Forgiveness,%20Power,%20Identity

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Forgiveness, Power, Identity

• Child sexual abuse by Church leaders
• Dr Jodi Death
• Queensland University of Technology

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Background Literature

• Increase in media reports about mismanagement of
  child sexual abuse (csa) by Churches since 1980s
  and 1990s
• Largely about Catholic Church
• Hollingworth affair in Australia (Anglican)
• Increase in academic literature
• Theological sources feminist theologians,
  Pastoral Psychology
• Australian sources (Porter 2003 and Parkinson
  1997/2003)
• Focus is often on the Catholic and/or Anglican
  Church and Clericalism
• Forgiveness literature
• Psychological
• Counselling
• Politics of forgiveness Truth and
  Reconciliation Commissions
• Peacemaking Criminology and Restorative Justice
• Some literature specifically addresses role of
  forgiveness in Churches addressing csa by church
  leaders

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Sources of Data

• 15 semi structured interviews
• Denominational Child Protection Policy
• Media representations of the Hollingworth
  affair

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Definitions

• Church - Refers to religious institutions of
  Australia which self identify as a Christian
  Church and/or denomination
• Church Leader - The term Church leaders will be
  used to refer to Christian leaders both ordained
  and lay.

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Research Participants

• All research participants, but 2, were actively
  involved in ministry at the time of the
  interview
• 1 participant had recently taken a break from
  ministry due to personal illness
• 1 participant was an active theologian who no
  longer had specific leadership responsibility in
  any congregation or denomination, but had
  previously had significant engagement in
  addressing csa by church leaders
• All participants had personal and/or professional
  experience in the management of csa by church
  leaders

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• Traditional - Traditional denominations are
  characterised by strong institutional structures
  which are distinctly hierarchical.
• Non-traditional - Non-traditional is the broadest
  category. It is utilised to describe all
  protestant denominations in this study that are
  neither traditional nor Pentecostal.
• Pentecostal - Pentecostal churches usually self
  identify and are characterised by a strong
  emphasis on spiritual experience and the Holy
  Spirit

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Theoretical frameworks

• Foucault power/knowledge, discourses of
  resistance
• Butler construction and presentation of self
  dependent on language
• I begin a story about myself, and I begin
  somewhere, marking a time, trying to begin a
  sequence, offering perhaps, causal links or
  perhaps narrative structure. I narrate and I bind
  myself as I narrate, give an account of myself to
  an other in the form of a story that might well
  work to summarise how and why I am. (Butler
  200566)

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Defining forgiveness

• Definitions of forgiveness by participants have 3
  common elements
• Relational
• Involving human agency
• Emotional/spiritual well being
• Forgiveness as a process not an event
• Abusive potential of forgiveness in praxis
• Research participants most commonly used
  metaphors and narratives when asked to define
  forgiveness

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Narrative

• Its like a, I heard a guy the other day tell a
  story about a man in the second world war was
  hurt, he and his, the captain and his troops were
  marching from one city to another, marching past
  a hill and in a little ditch halfway up the hill
  were the enemy and they were sniping on this
  guys men and so and there was nowhere to run to,
  nowhere to hide, so he ah, ran up the hill
  towards the snipers and got his grenade and
  pulled the pin out and jumped into the pit where
  the snipers where and blew himself up along with
  the enemy in order to save the men. So the men
  dont then say O what did he do that for, thats
  a bit stupid, he shouldnt have done that, got a
  cigarette? Um, if you understand what hes done
  it has an impact on how you view him, what you
  know, and the, the gratitude that you have
  towards him. Um, why am I telling you that? Ah,
  um, yeah, ah yeah, so a recognition of what Jesus
  has done for us um, a real recognition will bring
  about ah, a desire to, to elect God, a desire to
  thank him for what hes done for us, a desire to
  understand that we can live in rebellion against
  him and so forgive us for that. God then asks us
  to forgive others in the same way. (Dinah
  traditional)

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Freedom

• To forgive um, is to allow a situation or a
  person to move on and its to acknowledge that
  something happened, which has left a real
  impression or mark on a life, and by that career,
  family, but, but you are not held captive by it
  any more. Forgiveness is liberation, its
  freedom um, and being able to let go and move
  on. (James traditional)

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Freedom from negative emotions

• Until I can forgive that person they still have
  power over me. I really see hatred of someone
  um, as a negative thing, that Im using my energy
  in a negative way and so until I can just accept
  that this has happened and forgive them, I might
  not like them, I might not want to have any
  contact with them or anything butit means that
  you can move on. (Rebekah non-traditional)

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Freedom from perpetrators

• I think it forgiveness is really vital because
  how can you have freedom? Um, I often say to
  clients, its a bit like the puppet on the
  string, you know, and if the perpetrator walked
  in this room he would play you, he would have
  your emotions in chaos because, you know, you
  havent cut those strings and I think cutting
  those strings is like forgiveness and if they
  can forgive they can experience life for
  themselves (Holly non-traditional)

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Volition

• someone whos understood the concept of
  forgiveness will understand that they are willing
  to forgive all he has to do is come and ask um,
  and I would be willing to forgive. Whether I felt
  like Ive forgiven him or not, thats got nothing
  to do with it. Um, the feeling world really is
  not going to change instantly because hes asking
  for forgiveness and youve given it to him.
  (Dinah)

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Identity

• forgiveness is a reaching for hope that ah,
  the act or acts doesnt have to be the thing that
  defines them for all eternity and the struggle
  with forgiving is more a struggle with hope.
  (John non-traditional) (Emphasis mine)

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Forgiveness is a process

• Ill say at the end of the process of
  forgiveness and the process means restoring
  equality between the victim and the perpetrator,
  which generally means that the perpetrator has to
  be punished or undergo some form of contrition
  to, ah, restore the balance, because by the
  initial assault, the initial crime, the initial
  act, um, the perpetrator has basically said that
  you are less than me. Um, so that balance has
  to be restored um, to the victim to that, that
  um, there is justice (Sophia traditional)

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Forgiveness as abusive

• So if theyre, if theyre hearing that from the
  very body, from the very group that has abused
  them, that they are to forgive, it puts the onus
  back on them, that the victim has to fix the
  problem by forgiving the other person. (Dinah
  traditional)

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• I struggle with the whole forgiveness thing
  because I think the Church and abusers are so
  quick to jump onto the forgivenessand um,
  without an understanding of how long this
  persons suffered for. And, you know, its their,
  if its good for them, in their healing then
  great, but you cant push it or force it. It, it
  almost needs to come from the survivor and not
  be requested. (Ester non-traditional)

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• I think the lack of understanding of forgiveness
  is, comes from a couple of different sources, ah,
  I think it mainly comes from ministers who they
  survivors go to and say this is what happened
  to me and the ministers say well you need to
  forgive him Which is just an outrage and I
  would probably punch any minister in the nose
  that I heard saying that, because thats a
  complete lack of understanding of forgiveness.
  (Dinah traditional)

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• I said to him, you know, what you did to me
  when I was little was wrong, you know, that, that
  was sexual abuse, you know, and you shouldnt
  have done that to me and he said oh, its all
  under the blood. You know, I mean what the heck
  does that mean? (Holly non-traditional)

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Conclusion

• Power
• Identity
• Empowerment and liberation of victim/survivors