Thursday, May 18, 2006

Cardinal Pell: Catholicism in Australia

Some poignant excerpts from this enlightening essay:
The Catholic Church throughout the world today is a bit short on well-known theologians, especially in comparison with the period during and after the Second Vatican Council (1962-65).

...the secular press took a few of these liberal theologians to their bosom and gave them considerable publicity. One of these was the young Fr Hans Küng, a Swiss theologian, who was later told by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in December 1979 that he could no longer be considered a Catholic theologian.

More than twelve months earlier, Küng and his friends had written to the London Times on the death of Pope Paul VI to describe the Pope they wanted: non-Italian, preferably not from the first world, aware of social issues, an intellectual and theologically-minded. With the election of Pope John Paul II they got exactly what they asked for and the opposite of what they wanted - which was a mandate for further liberalisation.
And the complaints continue to this very day from those who wish to fashion a "church" by reshaping the Church according to their desires, apparently lacking the will to publicly act on what they believe or don't believe.

...many are sustained by an inarticulate conviction that religion belongs to an earlier, more primitive stage of human development; that it is old-fashioned mythology, restrictive on issues of sexuality and life, and that all religions are more or less the same, useless and sometimes dangerous.

...the sociological evidence from Europe, the USA and Australia clearly demonstrates that the more conservative religious groups attract greater numbers of followers.

Generally speaking, liberal Catholicism in Australia has been unable to inspire young people to join it.
. . .
I suspect that a major cause for Catholic disaffiliation and lapsing from regular practice is dissatisfaction with Christian teaching on pre-marital sex, divorce and contraception. There is no easy answer to this challenge, given the pansexualism and hedonism aimed at the young in what Les Murray has called the "Californication" of Australia (Les Murray, The Quality of Sprawl: Thoughts about Australia, 1999, pp 41-42).

...the larger danger for us, especially in Australia - like Scandinavia but unlike most of Europe - is not that people believe without belonging, but that people belong without believing.

[Pope John Paul II insisted] on maintaining worship and prayer, devotion to Christ the Son of God as the primary focus. The substitution into first place of secular alternatives such as social justice or welfare work might keep the Church in public life for a time, but poisons the wells of genuine faith. So too the abandonment of demanding Christian teachings on sexuality, marriage and children might provoke a few favourable editorials, but would gain no converts, and increase the suffering in society.

There is a Catholic revival in the United States...It will touch us, as all things American seem to do.

Be not afraid. The Church will be speaking the basic Christian message to humanity's deepest needs.
(all emphasis above is mine)

A very good article commended for your review.

No comments: