Author: Russ Petrus

The story of Adam and Eve has been used for centuries to put women in their place (“Eve was made from Adam’s rib as a helpmate for him”) and to castigate the LGBTQ community (“It’s Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve!”), but did you know that the Bible does not actually tell that story?

FutureChurch hosted a special screening of the delightful and eye-opening award-winning animated short film (m)adam: Adam’s Rib Reframed and a no-holds-barred discussion with filmmaker, Lizzie Berne DeGear, PhD.

Lizzie Berne DeGear, PhD is a chaplain, writer, Bible scholar and Catholic feminist. Her biblical scholarship combines depth psychology and theology and has appeared in Religious Education and the UTS Quarterly Review, as well as in her book For She Has Heard. She is a contributing author to Guidepost’s Mornings with Jesus: Daily Encouragement for your Soul (2019 and 2020 editions), and is currently completing a book on the Gospel of Mark entitled Someone Called Jesus: An Intimate Introduction to Christ. Certified by the National Association of Catholic Chaplains since 2002, she enjoyed teaching Bible Studies at the Church of St. Francis Xavier from 2002-2019. In partnership with FutureChurch, Women’s Ordination Conference and Call to Action, she co-founded the movement Feminism & Faith in Union in 2018.

The sexual exploitation/abuse of women religious by Catholic priests was first reported by Sr. Maureen O’Donoghue in her 1994 report to the Vatican — a report that remained largely overlooked until 2001. This practice of “erasing” the experience and reality of Catholic women remains today. Professor Tara M. Tuttle probes the manner in which media outlets submerged the experiences and realities of Catholic women, both lay and consecrated, as they sought to affirm their own biases regarding the connection between clergy sexual abuse and homosexuality. That motif, along with inordinate deference for prelate and priest abusers, corrupted the truth and propped up the abuser’s narrative where women’s credibility was questioned and their efforts to access justice were routinely discounted or despised. Thus, women, accused of treachery against the Church for going public, suffered, too often, in silence.

Professor Tara M. Tuttle is the Assistant Dean of Diversity and Inclusion and a Senior Lecturer in the Lewis Honors College. She has a Ph.D. in Humanities with an emphasis in 20th century American culture, a graduate certificate in Women’s and Gender Studies from the University of Louisville, and an MA in Humanities from Indiana State University.