St Mary’s Academic Publishes Latest Research on Abuse in the Church

Latest research on abuse allegations in the Church led by Dr Stephen Bullivant, Senior Lecturer in Theology and Ethics at St Mary’s University, Twickenham, has been published. Last year, Dr Bullivant was commissioned by the National Catholic Safeguarding Commission (NCSC) to undertake a ten-year review of its statistics relating to abuse allegations. His findings have now been published in the NCSC’s Annual Report 2013-14, which was launched at the Catholic Bishops’ Conference in Eccleston Square on Thursday 24th July. Dr Bullivant also made two main recommendations for improving its data collection methods, both of which will be implemented by the NCSC from next year.

Aspects from the research project have been widely reported in the national press, including by the BBC, The Tablet, The Guardian and The Daily Mail.

Dr Bullivant said, “‘The NCSC’s invitation to undertake this research arose out of the three-year Redeeming Power project which St Mary’s has been directing on behalf of the European Society for Catholic Theology. Obviously this is a vitally important research area: precisely the kind of thing a leading Catholic university, in the service of both the Church and the common good, should be pursuing. The partnership with the Commission has been a very fruitful one, and we are currently exploring possibilities for future research.”