Bishop John

Giving victims of abuse the courage to stand

Child ,Arise! is a privileged insight into the lives and challenges of sexual abuse survivors.

I met, apologised to, cried, prayed and sought to walk with survivors of child sexual abuse during my time as Bishop of Tasmania, 2000-2015. The suffering of survivors has affected me deeply: I struggle with vicarious traumatisation. It is somewhat embarrassing to speak of vicarious trauma because my suffering is but a pale shadow of that of survivors. Nevertheless, it is real and Jane Dowling through Child, Arise! has strengthened me.

Jane Dowling, a survivor of child sexual abuse, shares in vulnerability and hope, spiritual resources discovered in her own journey through suffering. Survivors, family members, friends, clergy and professional counsellors, all those who walk with survivors will benefit from this handbook.

The prayerful engagement with Scripture is clearly and beautifully shared. Here is a treasure of prayerful reflection on Scripture and an ongoing unfolding of God’s narrative. God’s resources are engaged to raise life from its deathbed of betrayal, of trust destroyed.

Jane does not detail her sexual abuse except to say that it occurred from early childhood to her mid-teens by a family relation and then during her teenage years by a Roman Catholic priest. Her abuse is not the focus of the handbook. The author’s purpose is to seek God and so to tell the story of the destructive consequences of her abuse, her suffering and survival, from God’s perspective.

At 21 years of age Jane Dowling entered an international Roman Catholic missionary community of prayer and ministry of the Bible in which she completed a theology degree. In her mid-twenties the trauma of her abuse erupted in pain and anguish, and through the two decade long quest for healing, the resource of praying with Scripture guided her quest and brought her life.

The vulnerability in the telling of her story, the prayerful listening to God’s voice and her decision to trust God in the living out of what is heard, usher the reader into spaces that both inspire and pose the challenge: Is my prayerful listening through the Bible engendering trust in God and personal courage?

This is a “handbook” to be dipped into, and its waters are deep; in particular, the second part of the book which looks at themes of suffering and pain from the trauma of childhood sexual abuse, and ways of gaining strength to stand to face them.

The first part of the handbook is a compilation of truths about God and humankind’s identity, dignity, purposes and strengthening. Listening to our personal story from the perspective of a loving God brings comfort and healing. Jane Dowling recaptures the power of the Word of God to change lives.

In the second part of the handbook the author shares her personal engagement with aspects of trauma such as hopelessness, lack of self-esteem, being harsh with herself, channeling anger for good, being set free from paralysis, and panic attacks.

A series of reflections using the simple following structure illustrates the author’s working through specific issues with God: a. naming the issue; b. reading Scripture; c. Praying the Scripture reading; d. The Scripture experienced in the author’s own life; and e. The Scripture experienced in your the reader’s life. These reflections provide a treasured sharing of Jane’s transformation through great pain. They are a rich resource for those of us experiencing pain.

Jane’s struggle and pain on the day of her private hearing with the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse were immense. The fear that the abusing priest had instilled in her was overpowering. The anticipated re-traumatisation in retelling her abuse of some twenty-five years ago was overwhelming. Struggling to prepare herself to attend, Jane turned to her Scripture reading, Isaiah 43:1-3.

The third step, “Praying the scripture reading”, is facilitated by a number of questions specific to each reading. I found they aided my engagement with God.

Through the fourth step, “The Scripture experienced in my life”, we enter into the head and heart of the author and her working through of Scripture to a place of seeing her story from God’s perspective: “You will not be burned, the flames will not consume you.” Jane’s experience is too tender to insert a quote here: it needs reading in context and I think this is a strength of the handbook: this book is made for working! Hence the fifth step: “Were you able to experience the Scripture reading in your life today? If so, how did this happen? You may like to write down your account.”

This handbook is a testimony to the power of God’s transforming grace through the prayerful reading of the Bible while in deep pain and suffering.

Importantly, the author affirms that without the support of family, psychologist, spiritual advisor, health professionals and the organisation ASCA (Adults Surviving Child Abuse), she would not have reached the day of her private hearing. The role of counsellors, family, friends and community are clearly affirmed in the author’s struggle for survival. The emphasis on a range of supportive resources is repeated throughout the handbook and underlines the book’s contribution as a “spiritual” handbook. All of these resources are to be marshalled for the survivor to stand again, scarred but not broken: “Child, arise!”.

For those of us who have struggled to empathise with survivors of sexual abuse, this is a privileged insight into their life and challenges. It educates and enhances our empathy.

A relationship with God prior to abuse is a rich resource in dealing with the trauma of abuse. This book alerts us to deepen our discipleship and in particular with the prayerful reading and living of God’s Word, the Bible.

This is an outstanding and multifaceted book. Little wonder it was awarded the Australian Cristian Book of the Year 2016.

Child, Arise!: The Courage to Stand: a spiritual handbook for survivors of sexual abuse by Jane N. Dowling, (David Lovell Publishing Melbourne Australia 2015 $29.99). Winner, Australian Christian Book of the Year 2016.

This review was published here. http://tma.melbourneanglican.org.au/reviews/child-arise-070317

 I had the privilege of launching this important book, here, whose aim is ‘to illustrate the power of good economics to improve people’s material lives and the power of the Christian faith in helping a practising economist, Professor Ian Harper, keep his professional life in proper perspective’.

We styled the book launch as a conversation between the two of us. Please find the questions, Ian Harper Confessions of a Meddlesome Economist Book Launch 2019, with which I sought to give direction to the conversation: attendees can decide how successful I was! Thanks to my son, David, for his input to the questions.

Professor Harper’s replies re the book’s title and cover art:

“I thought up the title myself. It’s intended to be a play on the “meddlesome priest” of “Murder in the Cathedral” fame (“Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest?”) with a touch of Augustine’s “Confessions” thrown in.

“It’s intended to be ironic. Many people don’t welcome economists’ policy recommendations, especially when they upset a comfortable status quo for protected firms or require people to change jobs or locations. Yet, properly conceived and implemented, economic policy improves people’s material lives.

“So, yes, I confess to being a meddlesome economist because I believe that proper meddling makes a positive difference to people’s lives – it’s like a medical doctor whose interventions might also qualify as meddling but which are efficacious in most instances!

“The ‘confessions’ part has a double meaning – I’m confessing to being one of those ‘troublemaking’ economists but also confessing that there’s more to my motivation than a desire to practise my craft. I’m confessing to a deeper calling and faith that many might be surprised to see linked to my profession.

“The other aspect of being meddlesome is that many economists (not unlike priests) are quite happy quietly performing the ‘sacraments’ without getting involved in the world of affairs. This economist might be regarded as meddlesome even by his own kind. Why not just stick to academic research and teaching? Why meddle where your ideas are not welcome?

“The cover illustration is supposed to be hornets but it looks like bees! The notion, again, is that the meddlesome economist is always stirring up hornets’ nests by making recommendations that might be in the public interest but have little attraction to those whose vested interests are challenged in the process. Someone needs to get rid of the hornets’ nest but the person who takes that on is likely to get stung!”

My Address, ‘Safe as Churches?’, NCCA Conference -Safe as Churches- Mar 2004 final formed part of the introductory presentations at the National Council of Churches Consultation in Canberra in 2004. I have listed it here on my blog in order to access it online.

Its concluding comment continues to challenge me, and us, the churches:

I recently released a Bishop’s vision for the Diocese of Tasmania in a booklet form entitled “a healthychurch … transforminglife“. Some ten days later I held a Service of Prayer and Reflection for all those who have suffered abuse. This Service was entitled “Out of the Depths” and the Order of Service was published in booklet form.

At the end of this Service a woman approached me with her husband and asked if I would sign both the “healthychurch … transforminglife“ booklet and the “Out of the Depths: A service for those who have suffered abuse” Order of Service booklet.

I duly signed both the booklets. I was curious, however, and I asked if there was any particular reason for having the booklets autographed. The woman replied that when she heard my “transforminglife” launch address and read the booklet she was enthusiastic about its content but wondered whether this would just be another document collecting dust.

“But”, she commented, “now that I have seen you do the second booklet (“Out of the Depths”), I believe the first one. Thank you.”

The credibility of the Church depends on our commitment to making it a healthy church, a safe church.

May God help us to achieve this through our vital NCCA Conference ‘Safe as Churches?’.

Shalom, Bishop John Harrower

‘Mr Eternity: The Story of Arthur Stace’ by Roy Williams with Elizabeth Meyers, Acorn Press, Sydney 2017

‘Eternity’, Arthur Stace’s copperplate script graffiti, continues to fascinate people in contemporary Australia, long after his death in 1967. However, not all aspects of this famous Australian are viewed positively.

“We generally do not like religion in this town (Sydney), are hostile to God-botherers and wowsers and bible-bashers. We could not like Arthur because he was ‘saved’, hell no! We like him because he was a drunk, a ratbag, an outcast. He was his own man, a slave to no one on this earth.” (Author Peter Carey)

So, who was Arthur Stace? The biography, ‘Mr Eternity’, provides many answers.

Arthur Stace, ‘using chalk or crayon every day for almost 35 years’, wrote a one word message: ‘Eternity’. He wrote throughout NSW on footpaths, railway stations, anywhere and everywhere – ‘perhaps half a million times in all’, including on the Sydney GPO’s main bell! Indeed, he was a ’God-botherer’ – his motivation and message came from God. It is also true that for decades he was a drunk and a criminal.

Arthur Stace’s criminal activity seemed to be the inevitable outcome of a life formed in a dysfunctional family of alcohol fuelled violence. Born in 1885, even as a young child he relieved poverty by petty theft. Abandoned by her husband, Stace’s despairing mother handed the children over to institutional care. The teenage Stace found that work in a coal mine gave access to alcohol. He became a ‘mean drunkard’ and increasingly ‘abandoned himself to the (Sydney) underworld’.

Trauma, following service in the trenches of the 1^st World War, contributed to Stace’s periodic arrests for drunkenness, although by the 1920’s he no longer engaged in Sydney’s underworld. The Great Depression resulted in mass unemployment. In 1930 a down-and-out Arthur Stace attended a meeting in St Barnabas Broadway’s School Hall for ‘a cuppa tea and a rock cake’. He heard the Rector R.B.S. Hammond speak of Christ and in the ensuing 37 years Stace would say, “I went to the meeting for a rock cake and came out with the Rock of Ages”.

Stace’s life was transformed by Christ. He gave up alcohol. He joined in the mission of St Barnabas’ Broadway assisting to rehabilitate lives broken by unemployment, poverty, alcohol and war service. Thus commitment to their welfare now featured throughout the rest of his life. He was 45 years of age when he became a Christian. If he was once a slave to alcohol and criminal conduct, he continued a slave, but ‘a slave to no one on this earth’, rather a slave to Someone who created this earth.

In 1932, two years after his conversion, Arthur heard Baptist preacher John Ridley conclude a sermon, “Eternity! Eternity! I wish that I could sound that word to everyone on the streets of Sydney. . . .Where will you spend eternity?” In Arthur’s own words he “felt a powerful call from the Lord to write ‘Eternity’. I had a piece of chalk in my pocket and, outside the church, I bent down there and wrote it.” ‘Eternity’, chalked in copperplate script, would become our nation’s most viewed graffiti.

An intriguing aspect of this graffiti ministry is the hiddenness for two decades of the artist’s identity. Only the intervention of Baptist Pastor Lisle Thompson in 1956 caused Arthur Stace at the age of 70 to reveal his identity via the Sydney Morning Herald as ’Mr Eternity’. This resulted in even more opportunities for the septuagenarian to share of his conversion to Christ and the resulting radical transformation in his life.

Arthur Stace’s dual commitment to welfare work and evangelism is an important aspect of this biography. His own experience of degradation, and then transformation through following Christ, fuelled his life’s calling. His skill and humour in handling interjectors during his open-air preaching was noted. His ‘inimitable style’ made him a sought after speaker. A local newspaper announced his visit, ‘Domain “Deadbeat” to Preacher’!

The various characters and their ongoing roles in Arthur’s life are well fleshed out. It was the Revd Hammond’s sermon that God used to awaken faith in Arthur Stace. Hammond’s influence and friendship were long-lasting and it was he who conducted the marriage service of Arthur Stace and Ellen Esther Pearl Dawson at St Barnabas’ Broadway in 1942.

Arthur and Pearl met as volunteers in a city soup kitchen. Pearl was a decade younger than Arthur and, interestingly, it was she who proposed to him! They are buried together in the Botany cemetery, their headstone reading “Rewarded and rejoicing in the presence of their Lord.” The footstone is engraved with one word in copperplate. You guessed it, ‘Eternity’!

‘Mr Eternity’ is an easy and fascinating read: a fine gift and an encouragement to faithful preachers!

This book review was published in the April 2018 edition of The Melbourne Anglican, here.

It is twenty years since the death of my father-in-law, David Robin, and in honour of him and in order to be refreshed by his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, I share a prayer that he wrote in his dying days. He simply entitled it:

David’s Prayer

Dear God, – in great humility – I thank you!

I thank you for the many, many blessings in my life.
I thank you for giving me a loving, caring wife and family.
I thank you for the family of the Church, for their prayers and their offers of help and support.
I thank you that you have given me (and have given Melva) great comfort and extra time of living beyond what was expected with the ill health we experienced.
I thank you for teaching me to ‘place my trust’ in you.

Mostly, I thank you for the guidance you gave me in my struggle over many years in trying to understand the mysteries of Jesus Christ.
For so long, I read and discussed the subject but could not come to grips with prayer. But then I experienced your wondrous love and the way you do hear us and answer us.
Thank you for all that – and, as I leave my friends and family, I look forward to the next phases of your promises.

I thank you in and through the name of Jesus Christ.

*A note from John:
David was profoundly helped in his searching and growing discipleship through the fellowship of the Church Missionary Society (CMS Australia) with which my wife (David and Melva’s daughter), myself and our family served overseas for nine years. The Bible teaching, shared experiences of God’s active work in the world, regular prayer meetings and the company of lively Christians from around Australia and elsewhere were treasured by him, gave him confidence in speaking of his faith, and helped him to increasingly place his trust in God. We thank God for David’s life, and for the ministry to us of ‘David’s Prayer’.