A research initiation conference brings together international scholars working on abuse, authority, and accountability in religious settings.

The conference will explore spiritual, psychological, sexual, and institutional abuses within Catholic lay movements and organizations. Through research presentations, collaborative discussions participants will examine the structural and cultural conditions that enable abuses of power, identify key research gaps, and develop new interdisciplinary approaches to studying this emerging field. The workshop aims to lay the foundations for a major international research collaboration on abuse, governance, and safeguarding in religious communities.

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC:

We cordially invite the public to join us for the keynote lecture by Prof. Massimo Faggioli (Professor of Historical Theology, Villanova University): The Abuse Crisis and the 'Third Phase' of the History of the New Catholic Ecclesial Movements, which will take place at 10:15 on December 4, 2026 (LUX aula).

Keynote lecture abstract

In the history of the new Catholic ecclesial movements, the first phase was that of their foundation during the decades immediately before and after Vatican II. The second phase (from the 1980s to the early 2000s) was characterized by the flourishing of these movements. The third phase coincides with the transition from the founders' generation to their followers and new leadership groups, but also with signs of sociological and theological stagnation and changes in Vatican policy since the election of Pope Francis, marked by increased oversight of these groups. In this third phase, the revelation of cases of abuse within the movements has played a key role, partly because of the particular dynamics of charisma and authority that characterize these groups and their position within the Catholic Church, both in canon law and ecclesial politics. This moment in the history of the new Catholic ecclesial movements has implications for the entire Church, especially in light of the assumption that these groups, especially in the West, would play a central role in the future of a diasporic Christianity.

Please register here, if you wish to participate in the keynote lecture.

The event is sponsored by the generous Research Initiation Grant received from the Riksbankens Jubileumsfond.