Faith of our fathers: the crisis deepens

Similarly at Vatican 2 the Church of Rome made a half hearted effort at reform and then abandoned it totally under John Paul II. The latter will prove to be the Brezhnev of the Catholic Church. History will show, brilliant showman that John Paul was, his refusal to reform nevertheless prepared the way for the great disaster towards which the church is now inexorably sliding.

So the drama taking place in South Brisbane speaks to the heart of the crisis within the Church. The core church - the clergy - has lost all moral authority. Even worse from their point of view their caste is not renewing itself.

Given the crisis that confronts the clergy it is probably true to say that Bathersby did not want this fight with Kennedy and his flock. But by all accounts he, seemingly not the bravest of men, has been pushed by the far right of the Church. Possibly an Opus Dei cell is at work somewhere in this matter. The head of the Australian Catholic Church, Cardinal Pell, is known to be sympathetic to Opus Dei. He overturned a ban on Opus Dei entering the Sydney diocese and during his recent visit here Pope Benedict stayed with the Opus Dei community. This was a blunt message to the liberals within the Church where Pope Benedict stood. In any case that section of the Church that he represents is determined to get rid of its liberal wing and to impose once more total discipline on the Church of the intellectuals.

What we have then, in the St Mary’s crisis, is a ruthless offensive from the far right. This is of course sheer craziness. Why would one want to shut down one of the few full churches in Brisbane? Instead of embracing the church of the intellectuals as their best and last hope, the clerical heart of the Roman Catholic Church in Australia seems determined to destroy it.

It is clear then that the Far Right using their connections in Sydney and Rome have launched an offensive. The parishioners of St Mary’s did not pick this fight. They were content to remain quietly within the Roman Catholic Church. But they were a church community which has organised itself along democratic communitarian lines. For that alone they were anathema to the Right. For the same reasons it is imperative that the St Mary’s community be defended by all of us. Humanity at large is faced with the scissors effect of economic and environmental calamities. Only democratic communitarianism will get us through.

The philosopher Roy Bhaskar’s is fond of quoting the young Marx’s:

... the world has long dreamed of possessing something of which it has only to be conscious in order to possess it in reality … In order to secure remission of its sins, mankind has only to declare them for what they actually are.

For Bhaskar the heteronymous world of domination and exploitation, that the likes of Benedict and Pell and Bathersby will always defend, is a parasitical growth on the human ground state of love and creativity. One has only to recognise and to realise that fact to move on to a world beyond fear, hatred, exploitation and domination.

It is their turn to a theology and practice of creativity and love that is the secret of the success of the St Mary’s community. It is also the secret of why the Far Right seeks to destroy them. It is moreover the reason why we must be there to support them.