Abuse in the Church

When we think of the church we find ourselves struggling with dissonance that we do not expect to have to deal with.

The Church, as the community of God's beloved people, should be a place in which we are able to live out the life in Christ we are called to live - a place to love and be loved, to care for others and be cared for, etc.

However, with all too great a frequency, we are confronted with the same fallen nature in the church as we struggle with within ourselves - it shouldn't be a surprise when you put it like that, but it always is. When we are confronted by violence and abuse within the community of believers our instinctive response is shock and dismay - "This shouldn't happen."

My most significant firsthand experience of abuse and violence in the church was initially shocking because of this. However, it was also shocking because what I experienced was first class workplace bullying by a person who had considerable form as a workplace bully - two of my predecessors and three subsequently have experienced the same, and a considerable number of other staff at the institution over the past 15 years have experienced the same.

Several things surprised me in the midst of this experience.

Firstly a colleague, whom I thought might support me through this, seemed to collude with my abuser and in some respects facilitated a form of secondary abuse or bullying on behalf of my abuser (I have discovered since that this is quite common).

Secondly, my Bishop also failed to offer me any support through this period of abuse, and indeed seemed to collude in the abuse by authorising a performance review of another part of my work that had nothing to do with the context in which my abuser was involved. He seemed to be carrying out part of my abuser's strategy or intention to really "destroy" me and my ministry.

I decided that since the Bishop was not going to find me any alternative employment, I should find something myself. When I subsequently found a position to go to and resigned my position, the Bishop saw fit to write an abusive letter to my future employer deploring his action in employing me without consulting him.

It was a great relief to be out of that position, but I found that the trauma lived on. So I thought I should bring these matters to the attention of those who seemed appropriate in the church.

A recently appointed body called The Professional Standards Committee seemed to have been set up just exactly for this purpose, so I prepared a very detailed submission of all aspects of my abuse and offered it to them for consideration. to give them their due, the took the matter seriously, they considered the issues raised at some length, but in the end decided that they were unable to initiate any action that might remedy the matter because the lacked jurisdiction - the statute they were set up under dealt specifically with child abuse and sexual misconduct by clergy. These were not involved in my case, so they could do nothing.

So I decided to speak directly to the Archbishop - he being the holder of ultimate authority in the Diocese. As we discussed the matter it was clear that he believed he would not be able to do anything effectively in this situation, so nothing was done.

Again I was left to work all this out by myself - and perhaps that is the way it should be, but you can see how this experience does not fit with the image of the church being a place of love, care and reconciliation.

The saddest thing for me about all this is that subsequent to my experience in that place, others have had exactly the same thing done to them and still no-one in the church seems able to act against the perpetrator of this abuse.

Violence in the Church

The General Synod of the Anglican Church in Australia gave it's Professional Standards Commission a task at the last General Synod - to investigate how they might bring issues of workplace bullying under the oversight of the PSC where they now can only consider issues of child protection and sexual misconduct.

On a shoestring budget the PSC has been gathering feedback from the Metropolitan Diocese and yesterday it was Perth's turn. The Perth Professional Standards Unit receives on average two complaints about bullying each week so this is not an isolated or insignificant issue.

About 25 people turned up to discuss this issue and perhaps even tell their own stories if they were given the chance. Most said they had been bullied. One confessed to having been a bully as well as having been bullied by others.

The facilitators tried a neat little euphemism that the group would not allow - "a misuse of power" instead of "bullying". In some ways the alternative phrase helps to distinguish bullying from a simple traumatic experience - both are painful, but one derives from an abuse that is intentional and systematic in the context of a power-based relationship - but I still prefer to have it named as bullying.

Two or three things struck me as I pondered this meeting and the issues it sought to address.

A Culture of Violence
It is sad to reflect on the observation that throughout the history of the church it seems to have been captive to a culture of violence. I don't imagine we could identify any one cause of this, but it is tragic that the followers of the Prince of Peace, who called them to love their enemies and pray for those who hated them, should be so oblivious to the contradicition they are living. The champions of non-violence in the Church have been great, but too few and far between.

I know that the church will always be just as "fallen" or imperfect as the members of it are less than what they know they are called to be by God's grace.

But if we know what we are called to be by God's grace, how is it that there seems to be so little passion and drive to eradicate the violence that pervades our church?

Living Out the Things We Pray for
One participant made a comment that has stuck with me. He made the observation that so much of the way we live together in the Church stands in stark contrast to the things we pray for in the words of the prayers in our Prayer Book. Our Prayer Book has many finely crafted prayers and they reflect both our core beliefs as well as our theology. But, when we utter these finely crafted prayers we fail, somehow, to let the truth of them enter into our being and transform the way we live in God.

So we not only live in ways that contradict our Core Values as followers of Jesus, we also fail to live out the life we seek by God's grace through our prayers.

Safe Workplace - Safe Communties
I think that the enormity of the task of changing the CULTURE of the church from one that uses, colludes with and even endorses violence to one that reflects bot the example and teaching of Jesus about Non-Violence should not be underetsimated by the PSC.

Similarly, I think the PSC will somehow need to make provision in any policy for the fact that the Church is not just a workplace - which is the way we have become accustomed to talking about bullying. This is important because while those people working in Anglican Agencies such as schools or welfare services are indeed in workplaces, clergy are officers of the church and therefore cannot be regarded as employees, and therefore do not carry out their duties in workplaces, and much also happens in the context of congregational members who are volunteers, not employees.

Any policy outcome of this process needs to recognise that the church is both a Workplace and a Community and that the principals of non-violence must govern all levels of our life together, and that all who participate in this community we call the Anglican Church of Australia, must, by some means, bind themselve to live together in this way.

The PSC needs to be able to clearly articulate what standard of life we are called together to live out, and then have the authority and resources to respond to those who do not behave appropriately.

I will write some more later about my own experiences of abuse in the church.

Last Sermon for a While

I am preaching at my church tomorrow for the last time for a while.

I returned to the parish at the beginning of 2005 and, not long after, became their regular presider/preacher on a fortnightly basis. This continued when a priest was appointed as Priest in Charge about three years ago. I was happy to offer this ministry as my gift to the parish - I have a Monday to Friday job elsewhere so Sunday Services were not a necessary part of the deal.

The gift grew to leadership of the worship team having oversight of the themes for worship through the seasons of the year and regularly providing music once a month - when I was not presiding.

About a year ago the Priest seemed intent on disempowering two Deacons who were members of the congregation. Both were passionately involved in the establishment of a community garden on church property, and each saw this as their gift to the ministry of the parish, offering a place for people from the community to learn to live more sustainably and in more harmony with God's creation. The trump card for the Priest was to invite the denominational structures to consider the land being used to develop this community garden as available for social housing if they needed it. The effect was to say that the Community Garden was now no longer a ministry priority and this had been done without consulting those most closely involved. We were in open conflict with our priest.

By Christmas time the hostility was palpable and steps were taken to mediate a reconciliation. Unfortunately, the Priest managed to portray themselves as a victim rather than accepting that they had perpetrated an abuse of power, and since no-one had done WRONG no-one was in a position to APOLOGISE. An apology was offered in May, nearly six months after the event, but it was not signed and the Priest, while present when the apology was made to at least one of the Deacons, was not in any way engaged in it - they did not apologise for the hurt and abuse they had been the instrument of.

A fake consensus was arrived at but the Deacons did not feel appeased, so I began withdrawing my labour. I reduced my fortnightly presidency to once a month in May. In June I relinquished my leadership of the Worship Team and in September I decided that I would not be available for the Presiding Roster once the current roster expired - November. At no stage has the Priest seriously engaged my in an enquiry about why I am doing this. I had offered explanations that before this I had felt like I had a half-time job over and above my regular job, and that I just felt like a needed a rest for a while, but anyone could see that something was up. If the Priest had asked me what was up I was tempted simply to reply "Go figure!!!"

So, I preach tomorrow for the last time in a while.

The lectionary reading is from Mark 12:38-44 - a great little diatribe against hypocracy, particularly among the scribes and pharisees. Fortunately, rather than being an invitation to take pot shots at various hypocrits we might see around us, I think that Jesus is actually inviting us to point the bull-dust detectors at our own lives, calling us into that level of self-examination that enables us to clearly articulate what we might ask Jesus to make whole in our lives when confronted daily with the question he asked James and John and the son of Timaeus - "What do you want me to do for you?"

Someone I heard of recently has meditated on this question daily for the past 14 years. I think it will take me as long to even begin to let it get through. I certainly have been tantelised by it for the past wo weeks - Go Jesus!!!