Why is building a safe environment for children and vulnerable adults in our communities and apostolic works so much an urgent task for the Church and for the Society of Jesus? That is the main topic of a yearly held three-day seminar for young priests (under 5 years of ordination) of Vietnam Province as part of their on-going formation.
The group which consists of 20 Jesuit young priests from all over Vietnam and Laos, all of them assigned with important tasks in formation houses and frontier ministries, gathered in Dalat last 24-26 July for a meaningful seminar on the state of the abuse crisis and on how to foster psychosexual maturity.
Facilitated by Fr. Nguyen Hai Tinh (Formation Delegate) and Fr. Phuong Dinh Toai (specialist in psycho therapy), the topics discussed range from the data of the abuse crisis, lessons the Church learned from it to the scope and nature of the crisis in Vietnam context as well as how to anticipate and deal with it in the long run. The participants are invited to reflect upon the causes of the crisis both from inside and outside the human person and human society. The seminar ends with a lively discussion on real particular cases that called the participants to self-reflection and directed them toward a resolution to prevent such crisis to take place and to create safe environment in their houses and ministries.
