In this project, Rosina and Jacqui grapple with how Catholic Guilt manifests in everyday life. In a struggle between the aspects of self that are ‘unholy’ and the desire for the comfort of ritual, prayer and community, they come to the concept of awe and the loss of ego that can happen during the experience of awe. Perhaps there is something similar in the pursuit of finding God and in the pursuit of finding awe.

Excluded from the Catholic Bible and only discovered in 1896, ‘The Gospel of Mary Magdalene’, was the starting point for this project. The exclusion of this gospel and attempts to delegitimise it, have been viewed as sexist and/or attempts to conceal parts of the story of Jesus. The language of this gospel is both abstract and philosophical, while also offering a feminist perspective for that era. Rosina and Jacqui explore both what is visible and concealed from the the Catholic Bible to examine the Catholic Church and its current standing in our society, and in so-called Australia. (The Australian Catholic Church being one of the wealthiest religious organisations in the world.) A church can be a place of ritual, prayer, and community, but the Catholic Church has also been a site of scandal, secrets, and oppression.

in awe, took the form of a performance at the Bluestone Church in Footscray.