Toward healing and renewal - a global initiative to protect the vulnerable

January 31, 2012: Bishops and Religious Superiors from across the world will assemble in Rome in early February to launch a global initiative of the Catholic Church for the protection of children and vulnerable adults.
The conference, “Toward Healing and Renewal,” will be held from February 6-9 at Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University and is being supported by the Vatican Secretariat of State and several other Vatican offices.
Delegates from 110 Episcopal Conferences and more than 30 religious orders will Participate in the symposium. It will feature speakers from all continents, given the global importance of the issue of protection of the vulnerable.
U.S. Cardinal William J. Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, will give the opening address. Other speakers include: a victim of abuse; mental health professionals who have worked in the areas of prevention and treatment; and bishops from different parts of the world, who will talk about responses to the abuse crisis in their countries.
The conference is designed in part to help bishops’ conferences and superiors of religious orders respond to a 2011 circular letter from the doctrinal congregation requiring all dioceses in the world to develop guidelines on handling allegations of abuse.
Toward healing and renewal will also be a catalyst for the development of a culture of listening and healing within the Church.