Loyola to hold panel discussion to focus on the sex abuse crisis in the Catholic Church

Loyola University Maryland will hold a panel discussion, The Sex Abuse Catastrophe in the Catholic Church: Seeking a Way Forward, on Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018, at 5:30 p.m. in the Alumni Memorial Chapel. The event, which is sponsored by the Catholic Studies program and Campus Ministry, is free and open to the public.

Three panelists, Holly Taylor Coolman, Ph.D., assistant professor of theology at Providence College in Providence, R.I., Nanette de Fuentes, Ph.D., a psychologist from Los Angeles, and Rev. Brian Linnane, S.J., Ph.D., president of Loyola University Maryland, will serve on the panel.

Coolman will share her perspective on the sex abuse crisis as someone who is a convert to Catholicism. Fr. Linnane will provide his expertise as a moral theologian. A founding member of the Clergy Misconduct Oversight Board of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Fuentes has worked with sexual abuse survivors and clergy who have committed abuse for more than two decades; she will speak about her experiences working with both survivors and perpetrators. Frederick Bauerschmidt, Ph.D., professor of theology, and Angela Russell Christman, Ph.D., professor of theology and director of Loyola’s Catholic Studies program, will serve as moderators of the panel.

Christman says the event was created to help address the sexual abuse crisis and work toward a positive future.

“This event is a way to help people process what has happened in the Catholic Church, address concerns, attempt to heal, and to let the community know we aren’t going to ignore this,” Christman said.