Webinar: Theology and the Scandals of Abuse

Fr Michael Holman SJ, reflecting on an article written by the Jesuit Hans Zollner, will look at the question of whether there may have been features of the Church’s life together which in some way contributed to a culture in which abuse might happen and be covered up by some Church authorities.

Fr Michael’s main ministry since ordination in 1988 has been Secondary and Tertiary Education, before which his education for priesthood was in the UK and the USA. He was head teacher of Wimbledon College, the Jesuit comprehensive secondary school, from 1995 to 2004 and principal of Heythrop College, University of London, from 2012 to 2017. In between, from 2005 to 2011, he was the provincial superior of the Jesuits in Britain. Since 2018, he has been a part time member of the Farm Street Parish team while helping to develop the London Jesuit Centre, in some ways the successor of Heythrop College, offering programmes in theology, spirituality and social ethics. He is now also superior of the Jesuit community in London with some 36 Jesuits in six houses across the city.  Fr Michael has also been giving a number of online spiritual reflections to members of the Catholic Union Council.