Ruadhán Jones
Dr Jessie Rogers. Personal Profile
Dr Jessie Rogers made history recently, becoming the first lay person and the first woman to be dean of St Patrick’s College, Maynooth. To her, it seemed as natural as anything – but she recognises the privilege and responsibility that comes from the appointment.
“From my own internal experience of Maynooth, it didn’t seem like something strange. My experience of working with Maynooth is that I am one colleague among many,” the South African scholar tells The Irish Catholic. “It was only after the feedback I got from people – I realised then it was actually a big deal. From Maynooth’s wider history and people’s experience of it, I suppose it is a big step.”
The feedback and support Dr Rogers received made her stop and reflect on her appointment, which came after she was nominated by the university.
“It made me stop and realise that there have been many women who had to work very hard to be recognised,” she says. “I think I’m fortunate that I can come in on their coat-tails. It has really brought home to me the privilege and responsibility for opening up a space for others as a space has been opened up for me.”
Studies
Dr Rogers specialises in Old Testament studies, especially wisdom literature, and the spirituality of childhood. The Bible, she says, held a fascination for her from childhood when the stories and psalms captured her imagination.
“It always kept my imagination and it felt like something very, very life giving, and very important for my faith from early days,” Dr Rogers explains. “When I left school, I did a degree in physics because I thought that, you know, you have to be able to do something useful. But as I was doing it, I thought maybe I could make my career and my passion into the same thing. So I changed my degree to theology.
“The reasons for doing it changed over the years. When I was younger, I was going to be a missionary and I was going to save the world. Then I was going to be a Bible translator. But I almost fell into academics by accident. I found I was good at teaching and I was able to communicate with people. It just developed that way.”
Dr Rogers did all her studies in her native South Africa, where she had some experience in administrative and leadership roles. She came to Ireland in 2007 to teach in Mary Immaculate College before joining the Faculty of Theology at Saint Patrick’s College in 2014.
She has maintained a strong interest in ministry and is always seeking, as she puts it, “a connection between ‘the academic world’ and ‘the real world’”: “I do a fair amount in finding ways to empower people and ways to serve the Church and wider society through a scripture course and that kind of thing.”
One of the ways in which the real world and the academic meet for Dr Rogers is through her family life. It was in finding ways to teach the Bible to her children that Dr Rogers began to take an interest in the spirituality of childhood.
“The theology of childhood actually came about more because I came across Godly play, which is a way of doing scripture and liturgy with children,” she says. “I’ve done a lot over the years working with children, finding a way to communicate the faith which was living and vibrant. I felt I discovered that in Godly play.
“Once I discovered that, it led me to a childist reading of scripture. You know what a feminist reading would be – like that, a childist reading looks at the Bible from the perspective of children. In Mary Immaculate, I worked with Eamonn Conway who is a Rahnist specialist. I got to Maynooth and Declan Marmion is a Rahnist specialist. Between the two of them they introduced me to what Karl Rahner had to write on childhood. Not that much but so, so rich.
“It woke up my fascination in the theology of childhood. What use is theology if our children don’t have a life-giving encounter with and therefore commitment to the Faith? I would say that’s definitely one of the places where academia and life connect.”
Reflecting finally on the role women can play in the Church, and on the Irish Church’s synodal pathway, Dr Rogers says she believes that “giving women space to take the role that’s already theirs’ as part of the body of Christ could be very, very transformative for the Church”.
Church
“I think the one part which Pope Francis emphasises, is that the Church needs to become less clerical in its thinking,” she says. “Often when people hear is there a role for women, they think, is there a role for women’s ordination? I’m sure at some stage it will be the right time to open up that all again.”
“But a synodal Church reminds us that the Church is the body of Christ, that there are so many gifts and so many roles. I think what has tended to happen is that it has been assumed that women play the supporting the role. Whereas actually, women have so many different gifts and so many different experiences they can bring.
“Women aren’t monolithic – they are diverse. But there is something about women, their relationality. I think as women we tend to network better, and have a come-alongside approach as opposed to a top-down approach.”