Doing Theology in the Face of Abuse: Dr Rocio Figueroa Alvear
In March the CCP is inviting theologians to an event: “Doing Theology in the Face of Abuse.” This international gathering does not fall neatly into the established academic categories of conference, congress, colloquium, symposium, or workshop. We have called it a laboratory to accent the involvement of the participants in examining the questions that arise when seeking to do theology in the context of a suffering Church.
In a series of blog posts leading up to the event in March, we are asking theologians for their reflections, and above all, the theological questions that the context of the sexual abuse crisis provokes in them. We reached out to one of the theologians attending the event, Dr. Rocio Figueroa Alvear, who experienced sexual abuse by a church leader as an adolescent.
Dr. Rocio shared her story at the event Overcoming Silence – Women’s Voices in the Catholic Abuse Crisis. She was abused at the hands of her spiritual director, German Doig, who was the second in command of Sodalitium, when she was 15. Despite the shame it caused her she continued in the community and became superior of the feminine branch. It took many years before she understood the deep emotional, psychological, and spiritual manipulation she had experienced and could begin to evaluate the behavior of the leadership from a perspective independent of its control. She then learned she was not the only victim and discovered that not only her spiritual director but also the founder and two other men were sexually abusing community members. She denounced the abuse to the authorities and helped other victims to speak out.
Dr. Rocio, could you tell us about the key role theological studies played in freeing your conscience?
The fact is that, in the community, there was a very rigid way of thinking. It was not possible to have different ideas from the founder or to question what he said. There was a lack of freedom to consider another point of view.
When I went to Rome to study theology I discovered a diversity of theological thought. I saw that reality is not black and white and that theology is not about certainties. It is not an ideology where there are answers for everything. Faith is a mystery, and it often implies walking in darkness. It is always open to questions because you are in front of a mystery you cannot understand completely. It was in Rome that I began to learn what theology was really about, and I began to use my own freedom of critical thinking. It was in that process that I began questioning the ideology that had been proposed in the community.
Through my theological studies, I was already very critical in an intellectual way, but at the same time, I also discovered the sexual abuse taking place in the community. Usually when there is a really rigid way of thinking, it is also a way of controlling people. It turns out that for the leadership of the community this was the case.
Right now you are a professor of systematic theology in Auckland. Could you briefly tell us how it happened that you found yourself in New Zealand?
I left the community after 22 years, and it was in Lima that I met my future husband Steve Cournane. He is a Kiwi and a musician. After two years we got married. That is why I find myself in New Zealand today. There I continue my theological vocation, teaching and advocating for survivors, focusing my research on victims. I feel it has given sense and a meaning to what happened to me. I use my work to give hope. If you are a survivor it doesn’t mean that your life is over.
What are some of the questions that arise doing theology in a context of abuse?
“Where is God now?” In Elie Wiesel’s terrible story, this was the question came from a man who saw a boy hung in a concentration camp. In the same way, theology today cannot be the same following the severe crisis of sexual abuse that has occurred within the Church. We have to rethink many topics within ecclesiology, christology, and pastoral theology.
Regarding ecclesiology, in clerical sexual abuse, we have a combination of sexual abuse with abuse of spiritual power. Pope Francis identifies clericalism as the cause of the crisis, which has been defined by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Australia) as “the idealization of the priesthood… linked to a sense of entitlement, superiority and exclusion, and abuse of power.” The culture of clericalism not only idealizes the priest but emphasizes his exclusive and unique cultic role as another Christ. I believe one of the obligations of the Catholic community is to rethink our understanding of the theology of priesthood, eliminating the idea of a separated, exalted, and elitist priesthood at its very roots. We cannot think of ordination as a sacrament with magical effects. Clergy are neither saints nor super-heroes: they are not automatically made holy on the day of ordination by an ontological change.
Also, we need to evaluate what has been wrong in the systems and the structure of the Catholic Church. Despite victims complaining, some bishops and priests covered up or just ignored the problem. How, in a structure like the Church that praises itself for protecting the vulnerable, has there not been care for them? Why has sexual abuse not been just a “one-off” event within the system but rather a systemic aberration that has been enabled by the structure? Clericalism and structures more concerned with the protection of the church hierarchy and reputation are some of the causes. In my opinion, apart from issues surrounding clericalism and priesthood, we need to create ways for more participation of lay people in the decisional dimension of the Church. At the same time, it is unfortunate that in many places women are not involved in the decision-making processes. I think that it creates a Church that it is not balanced and lacks the spirit, ideas, and creativity of half of humanity.
What is your current research focus?
My research has been about the spiritual consequences of sexual abuse. Clerical child sexual abuse creates a problem of faith and a spiritual crisis in victims because the perpetrator is often seen to represent God. Another project was Responses by Survivors to Naming Jesus as a Victim of Sexual Abuse. When we say that Jesus was a victim of sexual abuse, we do not want to reduce his suffering only to a sexual dimension, but we want to explore an element that has not been adequately considered: the fact that Jesus was stripped naked and exposed. Prisoners executed in this way were often sexually humiliated. Jesus could understand what it means to be sexually humiliated. I have spoken to both male and female victims and survivors about this, and many have said it helped them feel that Jesus was near to their experiences. All of them agree this understanding would help the Church.
19 January 2020 @ 00:12
Excelente entrevista a una mujer que fue una heroína en el Peru tras denunciar abiertamente a los líderes del Sodalituim
Aunque todavía hoy no se ha hecho justicia con las víctimas es un gran paso el
poder hablar y denunciar este tema a nivel mundial
23 January 2020 @ 09:36
Please remember in your upcoming laboratory discussions that clerical sexual abuse ‘creates a problem of faith and a spiritual crisis’ not only for child victims but equally so for adult victims. The Catholic Church needs to begin listening to, addressing and respecting the equal rights, pain and trauma of adult clerical sexual abuse victims, thus of all clerical sexual abuse victims, those it happened to as children and as adolescents and those it happened to as adults – all life is equally precious and equally worthy of rights, justice and protection; minors and adults equally, the Suffering Crucified Christ lives in all victims, no matter their ‘age’, equally.
27 January 2020 @ 16:52
Dear Ornella.
I have followed the question of child abuse and it is so sad but why do many commentators of the subject refer to clerical sexual abuse only? does it mean that it only the clergy who abuse children? but we have wide data of non clerics who abuse and have abused children extensively eg. parents, relatives infact I have data for this. could we try to be just while talking of this problem let us not hide in the sand the proplem if very wide not only to the clergy. this is painfully unjust to them, morever they are thousands who dont abuse children .let us face this problem realistically and justly otherwise we sound anti clericalists
31 December 2020 @ 07:49
I have a similar question in that while I do not doubt that clerical-ISM is one of the causes of both abuse and the inclination towards cover up, I wonder how strong a factor it is when the three most prominent and abusive religious orders in the Australian context were non-clerical.
The Marist, Christian and St John of God Brothers in Australia accounted for the bulk of offenders. So this is an open question for me, one I guess best explained by the culture of the individual congregation, did it contain the institutional features one would normally associate with clericalism?
I also agree with your final point… its a fine line we walk when we identify clerical culture as the cause of abuse. We can’t emerge on the other side of the crisis with a church that is ‘anti-clerical’. Redeeming the priesthood from anti-clericalism is not per se anti-clerical. In fact the clergy and their relationship with the faithful must be a clear beneficiary of our ‘anti-clericalism’.
19 January 2020 @ 01:46
A fantastic interview. Dr Figueroa is greatly valued in the Catholic Theological College where she teaches.
21 January 2020 @ 11:21
How were people invited to this conference? I’ve been writing about the sex abuse crisis and the Catholic Church since 1992. My new book addresses it in ways nobody else has hitherto done so: https://angelicopress.org/product/everything-hidden-shall-be-revealed/.
My clinical background also informs current and ongoing work in trauma psychology, sex abuse, and the Catholic Church, as seen, e.g., here: https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2020/01/09/abuse-trauma-and-the-body-of-christ/
or here: https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2019/06/21/the-paralyzed-church/
Additional concrete proposals here: https://www.osvnews.com/2019/09/05/could-a-proper-implementation-of-synodality-help-save-the-church/
and here: https://www.thecatholicthing.org/2019/08/18/recovering-and-recreating-the-institutions-we-need/
I also have, by special invitation, an article written to the US Bishops being published in the academic journal Josephinum Journal of Theology on the abuse crisis and ecclesial structures.
24 January 2020 @ 14:16
Dear Dr Adam DeVille, Thank you for reaching out to inform us of the work you are doing in this area, including links to your papers. The invites to the event have come through recommendations given by those in the CCP and CTEWC milieu. The invitation phase for “Doing Theology in the Face of Abuse” is now closed, but thanks for your initiative to create a relationship with us by which we are growing the network of those with a theological interest in this area.
31 December 2020 @ 08:24
Greetings Adam from Sydney,
Thanks for posting up you comment. I’m beginning some post grad study in 2021 on safeguarding at our local Catholic Uni and looking around for some resources to read over our southern summer before classes begin. Just followed up your articles online and ordered your text on Amazon.. Cheers!
11 May 2020 @ 12:39
Soy Virginia Calderón. He entrado hace poco a vuestra página y al leer este artículo mi corazón se ha llenado de alegría. Es verdad que lo que comenta es muy duro pero me siento muy identificada con la Dra. Rocío. Yo también crecí en un ambiente muy rígido de la iglesia y sufrí abusos por un consagrado. Fue desde los 9 años hasta los 12.
Fui consagrada de esa comunidad y después de 24 años salí. Soy teóloga. La fe en Cristo crucificado y resucitado me ha reconstruido. Y tuve esa intuición ante la meditación de Cristo despojado de sus vestiduras. Siempre que lo contemplo creo que aquellos que hemos sido abusados, despojados de nuestra ropa, de nuestra dignidad, nos podemos sentir identificados.
El abuso sexual creo que no es sólo una cuestión sexual, aunque por supuesto esto es muy importante y sagrado. La cuestión que hay en lo profundo es el PODER que el abusador ejerce sobre otra persona que en ese momento está vulnerable o sin capacidad de defenderse. Por eso entiendo que la mentalidad del clericalismo, en el que el sacerdote o consagrado tiene mucho poder sobre las personas.
Y ahí creo que la situación de Cristo camino a la cruz es una situación de abuso total en el que realmente la posibilidad de la que nos habla Dra. Rocío, está totalmente dentro.
Como víctima, a mi me ayuda muchísimo descubrir a Jesús conocedor del sufrimiento por el cual yo he pasado. Verle a Él como víctima de abuso sexual es para conmovedor.
A lo largo de mi vida mirar a un Cristo crucificado ha sido como ver en un espejo reflejo mi dolor. Y esto me ha hecho sentir una unión y un amor que no podré olvidar jamás. Y este amor de Cristo es el que hace participar de su resurrección, me hace nacer de nuevo. Mis heridas también encuentro que se curan y son manantial de vida para muchos.
Doy muchísimas gracias por esta investigación y por el testimonio de la Dra. Rocío. Me ha impactado muchísimo!! Me anima y confirma. Yo también he sentido la llamada a ayudar a otros desde mi experiencia y por su vida me impresiona y alienta. Gracias!!!!