The diversity of the Catholic Church in the United States requires that it develop a culturally sensitive approach to preventing abuse, a safeguarding expert said.
Although the US church, like the church in Europe, has structures in place to promote safeguarding to a higher degree than churches with less resources, “there are cultural aspects that need to be taken into account,” Jesuit Father Hans Zollner, president of the Pontifical Gregorian University’s Institute of Anthropology: Interdisciplinary Studies on Human Dignity and Care, said.
“The more diverse a society is and a local church is, the more it needs to respect the different cultures, languages, habits, mentalities that are represented,” he told Catholic News Service June 18 on the sidelines of an international safeguarding conference hosted by the institute.