THE CHURCH IN THE WORLD


Gregorian University to host major sex-abuse symposium


Robert Mickens In Rome


ROME’S GREGORIAN University has announced a major symposium for bishops and religious superiors for next year that avowedly aims to change the culture of how the Catholic Church deals with cases of priests who sexually abuse minors. The 6-9 February gathering has the backing


of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) and will focus on offering a more articulate and sensitive response to helping victims.


Cardinal William Levada, the CDF prefect, will speak at the opening of the three-day symposium, which the Jesuit-run university has entitled, “Towards Healing and Renewal”. Mgr Charles Scicluna, the Vatican’s chief offi- cial for handling abuse cases at the CDF, will be a major presenter. Speaking at a press conference at the Gregorian last Saturday, he said next year’s gathering would help bishops’ conferences respond to the CDF’s recent invitation to craft national abuse policies. Fr Federico Lombardi SJ, director of the


Holy See press office, told reporters the sym- posium was part of a long and “serious process with a serious methodology” and not just a brief meeting to produce “papers that will collect dust on a shelf”. The Jesuits started planning for the symposium back in


September 2010, according to Fr François- Xavier Dumortier SJ, the Gregorian’s rector. Both he and Fr Lombardi said part of the aim was to help produce a “global approach” for how the Church around the world deals with the issue of clerical sexual abuse. Some 200 people – mostly representatives


of all the world’s episcopal conferences and major religious orders – are expected to attend next year’s symposium. Sponsors include the Archdiocese of Munich and several German universities, one of which (the University of Ulm) is creating an online e-learning centre that will offer a shared database for best prac- tices and other resources for dealing with abuse.


Baroness (Sheila) Hollins, who will give


the first of nine major presentations at the symposium, told journalists that organisers were encouraging participants to prepare for the Rome gathering by holding listening ses- sions and public meetings with victims. The format that she and Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor used during the recent Vatican visitation in Ireland, she said, was being proposed as a model.


She said that the listening sessions were essential since many victims harbour anger at what they see as “an arrogant, non-listening Church”.


A woman who was abused by a priest will assist Baroness Hollins in preparing her presentation to the symposium, which will


Mgr Charles Scicluna, the Vatican’s chief official for handling abuse cases at the CDF. Photo: CNS


focus on “giving a powerful voice to victims”. The other eight presentations will be given by clerics, including two bishops and Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich. However, four lay people will be part of a six-member team from the US-based abuse prevention group Virtus, that will offer several workshops in four lan- guages and a resource session to the symposium’s participants. Virtus assists more than 100 American dioceses in designing safe environment programmes.


Among the other presenters, Mgr Stephen


Rosetti (US) will speak about “ministering” to priest offenders; Bishop Jorge Patron Wong (Mexico) will talk about screening and prepar- ing seminarians and Religious; and a team of professors from the Gregorian will offer “theological insights” on sexual abuse and the Church.


One leading church figure not among the presenters is Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin. Fr Lombardi said he had not been left off the roster intentionally, but that organ- isers wanted speakers from all continents.


American bishops prepare ground for influx of Anglicans


CARDINAL Donald Wuerl of Washington, who serves as the Vatican’s delegate for the implementation of the new ordinariate for Anglicans who wish to join the Roman Catholic Church, briefed his fellow American bishops last week about the process of establishing the ordinariate, writes Michael Sean Winters. At their annual spring meeting in Seattle, Cardinal Wuerl announced that some 100 Anglican (Episcopal Church) priests have already expressed interest in joining the ordinariate and that he anticipated as many as 2,000 laity would also join the new group. In response to questions from the floor, Cardinal Wuerl clarified certain issues regarding celibacy. While married Anglican clergy will be permitted to join the new


28 | THE TABLET | 25 June 2011


ordinariate, the next generation of priests trained for the group would be required to observe celibacy. Additionally, while the ordinariate, once


formed, need not be led by a bishop, only a celibate priest could be consecrated a bishop in the Roman rite. Cardinal Wuerl also stressed the need for ongoing formation of the clergy who will be received into the new body. Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Houston said that because of the large number of Anglicans who have expressed interest in the ordinariate, St Mary’s seminary in that city had begun planning a programme for the period of intensive formation of Anglican clergy before their reception into the Catholic Church. He said that the seminary would be


happy to host a programme for ongoing formation as well. ■At their spring meeting the US bishops adopted several revisions to their 2002 Dallas Charter for the Protection of Children. One of the changes was ordered by the Vatican: possession of child pornography is now grounds for removal from the clerical state. The bishops also adopted a provision


suggested by Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley that requires both the civil authorities and the apostolic nuncio to be informed of any allegations made against a bishop. The change was intended to answer criticisms that the bishops have not held themselves to the same standards established for their priests.


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