Clergy Sexual Abuse: A West Coast View

On Tuesday, February 19, the Jesuit School of Theology hosted an important panel event, Clergy Sexual Abuse: A West Coast View, which was simultaneously broadcast by the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University (SCU). Between the two locations, over 100 people were in attendance.  

A panel of  four speakers offered views of the clergy sexual abuse crisis from a west coast perspective, drawing on the diversity of the region’s Catholics. This conversation took place days before Pope Francis assembled the presidents of all of the bishops conferences in the world to Rome to discuss the crisis.

The first panelist, Bishop Cantu of San Jose, spoke from the vantage point of his ministerial experiences in Latinx communities in California and New Mexico.  Sr. Beena Kallely, a GTU doctoral student who wrote her STL thesis at JST on child sexual abuse in India, gave a South Asian perspective on sexual abuse of women in the church and the family. Vivian Nabuule, a recent JST graduate from Uganda, drew upon her lay-ministerial experience in the African context to address the crisis.  Paul Crowley, S.J., who is a professor of Systematic Theology at SCU and editor Theological Studies (TS), discussed global aspects of the crisis in light of an upcoming special issue in TS.

The event was of great interest to local media, signaling the importance of this conversation.  View NBC Bay Area’s coverage here.  

If you missed the event you can watch it here.