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[Image] The Ryan Report

Child Abuse in the Catholic Church – what can be learned?

04 November 10

Heythrop College, University of London, 4th November 2010, supported by the AHRC/ESRC Religion and Society Programme with the Margaret Beaufort Institute of Theology

Download the full report below.

Executive Summary

• Abuse in the Church is a systemic issue, rather than merely one of individual offenders.

• Solutions also have to be systemic as well as individual (therapeutic and judicial).

• Inadequate theologies have had a role to play: the failure of the Church to endorse an adequate sexual ethic is one serious problem.

• Deficiencies in clerical formation need to be addressed, including lack of life-long formation.

• Interdisciplinary perspectives allow us to see the interlocked causes of abuse including power inequalities, state-church relations, cultural commitments, theologies, legal systems and their application, the nature of institutions including ‘closed’ institutions, mechanisms of denial, and lack of accountability.

• Adequate modes of listening to survivors and acknowledging and addressing the wrongs that have been done are still urgently required.

Associated file:
Report from Child Abuse in the Catholic Church Workshop 04 11 10.pdf

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