Tag Archive for 'Catholicism'

Tony Abbott and the God question

Published
by
Mark
3 months, 1 week ago
in Culture, Media, Politics, Religion and Sociology
. 88 Comments

The first few days of Tony Abbott’s leadership have seen a concerted effort by the conservative commentariat to decry any criticism of his reactionary policies on women’s rights and social issues as ‘anti-Catholic’.

A number of points need making about this trope:

(a) Abbott is, of course, not the first federal leader of the Liberal party to be a Catholic. Sectarianism was definitely a factor in the largely Protestant and bourgeois parties of the centre right in the past, and there may be residual effects within the Liberal party itself. It’s worth remembering that Malcolm Turnbull is a Catholic, and this issue (as far as I can recall) was never highlighted during his leadership.

However, Tony Abbott is the first leader to be associated with a particular style of political Catholicism – one which, some decades ago, would have been much more closely associated with the DLP (and indeed still has influence within various ALP right factions and unions). Outside the circles around Cardinal George Pell this sort of neo-grouper politics has little influence in Australian Catholicism itself. Australian Catholics are less unified politically than in the days of sharper religious and political cleavages, and while social justice Catholicism is also a living tradition, my own view is that the post Vatican II Catholic Church is much less politicised with respect to the broader community. That holds less for those who are identified with Pope Benedict’s ‘reform of the reform’, but here, there is often a significant disjunction between Papal social teaching in some areas and an ensemble of conservative social and political positions held by the Pontiff’s Antipodean warriors.

In short, the interface of religion and politics has itself been affected by a secularisation within Australian culture, which is powerfully related to a dissolution of modernist political battle lines.

(b) This fracturing of a largely unitary theological and political constellation is reflected in, and in turn, influenced by a different way of seeing the imperatives of religion for acting within culture. Guy Rundle has summed it up thus: Continue reading ‘Tony Abbott and the God question’

The PM and Il Santo Padre; and world capitalism

Published
by
Kim
8 months, 1 week ago
in Developing world, Economics, Ethics, International, Politics and Religion
. 19 Comments

If Kevin Rudd wanted to impress Pope Benedict with his support for Blessed Mary MacKillop’s canonisation, he might have picked the wrong topic. In the lead up to the G20 meeting, the Pontiff had other things on his mind – justice and the world economy, for instance. His third encyclical, Caritas in Veritate, was deliberately timed to be released just in advance of the meeting of world leaders in L’Aquila. An excerpt:

The global market has stimulated first and foremost, on the part of rich countries, a search for areas in which to outsource production at low cost with a view to reducing the prices of many goods, increasing purchasing power and thus accelerating the rate of development in terms of greater availability of consumer goods for the domestic market. Consequently, the market has prompted new forms of competition between States as they seek to attract foreign businesses to set up production centres, by means of a variety of instruments, including favourable fiscal regimes and deregulation of the labour market. These processes have led to a downsizing of social security systems as the price to be paid for seeking greater competitive advantage in the global market, with consequent grave danger for the rights of workers, for fundamental human rights and for the solidarity associated with the traditional forms of the social State. Systems of social security can lose the capacity to carry out their task, both in emerging countries and in those that were among the earliest to develop, as well as in poor countries. Here budgetary policies, with cuts in social spending often made under pressure from international financial institutions, can leave citizens powerless in the face of old and new risks; such powerlessness is increased by the lack of effective protection on the part of workers’ associations.

Elsewhere: Analysis at Salon and The National Catholic Reporter (and Rich Heffern on the consonance between the document and the Green vision), full text of the encyclical here.

Blogging otherwise…

Published
by
Mark
9 months, 2 weeks ago
in Activism, Blogging, Books, Writers & Writing, Brisbane, Culture, Feminism, Life, Masculinity, Media, Religion, Sociology, The Web and Urbanism
. 10 Comments

I might have mentioned in passing here, and I know I’ve said on Facebook, that I’ve become interested lately in exploring some themes which don’t really seem to fit into the LP space, and also in a more personal form of blogging, and indeed, a more writerly form of blogging.

One of the issues I’ve been interested in discussing is the complex intersections of the religious, the spiritual and the social. That’s in part from a place based perspective – associated in particular with the continuing life of Saint Mary’s, South Brisbane – and in part from a radical Catholic position. In the process of so doing, I’ve been addressing some themes both personal and philosophical.

I’m not entirely certain the ‘one size fits all’ blog works for this sort of discussion. I’m also not interested in getting into an argument about the existence of God, or whether all religion is evil, or Richard Dawkins, or whatnot. That sort of thing might have its place, but it’s rarely conducted with much intellectual rigour, and it simply doesn’t do anything for me.

Anyway, I write this really just to highlight some of what I’m doing for the benefit of those who enjoy my writing and appreciate my perspective. Continue reading ‘Blogging otherwise…’

St Mary’s South Brisbane III

Published
by
Mark
9 months, 3 weeks ago
in Activism, Blogging, Brisbane, Ethics, Media, Religion and Sociology
. 18 Comments

I’ve blogged about the fracas around St Mary’s, South Brisbane on a couple of occasions before.

I’ve now become quite heavily and personally involved in the work of the ongoing Catholic parish of St Mary’s, and for a whole range of reasons, I’ve been reluctant to have all that much to say about the saga in a forum such as this.

However, last night’s Australian Story crystallised my extreme disillusionment with the ridiculously simplistic and utterly one-sided media coverage of the whole thing. I should note one exception – Steve Austin’s ABC radio interview with Peter Kennedy, which did draw out some aspects of Kennedy’s position further than he might have liked to have revealed, in an actually positive and ethical journalistic practice.

But, given how appallingly the whole thing has generally been reported, I do want to go on record by linking to a piece I wrote at my ‘other’ blog Angelus Novus, but perhaps more pertitently with regard to the ABC programme itself, to another discussion of the affair by Michael Carden at his Jottings blog.

Photo credit: Leonard John Matthews on Flickr reproduced under the terms of a Creative Commons Licence.

St Mary’s, South Brisbane II

Published
by
Mark
12 months ago
in Activism, Authoritarianism, Brisbane, Ethics, Media and Religion
. 2 Comments

Folks might remember an earlier post where I briefly discussed the imbroglio around St. Mary’s, South Brisbane and the dispute between Father Peter Kennedy, the parish’s dismissed administrator, and the Catholic Archbishop of Brisbane, John Bathersby. The ashes of the controversy are still being raked over, but little more light has been thrown on the real issues raised. The latest news is that Peter Kennedy has refused to enter the mediation process on offer, and the Church has indicated civil action in the courts will follow. Father Kennedy is also appealling to the Vatican under canon law, which is odd given what he has to say about the authoritarianism of the church hierarchy.

So things have reached a very bad impasse, but it’s interesting that the media has failed to report that a number of long term parishioners of St Mary’s – including some who had quite prominent roles – have ceased to attend Mass there. Peter Kennedy’s rhetoric has become ever more self-centred, and the actual option for the parish’s outreach, mission and even form of service (albeit somewhat modified) to continue in his absence is one he is closing off, despite his claims about the centrality of the community.

In my earlier post I linked to some pieces written by Michael Carden on his blog, and I’m taking this opportunity to highlight another post he’s authored displaying a similarly acute understanding of what’s really at stake, and offering some reflections on the poverty of the media courage. Reading Michael’s post, it’s obvious that the dispute is more about authority than theology, and as he comments, Peter Kennedy’s “Father knows best” attitude mirrors that of the Archbishop.

St Mary’s, South Brisbane

Published
by
Mark
1 year ago
in Activism, Brisbane, Media and Religion
. 55 Comments

It’s been the biggest ecclesiastical story of the year. That may not mean a very big story in the normal course of things, but it’s been difficult if you live in Brisbane to miss all the coverage of the ongoing conflict over St Mary’s, South Brisbane, and the decree issued which removed the Parish’s Administrator, Father Peter Kennedy. The weekend before last, long features – basically profiles of Kennedy – appeared in the colour supplements of the Courier-Mail and The Australian. The Catholic Church hierarchy has certainly lost the public relations war.

Yet, I think that a lot of the real issues have been missed. I haven’t wanted to write about St Mary’s myself for personal reasons, so I’m pleased to be able to link to a comprehensive post from my friend Michael Carden, who writes both from experience at St Mary’s over the years and a deep knowledge of liturgy. He also critiques the reporting of this furore in the media – on sound grounds, in my view. Among other crucial aspects of the stoush that have been overlooked is the role of Father Terry Fitzpatrick, a priest of the Toowoomba diocese who’s been resident at St. Mary’s since the mid 1990s. I might also point out that I feel the coverage in the media has been deficient whether it’s supportive of St Mary’s or of Archbishop Bathersby. Christopher Pearson’s comment that the liturgy at St. Stephen’s Cathedral is “gnostic” is just bizarre, and has no resonance for me, and I’ve been going to mass there off and on since about 1990.

While there have been some other blog posts on the issue – for instance from Andrew Bartlett who admitted to a bit of puzzlement at the whole brouhaha – I’d strongly recommend reading Michael’s take if you have any interest at all in this issue.

Update: Michael has posted the second instalment of his reflections on St. Mary’s and progressive Catholicism.

Update: As well as being furthered by another post from Michael, the St Mary’s discussion continues via the forum at Catholica.

Is criticism of World Youth Day automatically Catholic bashing?

Published
by
Kim
1 year, 8 months 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?’