The crisis of leadership in the Catholic Church resulting from the exposure of clerical sexual abuse and cover-up is protracted, pandemic and entrenched. By now it is clear to anyone paying the slightest attention that the crisis is not going away. Even churchmen are coming around to the idea that we are in this for the long haul. Whether that realisation will make any difference remains to be seen.
Speaking at Fordham University late last month, Fr Hans Zollner SJ, director of the Centre for Child Protection at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, told participants in a panel discussion that the vast majority of local Churches in the 60-odd countries he has visited have yet to confront the crisis. “It’s not that there are not cases of abuse, and it’s not that they’re not reported,” Fordham News quoted Fr Zollner as saying. “But it is not a number one issue, neither in society nor in church.”
