26.10.2018
Faith, Power, Gender and Abuse – Rubicon 2018 Tackles Difficult Issues
The challenging issues of how faith interacts with power, gender and abuse were the focus of Rubicon 2018 which took place on Saturday (October 20) in Dublin’s Sugar Club. Rubicon is a yearly conversation which explores the interplay of faith and culture and this year the conversation turned to the #MeToo #ChurchToo movements.
Rubicon never lets its participants off the hook and is designed to be a thought provoking experience. Those present were encouraged to consider what it means to speak the truth and seek justice as communities of faith.
Led out by keynote speaker Scot McKnight, American Anglican theologian, historian, author and New Testament professor, Rubicon heard contributions from Noeline Blackwell of Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, activist and advocate Marie Collins, Vox magazine editor Ruth Garvey–Williams, Ally McGeever of the YWCA, activist and theologian Jarrod McKenna and performance artist and writer Feli Speaks.
Scot Mcknight spoke about the culture of church and in particular cultures of celebrity created within churches. He asked what kind of structure is formed when an institution is not interested in truth and he urged churches to “believe women, listen to what they have to say”. He said members of churches must work hard to form cultures of goodness within their churches.
Scot contended that churches and their leaders had become immune to critique because of celebrity culture. “Churches and leaders combine to form cultures of celebrity. The same culture in Rome is no different from today and it’s this culture that Paul subverted in churches,” he stated encouraging members of churches to be subverters to nurture a different culture. “Christian power is not power over. It is power with. It is power for. May we form cultures of christoformity instead of cultures of celebrity,” he added.
During July and August, Vox magazine in partnership with YWCA Ireland launched an in–depth online survey into the experiences of and attitudes towards women in churches and Christian ministries across Ireland. Vox’s editor, Ruth Garvey–Williams spoke at Rubicon about gender and equality in the Irish church context. She asked: “Is Christianity expressing itself as good news for women in Ireland?” and pointed out that the main ministries in our churches are gender specific.
Among the findings of their research Ruth highlighted that 61 percent of women had heard sexist jokes in church. The findings also suggested that while people condemned rape they were blind to rape culture. “Abuse thrives when we favour reputation, power and privilege,” she said.
Ruth Garvey–Williams was joined by Noeleen Blackwell of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre and Ally McGeever, Young Women’s Engagement and Development Officer with the YWCA for the panel discussion which looked at #MeToo and the church. It was suggested that it might be necessary to look outside the church for help in responding to abuse.
Noeleen Blackwell said that the challenge was to deal with the hidden violence. “It’s not a new problem. We are on the threshold of opening the door again on a deep conversation on the hidden violence of abuse that is built into our society and our churches,” she said.
Ally McGeever spoke of the importance of talking about abuse. “There are Christian abusers. There are Christian survivors of abuse. We need to have these conversations in our churches,” she said. Ruth Garvey–Williams looked at the importance of the church’s response to abuse. “Instead of hearing, ‘I’m so sorry that happened to you’ we too often hear, ‘Are you sure that happened to you?’” she said.
Marie Collins, a survivor of abuse who spoke to Pope Francis during his visit to Ireland, spoke of her own experience of abuse. “When I told my abuser that I wasn’t comfortable and wanted him to stop, he replied that he was a priest and therefore nothing he did could be wrong. I came to believe that if it wasn’t his fault, it must be mine,” she said.
She said that she spoke out about her abuse because “I felt not only that it was necessary that people know, but that things had to change. And you can’t change things by staying silent”.
Marie had suggestions for the future. “The way forward is to look at what in the institution allowed men to protection someone who would abuse a child. They need to deal with anyone within the church that feels that it is right to protect an abuser… It was the reputation of the institution that came before the safety of the child,” she said.
She still had faith but had lost faith in the institution, she stated but added that there was hope. “The hope is not in the church and the institution. The hope is in the people who challenge the institution. We have all got to take responsibility for those more vulnerable than ourselves. If someone knows things are happening you’ve got to stand up and say it’s not right. Do anything to get your voice heard. You have to be persistent,” she stated.
Australian pastor and activist, Jarrod McKenna, talked about a Jesus who says he will not tolerate abuse and said that the church should be an alternative to the rotten system that allowed cover ups. He spoke about his own experience of abuse and said it would not have been possible if the church had been a church rather than colluding in abuse.
He pointed to the ‘Good Samaritan’ and said Christians were not invited to be a good Samaritan but to learn from the “hated other” rather than to cross the road to get away from them, to be in close proximity with those who are broken and bleeding on the side of the road. “Theologies of sacrifice survive on ‘us and them’. Jesus breaks that down and invites us to see us as them,” he explained.
The day closed with a moving and passionate contribution from spoken word artist, poet and writer, Feli Speaks. The Nigerian born, Longford raised artist performed five poems which speak about her story, activism and justice. “My motive wasn’t just to make you cry but to get you to think and go through the layers of these issues,” she said.
Rubicon, co–founded by Greg Fromholz and the Revd Rob Jones is a collaborative initiative of Holy Trinity, Rathmines and the United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough Young Adults Ministry. It is Directed by Greg, with the team made up of DCU’s Dr James Gallen, UCD Chaplain Scott Evans, Revd Rob Jones and Ann Mara, who compared the day.
Video content of this year’s Rubicon and the previous six Rubicons is available at
www.wearerubicon.com. Rubicon 2019 will take place on October 19 in the Sugar Club, Dublin.
