20th October
Rubicon 2018 in the Sugar Club
Saturday October 20
The seventh Rubicon gathering takes place on October 20 2018 in the Sugar Club, Dublin, from 9.30 am to 4.30 pm. A stellar array of speakers has been lined up to address this year’s themes which include conversations on the #MeToo and #ChurchToo movements and how they shape what it means for communities of faith to speak truth and seek justice.
The global #MeToo social media campaign was started to raise awareness of sexual harassment and violence against women. This spread to faith communities with people being encouraged to share stories of sexual abuse in church settings using the #ChurchToo hashtag.
This year’s speakers include Scot McKnight, an American New Testament scholar, historian of early Christianity, theologian and author. He is currently Professor of New Testament at Northern Baptist Theological Seminary in Illinois and is an ordained Anglican.
Jarrod McKenna is the cofounder of First Home Project, a community welcoming, housing and ‘giving a hand up not a hand out’ to recently arrived refugees. He is the Teaching Pastor at Cornerstone Church in Perth and is a peace award winning nonviolent social change trainer working in the Middle East and Eastern Europe.
Noeline Blackwell is a human rights lawyer and Chief Executive of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre. She has previously worked as the director of FLAC, the Free Legal Advice Centres and a solicitor in private practice. She is a member of the Commission on Future Policing and sits on the boards of the Immigrant Council of Ireland and Front Line Defenders.
FeliSpeaks (aka Felicia Olusanya) is a young Nigerian–Irish spoken word performance artist and writer who is fast becoming one of the most exciting and in demand poets in Ireland. Her mind is set on changing the face of the art form in Ireland.
Other speakers are being added to the bill including Ally McGeever of YWCA and Ruth Garvey–Williams of Vox Magazine.
Rubicon is organised by Holy Trinity Rathmines and one of the coordinators, Greg Fromholz, explained that Rubicon is intent on starting conversations on the interplay between faith and culture. Their aim is to create a safe space in which to discuss the big theological and cultural questions.
Each year the themes are chosen based on the current zeitgeist and looking at where culture and church are colliding and the conversations are built around that. Over the past year many of the big questions in society have been raised by the #MeToo and #ChurchToo movements.
Tickets, costing €30, are available from the Rubicon website at www.wearerubicon.com