Theology and Practice of Safeguarding

By Fr James Leachman OSB

A year ago Ealing Abbey organised a day conference on, “Growing Together: Healing the History of child sexual abuse.” Father Hans Zollner SJ, head of the Centre for Child Protection at the Gregorian University in Rome, was the keynote speaker at that event.

Abbot Martin Shipperlee OSB opened the conference by speaking openly and honestly on behalf of the Church, “Yes,” he said, “we have made huge mistakes and the priests involved have been punished. Now, in order to move forward, we need to look critically at the system of the Church where these hideous crimes could flourish and we must take action.”

The monks of Ealing have been taking action - restorative action - in the months since the 2018 conference. The findings of the IICSA report about Ealing Abbey, published on 24 October, present an enormous task of restorative action and justice for Ealing Abbey to undertake -  so that we can be truly accountable, make amends and to win trust back.

Practical action by Ealing Abbey throughout the past year  led to a facilitated mini-conference in late October : “Growing in Connectedness: discovering the source of our power.” We invited ordinary Catholics, lay, religious and clergy and we spoke together of the shame, shock, confusion and pain inflicted on the innocent children, their families and the whole Church community. We are beginning to provide a place where victims and survivors, whether direct or indirect sufferers, now grown up, can find a place to be heard and cared for. We shall continue to meet every two weeks as a ‘Community of Practice,’ where we shall learn and study and act in the world.

Fr James inspecting an underground spring at Ealing Abbey ; as a symbol of new life, it is being diverted into gardens near the new ‘London Spring’ counselling

Ealing Abbey has also established a new initiative called “London Spring” where we offer subsidised low-cost counselling. Now, with Safeguarding structures in place, we believe we are beginning to create a new culture of relatedness and we intend to keep up the good work.

Also in late October, Father Zollner came and spoke at the Von Hugel Institute in Cambridge. It is encouraging to hear that the Church is now much more involved and more understanding of the problems that the Church today is facing and needs to deal with. He said that perhaps it is time to give the child and children their own voice, a theology of the child. How can we work together to create this?

If you’re interested in working in a group on “The Theology of the Child” please feel free to contact me:  jl@jamesleachman.com