Holy victuals bitter sweet for Great Southern Land

The proportion of the Australian population professing to be affiliated with a religion in the 2006 national census has declined since its peak in the 1960s. At the same time an equally significant social change is that among the one in four self-proclaimed Australian Catholics, or 5.1 million people, only 14 per cent regularly participate in religious activities.

Public perception of the Catholic Church, as with any organisation represented by the individuals sustaining it, can easily be prejudiced by a perceived lack of humility by any of its numerous spokespeople on an issue where the Church stands against values held by the wider Australian society. Paul Collins, a Catholic commentator on theology, warns against storm trooper politics adhering to a strict, black-letter interpretation of spiritual teachings, as is practised by the Catholic Sydney Archdiocese.

Paul Collins considers that the Church's prohibition against the ordination into the priesthood of women and married men is an artificial barrier that is stifling the Church. This position is widely supported by mainstream Australian Catholics, of which in 2007 nearly 17,000 Catholics from 120 of parishes signed a petition which was recently sent to Pope Benedict. A similar petition circulating among the Catholic parishes in England and Wales will be presented to the Conference of Bishops of England and Wales to be held in November this year.

The voice of religion exerts its moral influence on political systems and social justice issues. This influence is strongest in troubling times, as witnessed by religions’ ability to mobilise protest against repressive regimes. Spiritual teachings inspire the aspirations of political systems, inform institutions of corporate and social responsibility, and vitalise people's conscience and altruism.

The Australian Government’s announcement in July 2008 of its first resident ambassador to the Vatican, former Deputy Prime Minister, Tim Fischer, and discussions between Pope Benedict and the Prime Minister and other political leaders during the WYD week, at least in part recognises the wide global reach that the Holy See can bring towards the issues of ecumenicalism and interfaith reconciliation, and peace (especially in light of the security climate of “religiously inspired” terrorism). The Holy See's insight is especially important for social policy topics as diverse as poverty reduction, third world development, international human rights and climate change.

The activities of ecclesiastical structures generate economic and social capital by weaving together our private worlds with the national framework created by government. The Catholic Church and its agencies, using a mix of funding from government and the parish purse, is the second-largest employer after the Federal government, one in four students across Australia has been educated in a Catholic school; the Catholic Church is a major provider of medical services through its network of hospitals and hospices. Religion and civic groups nourish our personal values and beliefs, whether through the activities of a church structure on unemployment, trade unions, or Amnesty International.

Spirituality enters into public debate via theological issues and informs social justice issues by drawing upon its grassroots experience in reducing poverty and discrimination, and improving health conditions. Examples of individuals who have surmounted the schism between spirituality and modern culture include prominent community leaders such as the Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd, an Anglican; Tony Abbott, a Catholic, ex-seminarian Opposition spokesman on families, the community services, indigenous affairs and the voluntary sector; and the former Governor-General and High Court judge William Deane, a Catholic.

Silent in the furore over WYD preparations was the notion whether WYD might represent an opportunity to introduce into the Church voices from young people belonging in the present-day society, to help bridge the seemingly riven faces between Catholicism and popular culture, and shift the Church into revisiting its position on issues such as contraception, sexuality and ordination of women and married men as priests.

Just before the WYD celebrations, the Federal Court overturned far-reaching rules passed in New South Wales designed to suppress conduct annoying to WYD participants. The wider question left unanswered in the uproar over the New South Wales provisions, included whether the Catholic Church can ethically stand against granting reproductive rights to women from the poorest nations of the world.

The throngs of joyous young pilgrims from all locales flocking to WYD events, was a living example of local and international religious pilgrims mingling happily with non-religious Sydneysiders, some united in humanness, and perhaps a few, learning from their neighbours. The scrutiny on religion that WYD engendered, at times belying resentment and singularity, threw into the spotlight issues far beyond that of faith.

Catholicism, in addition to its historical legacies and current role in engaging with mainstream culture in providing community services, remains interwoven into the fabric of Australia; it exerts a pervasive influence in Australia’s political, economic and cultural economy.