office is available to help you make such reports and will work with Parish Pastors and Principals to make certain these investigations are thoroughly and fairly investigated. To help guide us, we rely upon the combined expertise of the Sexual Misconduct Review Board. If you become aware of an incident and are uncertain how to proceed, please feel free to call me at 520-838-2315 or email me at [email protected] 

Service to others, especially the most vulnerable is a cornerstone of our rich, Catholic tradition and has great Biblical precedence. John’s Gospel is unique amongst the four evangelists in depicting this expectation. At the Last Supper, John focused his narrative on Jesus; the Divine and loving creator of the universe, humbling himself by taking the role of the lowest servant in the household and washing the feet of His disciples. He challenges them to likewise lead through service. 2000+ years later, our Diocese is so blessed to have numerous dedicated clergy, employees and volunteers who work tirelessly and selflessly, answering Jesus’ call to serve others. For those that directly work with our children and vulnerable adults, I wish to thank you for your dedication and commitment. I know the difficulty and importance of this work and ask that all those who read this article to pray that your work returns to God fulfilled as He intended.