It included presentations by several members and collaborators of the commission, including Kathleen McCormack, chair of the PCPM Working Group on Education of Families and Communities. It also featured presentations by representatives from Mexico, Colombia and Argentina, as well as Australia and Italy.
The event fell just weeks after clerical abuse survivor Marie Collins resigned from her position on the commission, citing pushback from certain Vatican dicasteries, specifically from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, as one of the main reasons for stepping down.
According to Fr. Hans Zollner SJ, head of the Center for Child Protection and a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, hearing and including the voice of survivors was a key point in the discussion during their plenary, which begins March 24.
In March 23 comments to CNA, Fr. Zollner said "we need to be informed by survivors and victims, we need to listen to them, and we need to take into account what has been and is their experience."
Regarding the involvement of survivors in the process, he noted that Collins herself said in an interview that "a certain set of skills" is needed if a survivor wants to participate in any kind of panel or commission.
"So we will see, together with survivors, what this set of skills should look like," he said, but cautioned that it isn't as easy as it sounds. From his perspective as someone who travels around the world trying to raise awareness on the issue, in many countries "people are not so used to speaking out about this."
"Even if they are a survivor and victim, in some parts of the world this is still taboo and we need to help people come out of that," he said, explaining that when their mandate is up at the end of the year, the commission will re-visit their structure and development process "so that our journey continues."
But in the meantime, he praised the seminar as a key step, saying it was a "very successful event," particularly in "drawing many high-ranking members of the Curia, including a number of cardinals, and (with) all the dicasteries represented."
Hannah Brockhaus contributed to this report.
Elise Harris was senior Rome correspondent for CNA from 2012 to 2018.