Symposium to examine abuse issue

A symposium originally planned to help Siena College students deal with the clergy-abuse crisis has mushroomed into an ecumenical gathering of nationally known speakers who will educate the public on the situation.

"Trusting the Clergy? The Churches and Communities Come to Grips with Sexual Misconduct," is a day-long symposium to be held March 29 on the Loudonville campus.

The event is sponsored by Siena's religious studies and social work departments, and its chaplain's office; the Albany Diocese; the Capital Area Council of Churches; and the Capital Region Ecumenical Organization.

Trust at issue

As the Church struggles to heal from the damage inflicted by misconduct by some clergy, said Dr. James Dalton, "questions have been raised" about whether Catholics can or should trust the clergy. He is chair of the department of religious studies and co-chair of the planning committee for the symposium.

"The process of healing involves a moment of reflection," he continued. "We want to shed light -- not necessarily heat -- on the matter."

He noted that many media outlets have tried to find statistics on things like the numbers of priests who have offended or the number of victims. That, however, is not the point of the symposium; instead, it targets what has been learned from the abuse crisis, how different groups are dealing with it and what should be done next.

Speakers

Dr. Dalton told The Evangelist that the lineup of guest speakers is impressive. Each, he said, is both eminent and knowledgeable about the crisis:

* Archbishop Harry Flynn of the St. Paul/Minneapolis Archdiocese, a Siena alumnus and native of Schenectady, chairs the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Sexual Abuse. He will give a keynote on "Where we are now and where have we come from?"

* Bishop Howard J. Hubbard of the Albany Diocese, a member of the sexual abuse committee, will be part of a panel discussing issues still to be faced in dealing with the abuse crisis.

* Rev. Donald Cozzens, a religious studies professor at John Carroll University in Cleveland, is an authority with several books to his credit on the culture of the Catholic priesthood; he will be part of a panel answering audience questions.

* Rev. Marie Fortune of the United Church of Christ, who founded the Center for the Prevention of Sexual and Domestic Violence in Seattle, will be one of several ecumenical leaders making the point that "this is not just a Roman Catholic issue," said Dr. Dalton.

* Other speakers include Dr. Michael Bland of the Office of Victim Assistance Ministry in the Chicago Archdiocese, an abuse survivor himself; and Dr. Caroline Newberger, a psychologist who will talk about what it means for someone to be abused.

* Ladan Alamor of Centro Civico of Amsterdam, Dr. Robert Miller of SUNY-Albany's Institute of Minority Health, and Anne Pope of Union Missionary Baptist Church, who is president of the Albany branch of the NAACP, will be part of a panel covering how multicultural communities are affected by the abuse crisis.

Goals

Dr. Dalton hopes that the symposium will lead the 400 expected attendees to a deeper understanding of the different dimensions of the crisis, from its history to the current scope of the problem.

The proceedings of the symposium will be published in a special issue of a journal (still under negotiation) and later in book form.

Much of the conversation about the abuse scandal has been "heated and painful," the planner said; he would like to see this discussion be more measured and have positive results.

"We hope this contributes to a continuing national conversation" on the subject, he said.

(Registration for the March 29 symposium is $20 before March 14 and $25 after. Registration is limited to 400 people. For details, call Lynn McGarry at 783-2326 or email [email protected].)

(3/6/03) [[In-content Ad]]