We are so grateful to Prof Clare Watkins for finding the time to talk to us on the challenging topic of ‘hope in the shadow of clerical abuse in the church’. Clare outlined how through her research, she has found reason for hope even in sitting with the dark and difficult subjects. Recognition of a need for cultural change in the Church and the personal responsibility of all of us not to collude with the silence are key.
You can view the talk below.
OUTLINE
What do the stories of clergy sexual and spiritual abuse, and its mishandling, tell us about the culture and relationships that have been shaped in our Church life?
Learning from previous research into the impacts of clergy sexual abuse, Clare Watkins’ current project – Conversations, Culture and Communion (https://www.dur.ac.uk/research/institutes-and-centres/catholic-studies/research/boundary-breaking-/conversations-culture-and-communion/) – has been working with a wide variety of groups in the Catholic Church in England and Wales not only to answer this question more fully, but to work towards the kinds of changes in practice and thinking that can renew church life at a deep and sustainable level.
In her work with survivor groups, children and young people, and clergy, not only has she discovered the wounds that result from abuse, but also profound faith, hope, and renewed ways of loving. This presentation will share some of these experiences of hope that spring from the darker places of church life, and suggest ways in which they can take us forward in shared life, faith, and mission.
BIO:
Professor Clare Watkins is Research Lead on the Conversations, Culture and Communion project, based at the Centre for Catholic Studies at Durham University, and exploring the theological-practical change in the Catholic Church for its greater health and vitality.
One of the original developers of Theological Action Research, Clare has developed ways of working integratively with qualitative research data and systematic theology so as to offer accounts of church life, faith, and mission which are holistic, and suggestive of a ‘whole-theology’. Following her major theological action research study of church (Disclosing Church: an ecclesiology learned from conversations in practice), her latest book, co-authored with James Butler – Christian Faith and Christian Learning: a theological action research approach – develops this integrative theological approach further through a fresh approach to faith transmission.
Clare is a former chair of the British and Irish Association for Practical Theology, a member of the Ecclesiology and Ethnography Group, and has served on the International Methodist-Roman Catholic Dialogue commission for 15 years. Her research interests include faith and safeguarding, conversational theology, sacramental theology, theology of lay Christian living, and Catholic ecclesiology.