This week, the Vatican announced that it is launching a task force of experts and church leaders, including Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich, to help Catholic dioceses and religious orders develop guidelines to handle cases of sexual abuse by clergy and tend to survivors.
One of the key members of this task force is Fr. Hans Zollner, president of the Centre for Child Protection at the Pontifical Gregorian University and one of the leading experts on sexual abuse working in the Church. Zollner was interviewed in a 2017 documentary entitled Sex Abuse in the Church: Code of Silence (Zollner’s interview begins at 37:40).
The Church has been making promises to reform regarding sexual abuse for 20 years. Excuse us if we are skeptical about announcing yet another task force to address the issue.
Fr. Hans Zollner is scheduled to speak at DePaul University in Chicago on Monday, March 2, 2020 at 7:00 p.m. (doors open at 6:30 p.m.). Attendees must pre-register for the event. We encourage people in the Chicago area to attend this event and ask Fr. Zollner some tough questions, such what will be different this time around?