Sexual Abuse has ravaged the lives of survivors and the trust in the church. The Ecumenical Perspective project follows Hille Haker's work on sexual violence and spiritual abuse of power, "Entangled Responsibility". It integrates the concept of vulnerable agency as a reinterpretation of human dignity, testimonial remembrance as Christian witnessing, and entangled responsibility as the collective institutional responsibility of the Church. This is a responsibility for justice in the Church, going beyond legal procedures of holding perpetrators accountable, or therapeutic approaches to support victims/survivors. These are both necessary, but they are not sufficient to deal with the betrayal of trust that has reverberated across the Church.

In previous phases of the Entangled Responsibility initiative, Hille Haker and historian S. Wuepper have chronicled the sexual abuse from credibly accused Jesuit clergy who were at one point in their life associated with Loyola University Chicago. The chronicle was followed by an oral history project, interviewing members of the university. An international workshop focused on the impact of sexual-spiritual abuse on the Catholic church and theology.

The Ecumenical Perspective project expands this work ecumenically: it addresses specifically the North American Church's responsibility in view of sexual-spiritual violence. In a workshop dedicated to the Protestant Church that mirrors the aforementioned workshop, we will ask survivors and advocates, clergy, and scholars to: 1) attend to the testimonies of survivors; 2) examine necessary changes to theology; and 3) explore practical models of justice and responsibility as well as developing new educational approaches.

After the workshop, further collaboration of the two groups will result in a conference and in an edited book. We hope to offer some templates for the implementation of local workshops, courses, or the theological, ethical, and practical training of future ministers.