14 January 2020
Australian theologians joining theological “laboratory” on sexual abuse crisis to be held in Rome
The Centre for Child Protection, housed in the Gregorian University in Rome, and Catholic Theological Ethics in the World Church, an international network of moral theologians, will be hosting a theological “laboratory” focusing on understanding and responding to the current crisis of clerical sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. The organisers, including Prof James Keenan SJ from Boston College and Prof Hans Zollner SJ from the Centre, have invited over seventy ecclesiologists and ethicists from around the world to the three-day workshop, to be held 11- 14 March 2020.
The meeting has been called a “laboratory” to emphasise active engagement of all participants in advancing theological thought, reflection and leadership in response to the crisis, with a view to supporting the global Church in its response. The laboratory will consider five areas for discussion:
Leading theologians and ethicists will be coming from around the world for the laboratory with participants from various European, African, Asian and Latin American countries as well as strong representation from North America.
Australian theologians will be well represented at the gathering with four delegates: Fr Richard Lennan (currently in Boston College); Fr James McEvoy (Australian Catholic University, Adelaide), Dr Dan Fleming (St Vincent’s Health Australia); and Prof Neil Ormerod (Sydney College of Divinity). Three of these theologians, Lennan, McEvoy and Ormerod have already contributed essays on the topic of abuse in special issues of the prestigious Catholic journal, Theological Studies: Lennan on the ecclesiological impact of the scandal; McEvoy on the theology of the child; and Ormerod on the impact of the Australian Royal Commission on the church.
Dan Fleming and James F. Keenan will be working together to publish the outcomes of the process, with a view to providing a theological resource for the Church as it responds to this crisis around the world.
If you are interested in knowing more you can contact Prof Neil Ormerod at [email protected]
Prof Ormerod is the Research Analytics Officer at the SCD Graduate Research School.
Update – 10 March 2020
Due to the Covid 19 outbreak the conference has been cancelled and is being rescheduled for early 2021.
