Tag Archive for 'Cardinal Pell'

Pope Benedict XVI apologises to victims of sexual abuse in Australia

Published
by
Kim
4 months, 2 weeks ago
in Activism, Authoritarianism, Crime, Disasters, Ethics, Media, Parenting, Politics, Religion and Sydney
. 36 Comments

The text of the papal apology, delivered this morning at a Mass in St Mary’s Cathedral, can be read here.

The symbolism of the setting for the apology - a mass for seminarians and members of religious orders and the consecration of a new altar for the Cathedral - was no doubt intended by the Vatican to signal that the Pope was speaking sternly to those at the centre of the institution. But it’s also deeply problematic - as it suggests that the problem is only one for the church, excluding the victims who were left outside while the pomp and panoply of the liturgy took place for the exclusive benefit of the hierarchy.

Continue reading ‘Pope Benedict XVI apologises to victims of sexual abuse in Australia’

Emma Foster: In memoriam

Published
by
Kim
4 months, 2 weeks ago
in Authoritarianism, Crime, Disasters, Ethics, Law, Media, Melbourne, Parenting, Politics, Religion and Sydney
. 56 Comments

I hope that Anthony Foster and his family, who intend to confront Pope Benedict XVI and Cardinal George Pell in Sydney this week over the Catholic Church’s treatment of their late daughter, Emma Foster, who took her own life in January and her sister Katie, both of whom were raped as primary school children by Father Kevin O’Donnell, aren’t dismissed as “Catholic bashing” and raining on the World Youth Day parade or subjected to victim blaming as Anthony Jones was. Foster told the tragic tale of his daughters’ abuse and how it marked their lives horrendously for the worse, and probably brought Emma’s life to a close, on Lateline tonight.

Continue reading ‘Emma Foster: In memoriam’

What is the purpose of World Youth Day?

Published
by
Mark
4 months, 2 weeks ago
in Australiana, Books, Writers & Writing, Culture, History, International, Politics, Religion and Sociology
. 40 Comments

Other aspects of World Youth Day 2008 have been discussed in previous posts which can be accessed here. In this post, I’d like to concentrate on why it is being held in Sydney at all.

Dr Paul Collins is probably one of the best known commentators on Catholic affairs in Australia. A former priest, he had his own run in with Cardinal Ratzinger and the Sacred Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith a few years ago, which didn’t stop him from writing a rather upbeat assessment of the prospects of Pope Benedict XVI’s papacy in God’s New Man. Some of the hopes he had in 2005 have now dissipated and he takes a rather jaundiced view of the Church’s prospects in his new book - Believers: Does Australian Catholicism Have a Future?

Collins is on the “progressive” wing of the Church, and to pose the question in the terms he does implies a view that Catholicism in Australia is in crisis. But it’s worth noting that view is firmly shared by the conservatives, and in fact World Youth Day’s Australian sojourn is supposed to be a big part of the cure for the faith’s ills.

Continue reading ‘What is the purpose of World Youth Day?’

Is criticism of World Youth Day automatically Catholic bashing?

Published
by
Kim
4 months, 2 weeks ago
in Authoritarianism, Ethics, Feminism, History, Lesbian and Gay, Media, NSW Government, Politics, Religion, Sexuality, Sydney and Urbanism
. 82 Comments

It’s no secret that “the sectarian strand” is one of the less attractive aspects of Australian history, and interestingly, probably not one featured highly either in the so-called “black armband” or triumphalist narratives so beloved of our home grown Antipodean culture warriors. That may be because the deep cleavages - overlapping but not identical to class and ethnicity - around Catholicism and Protestantism needed to be elided and to be buried in order to construct the “Anglo-Celtic” identity which came into its own at the same time that the state aid controversy was settled into its grave and multiculturalism launched on its career. And not coincidentally. “Anglos” and “Celts” were on different sides of the political and cultural coin in the Great Southern Land of the Holy Spirit for most of its whitefella history. In a way, Gough Whitlam is probably the progenitor of the “mainstream” Anglo-Celtic Australian. But sectarianism typically rears its head as a defensive accusation whenever the Catholic Church is particularly prominent in public debate, and whenever criticism is directed at the Church’s institutional power.

In the context of World Youth Day in Sydney this week, this accusation has been levelled both with regard to criticism of the extraordinary powers granted to police by Greg Craven and with regard to the ABC’s highlighting of Cardinal George Pell’s ethically very questionable handling of clergy sexual abuse complaints by Andrew Bolt. More broadly, the media sponsors of World Youth Day at News Limited have worked themselves into a lather of holy righteousness, denouncing “aggressive secularism” and lauding all the Popey goodness they’re sponsoring - without disclosing that sponsorship in their journalistic or opinion pieces.

It may well be that a residue of sectarian anti-Catholicism might be in play on the margins of all this, but one of the big ironies is that while Tony Abbott and others speculated that Pope Benedict’s message might not be communicated effectively, the Pope himself has seemingly become a football to be kicked around by the usual suspects in distinctly Australian culture wars which often have only a tenuous connection with his concerns. But are there not genuine issues - of public interest - that can and should be raised at a time when Catholicism is top of the pops in the media stakes?

Continue reading ‘Is criticism of World Youth Day automatically Catholic bashing?’

Annoyed! III

Published
by
Mark
4 months, 3 weeks ago
in Authoritarianism, Crime, Ethics, Media, NSW Government, Relationships, Religion and Sexuality
. 116 Comments

Irfan Yusuf has the money quote on all the World Youth Day imbroglios, writing in today’s New Matilda:

I guess it really boils down to values. Cardinal Pell once accused Muslims of having difficulty separating Church from State. Unless he openly distances himself from (and not just denies involvement in) increased police powers designed to protect pilgrims from annoyance, his own secular credentials might look compromised.

On Lateline last night, in the context of new revelations about the crimes of Father Terrence Goodall, and George Pell’s casuistry in dealing with clergy abuse victim Anthony Jones, and his avoidance of any admission of culpability and therefore responsibility for the consequences of his actions, host Tony Jones interviewed prominent Catholic journalist and author Robert Blair Kaiser.

And I think that model can be applied to modern times and we can be a much more responsible, accountable church in a local situation where the bishop is not appointed by the Pope but elected by the people.

In referring to the democratising forces unleashed by Vatican II, Kaiser was suggesting that the root cause - not just of clergy abuse but also of cover-ups and grossly inadequate responses to its “horror” - is a deeply authoritarian tradition and its accompanying mindset and culture. George Pell is one of the leading lights of the Catholic “restorationists” who want to put all the genies of Vatican II back in the bottle, and return to a “Father Knows Best” model which has given us Catholics a Church marred and contaminated by misogyny and authoritarianism. Pell’s attitude to political power (which has been on show with World Youth Day) and his treatment of those whom some priests and brothers have monstered is cut from the same cloth - a desire to protect the institution and its power above all else. Continue reading ‘Annoyed! III’

Annoyed! II

Published
by
Mark
4 months, 3 weeks ago
in Authoritarianism, Ethics, Media and Religion
. 67 Comments

This sort of thing was probably always going to surface in the media just before Pope Benedict XVI came to Sydney for World Youth Day, but I’m sure Cardinal Pell is annoyed that he’s been accused of lying to a victim of clerical sexual abuse in order to protect a priest who was later convicted. He might also be annoyed that there are documents obtained through legal action and given to Lateline which make a pretty convincing case that the allegations may have merit. When he was Archbishop of Melbourne, Pell was accused of offering victims hush money not to speak out (an accusation he denied), something that is now expressly prohibited by the Catholic Church’s protocol - Towards Healing - on dealing with clergy abuse victims. Broken Rites, a support and advocacy group, has criticised the Church’s protocols. It’s noteworthy here that the Archdiocese of Melbourne has a separate set of protocols, a legacy from the time when Dr Pell was Archbishop and his opposition (alone among all the Catholic Church’s Australian bishops) to the national standards regulating church responses.

Continue reading ‘Annoyed! II’

Annoyed!

Published
by
Mark
5 months ago
in Activism, Authoritarianism, Crime, Ethics, International, Law, Lesbian and Gay, NSW Government, Politics, Religion, Sexuality, Sydney and Urbanism
. 108 Comments

To be fair to Morris Iemma and his bunch of clowns masquerading as a government, New South Wales isn’t alone in imposing risible and over the top security regulations for major “public events”. We’ve seen similar things in finance talkfests with Melbourne and CHOGM in Queensland saw Peter Beattie invent preventive detention for “known public nuisances”, as well as going to ludicrous lengths to prevent protest. But Iemma’s mob seem to have made it an art form, perhaps because as I’ve speculated before, their sense of authoritarianism compensates for their total ineffectuality in governing just about anything else than public events. (Compare - “public services”.) But the latest bunch of regulations for the Pope Fest really take the cake. It’s more or less private governance. Where’s the public benefit in preventing pilgrims attending World Youth Day in Sydney this month from being annoyed? Will their world really come to an end if someone hands them a condom or wears a t-shirt with an anti-homophobia message? What possible public justification does the NSW government have for denying basic rights to freedom of expression at the instance of the fragile petals in Cardinal Pell’s hierarchy?

Continue reading ‘Annoyed!’

Papal apology?

Published
by
Mark
6 months, 3 weeks ago
in Australiana, Religion, Sexuality, Sydney and Women
. 28 Comments

The Pope had a lot to say about sexual abuse when he was in America recently. It’s now being reported that there’s “pressure” on him to repeat his apology to victims specifically in the Australian context, when he’s out here for World Youth Day. I have no doubt Benedict will, and I suspect the pressure in this instance isn’t needed. While an apology promotes healing for individuals directly damaged by clerical sexual abuse, it doesn’t address the broader problem, and nor do the protocols the church now has in place for dealing with complaints and reparations, welcome as they are. What should be quite familiar to Benedict is the concept of “structural sin” - something originating in liberation theology which he in his incarnation as Cardinal Ratzinger acknowledged as a valid manifestation of human evil and wickedness, even as he disagreed with the political and some of the theological overtones of liberation theology as theorised and practiced in Latin America (and in - significantly - Germany).

The Pope would also know very well that in Catholic sacramental and moral theology, an act of contrition and indeed an act of reparation are worthless without an awareness of the fault that led to a sin, and a genuine intention to “go and sin no more”, as Someone or other put it rather pithily. All this raises the question of whether the conditions of possibility of sexual abuse are genuinely being addressed.

Continue reading ‘Papal apology?’

Blessed are the pure at heart

Published
by
Kim
1 year, 1 month ago
in Federal Elections, Health, Notices and Politics
. 141 Comments

Fresh from apologising for monstering a terminally ill campaigner for asbestos related illness sufferers, Tony Abbott is taking a break from criticising others for their “sanctimony” to actually talk about his portfolio responsibilities. He’ll be debating Nicola Roxon today at the National Press Club at 12.30pm, an event likely to attract even fewer viewers than yesterday’s economics wormfest. Which is a pity as health has hardly rated a mention during the campaign so far. I hope someone asks Abbott about why he was so brazen in refusing to even negotiate a new medicare agreement for blatantly political purposes this year, and about why Cardinal Pell is apparently in charge of women’s health.

Feel free to treat this as an open comments thread on health and the debate.

Daffy Defender of the Faith

Published
by
Paul Norton
1 year, 1 month ago
in Ethics, Film, TV, Video etc, Levity and Religion
. 35 Comments

Cardinal George Pell has indulged in a, dare I say it, comic attack on liberal Catholics:

Too many Donald Ducks produce the feel-good society which works to remove personal guilt, anything that would make people feel uncomfortable so that complacent self-satisfaction becomes a virtue; confession is replaced by therapy and self-reproach by self-discovery.

The daffy denunciation is reported in today’s Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

This comes on top of Pell’s goofy embrace of Mickey Mouse climate science, on which I’ve previously posted.

Still, just think how our popular culture would have been impoverished had Donald’s mysteriously departed sister (or sister in law) and Daisy Duck pursued their careers without interruption rather than leaving the Duckburg workforce to lay and hatch Huey, Dewey and Louie, and April, May and June respectively.

Pell-mell

Published
by
tigtog
1 year, 6 months ago
in Authoritarianism, Politics and Religion
. 47 Comments

THE Catholic archdiocese of Sydney wants its 167 school principals, its deputy principals and religious education co-ordinators to publicly commit to a “vow of fidelity” by adhering to church teaching on homosexuality, birth control and women’s ordination.

In a first for the Australian church, the Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell, is set to extend the oath of fidelity and profession of faith, a requirement of church law for bishops, priests and heads of seminaries, to all senior educational leaders.

The oath demands “religious submission of intellect and will” on questions of faith and morals - even if these are inferred but not defined by the pope and his bishops - and an acceptance that everything solemnly taught by church tradition is divinely inspired.

It suggests they would be bound not only to impart these teachings but to live by them.

The SMH has the full story.

The above oath is only a small part of a complex pastoral plan for Sydney Diocese over the next few years, but it seems to getting the most attention. A similar move in the USA was criticised as an attack on academic independence and an unwelcome imposition of doctrinal controls. Local critics accuse the plan over focussing on the needs of the clergy hierarchy over the needs of churchgoers.

The continuing tension between the Catholic clergy and the laity, between the Vatican hierarchy and reforming theologians, can only get uglier.

Open Golden Globes frocks thread!

Published
by
Mark
1 year, 10 months ago
in Fashion, Film, TV, Video etc, Levity and Religion
. 18 Comments

We seem to have a habit of doing this, so that’s good enough reason to do it again.

I still reckon George Pell frocks up better than most Hollywood types, but if you’d like to challenge that assessment, or just comment on the gowns, go for it. By the way, will Glenn Milne be at the Golden Globes?

NB: New readers may be pleased to know LP is your one stop shop for ecclesiastical fashion discussion.

Debating Santamaria’s influence

Published
by
Mark
1 year, 10 months ago
in History, Philosophy and Politics
. 70 Comments

There’s something of a debate in today’s Crikey email, where Christian Kerr and I have published opposing views on whether Santamaria’s legacy in terms of political thought had any lasting influence. Articles reproduced over the fold, with permission.

I’ve specifically looked at the claim that Santamaria was a leading political thinker. Christian wrote about that too and also his political legacy.

However, Christian is wrong to think that I’m arguing that Santamaria had no political influence, and that legacy doesn’t continue. I might have confused matters by excerpting a quote from Dennis Shanahan which referred to both his political involvement and his political thought. It’s the latter I consider to be of passing concern. Obviously the Labor split continues to create waves in electoral politics. But, much as Cardinal Pell might wish it otherwise, Catholic political thinking hasn’t made an enormous mark. Contrast the principle of subsidiarity with today’s Coalition centralism. And Santamaria selectively interpreted Papal social teaching, which is my point regarding the influence of early 20th century French Catholic philosophers and writers.

Continue reading ‘Debating Santamaria’s influence’

Super Saturday

Published
by
Kim
2 years, 8 months ago
in Politics
. 39 Comments

Tasmanians and South Australians go to the polls today.

Guy has some thoughts at wsacaucus.

My intention here is a bit of an election open thread, but I wanted to kick off by being a bit controversial.

Paul Lennon deserves to lose, and not just for his seemingly total inability to understand the concept of “conflict of interest”. Labor in Tasmania, at least as seen from this distance, appears to be owned lock stock and barrel by corporates, particularly logging companies. I’m also disappointed in the Greens’ seeming desire to climb into bed with the ALP government. You’d think given the nature of that government, they’d be much better served remaining independent and a strong balance of power party. And I always get sick of the line that “business confidence depends on stable majority government”. As far as I can tell, NSW and Queensland were both better governed under ALP minority governments than with large Labor majorities. And who is the “business community” to tell us how to vote. Particularly, as in Tasmania, where the stench of this line being used to endorse the Lennon government should stink to high heaven.

Rann doesn’t deserve to lose, and you could argue that the Democrats vacated the high moral ground with some of their own dodgy preference allocations federally, but preferencing Family First sucks. The ALP seems to be intent on destroying the Democrats in SA for good, which is dumb for a centre/left party and nor do they seem to care about the policy implications of handing this mob the balance of power:

Family First’s impact on the upper house would be conservative. In the past four years Pastor Evans has sponsored legislation abolishing the statute of limitations on sex offences, and blocked the Relationships Bill, which would have given equal rights to same-sex partners.

Mr Hood said Family First’s policies included the recriminalisation of marijuana, life sentences for drug dealers and the elimination of poker machines.

A pox on Lennon and Rann both. Though I’m a supporter of the ALP federally, if I lived in Tasmania, I’d vote Green, and Democrat if I lived in SA as a protest vote against selling out to the opponents of equal rights for same-sex attracted people, and all the rest of the Family First agenda.

Pastor Evans denied his party was fundamentalist church-based

What next? Cardinal Pell denying the Pope’s Catholic?

Update: More on SA at Ambit Gambit.

Secularism and the demands of conscience

Published
by
Mark
2 years, 9 months ago
in Politics and Religion
. 107 Comments

Last week, Parliament had a rare conscience vote on the approval process for RU486. I didn’t see it highlighted in the media at the time, but I thought Catherine King, Labor MP for Ballarat made a particularly powerful point, which can also be read as a riposte to Tony Abbott’s rhetoric about sectarianism (btw - ever noticed how Tony and Cardinal Pell often use identical talking points? Not that I’m implying anything…):

If we are genuine about reducing the number of abortions, we should be funding better family-planning and counselling services, better sex education and contraceptive choices. I think one of the unfortunate aspects of the debate is Tony Abbott’s proposition that it is a debate between people of religious faiths versus the rest of us. Frankly, as someone educated in Catholic primary and secondary schools, I found Kerry Nettle’s T-shirt both unnecessary and unhelpful. It was offensive at worst and juvenile at best. But, more than that, I find the notion that somehow those of us supporting the bill have less belief or faith than those opposing it deeply offensive. It is from my Catholic upbringing that I get my deep sense of social justice. I would not have become a member of parliament without it. I am Catholic. I know there is an official Catholic view about RU486 and against abortion, but I do not think that all Catholics share this view, just as I do not think they all share the official Catholic view on contraception. Even where Catholics do support the official position against abortion, I am not convinced that they universally believe that public policy decisions should be dictated by our religious beliefs. If this puts me at odds with the church, I suspect it will not be the first or last time.

In other news, a group of Catholics concerned about Cardinal Pell’s putative failure to set forth the Church’s teaching on the primacy of conscience have delated him to Rome. This is a bit cheeky, if not hypocritical, particularly on the part of former Marist Father Paul Collins, who devoted an entire book to the evils of what he calls the Inquisition, to which he has just reported the Cardinal. Dr Pell’s response is here. But there is a serious point to this issue - as Jesuit Father Frank Brennan makes clear.

Update: Two well argued and greatly contrasting positions on the primacy of conscience from Frank Brennan SJ and Cardinal Pell which provide context for the complexity of the Catholic position on matters of conscience, and how they intersect with the secular political sphere.