Beyond the clerical sex abuse crisis

(Vatican Radio) ‘Coming to terms with the gravity and extent of power abuse… and seeking out ways to overcome it, are undoubtedly now the most urgent issues facing the Church’- that’s according to the conveners of a conference which concluded at St Mary’s University College, Twickenham on Wednesday. Organised in conjunction with London’s Jesuit Heythrop College and the Centre for Catholic Studies at Durham University, the two day conference marked the launch a major new research project by the European Society for Catholic Theology. While considering the aftermath of the sexual abuse crisis, the project aims to explore specific “cultural pathologies within Catholicism that require theological, doctrinal and ecclesiological address”.
Among the organisers is theology professor Dr Stephen Bullivant from St Mary’s College who tells Vatican Radio’s Philippa Hitchen how the idea for the conference came about….

Listen:

"The international network of societies for Catholic theology has asked each of its members to focus on the theme of power abuse and the capacity of theology to help overcome it….

We’re hoping to engage with survivors networks – I’m very painfully aware that the one thing missing at this conference is the lack of that explicit voice…it’s a sensitive issue and I think there’s a danger sometimes of wheeling people out – that in itself can be quite abusive. So in the next planning out of the project, we’re going to work on how to bring some of those networks on board and see what we can do for them…."