Catholic belief

I refer to Gary MacLennan’s article in On Line Opinion “Faith of our fathers: the crisis deepens” on February 20, 2009.

Mr MacLennan seems to completely misunderstand the nature and cause of the current dispute between Fr Peter Kennedy and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brisbane. There are multiple examples of this throughout his article but I will cite just five:

The statue (of Buddha) was there because, unlike Dr Bathersby, Fr Kennedy took seriously the impulse towards ecumenicism endorsed at the Vatican 2 and made his church available to a Buddhist group.

Archbishop Bathersby has been and is an ardent supporter of ecumenism. Indeed, there are parishes throughout Brisbane who show a similar genuine commitment to ecumenism as espoused by the Second Vatican Council.

An actual reading of the Second Vatican Council’s Decree on Ecumenism “Unitatis Redintegratio” reveals no reference or call to incorporate non-Christian religious symbols into the Catholic Church as a valid demonstration of ecumenism. Rather, the statement recognises that all Christian religions have at their core the belief in the divinity and centrality of Jesus Christ and the Gospels.

… the harsh authoritarian nature of the decisions Dr Bathersby has taken. Nor can it disguise the personal suffering that Dr Bathersby has callously inflicted on the faithful of St Mary’s.

No reasonable or fair analysis of Archbishop Bathersby’s letters to Fr Kennedy (only made public because of Fr Kennedy's decision to draw public attention to himself and the dispute via the media) could possibly lead to a conclusion that Archbishop Bathersby has made decisions in a "harsh" or "authoritarian" manner.

What does overwhelmingly resonate is the obvious grief and sorrow the Archbishop feels at Father Kennedy's seeming refusal to accept the unremarkable orthodoxies of a Church which feeds, clothes and provides him with a pulpit from which to preach.

Similarly, the "faithful" of St Mary's have made a decision to follow a faith not consistent with Catholic beliefs: how have Archbishop Bathersby’s actions "inflicted" anything upon them?

In Kennedy’s faith Jesus is the outsider, the revolutionary, who opposes Empire and suffers a horrible death because of that. But for Kennedy, Christ’s sacrifice calls on all of us to make a similar commitment in our search for the Kingdom of God on earth.

The first sentence of this paragraph, hits the nail precisely on the head - the faith Fr Kennedy follows is his own.

Most Christians would probably agree with the description of Jesus as an outsider and a revolutionary. However, there is very little in the Gospels which indicates an opposition to "empire" or of government generally with the exception of criticism of religious leaders (Pharisees) of the time.

In addition, I know of no Catholic or other Christian who believes it is possible to create the Kingdom of God on earth.

I accept that this is a core atheist or humanist belief - having removed God or the possibility of God from that ancient and primary longing of human beings for the ultimate truth and purpose of existence, the need to create a kingdom of perfection in this world is inevitable.

It is not however a Christian belief.

Like Father Kennedy himself, Mr MacLennan appears to be making the mistake of attempting to mold the Gospel account of Christ to fit his own political agenda.

But by all accounts he, (Archbishop Bathersby) 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.

Naturally, no tale of political martyrdom would be complete without a good conspiracy theory! Unfortunately, in this case it is patently unnecessary.

The views Archbishop Bathersby has put forward are orthodox, uncontroversial and widespread among Catholics of all political persuasions.

"Far right" (read neo-Nazi) class enemies of darkness make for a great movie plot but do very little to explain the current stand-off.

Incidentally, in contrast to Father Kennedy who has not had the courage of his convictions to leave the Church and rely on his resources to commence his own religious movement elsewhere, Archbishop Bathersby has shown a great deal of stoicism in his attempts to find some common ground whereby Father Kennedy and his congregation could remain within the mainstream church.

Simply ignoring the matter and avoiding the confrontation would seem more likely the actions of someone lacking bravery.

The parish priest Peter Kennedy is a classic liberal intellectual who has championed a wide range of good causes - indigenous rights, gay rights, women’s rights and so on.

This novel description has persisted throughout the mainstream media as well as in Mr MacLennan's article.

The Catholic Church and Catholic parishes throughout Brisbane constantly (though not perfectly) demonstrate a commitment to the rights of the poor, downtrodden and disadvantaged in the tradition of Christ. This includes the rights of indigenous people, homosexuals, women and the unborn (the last noticeably absent from Mr MacLennan’s list).

To suggest that the commitment of St Mary's to these causes is somehow a distinguishing or unusual feature among Catholic parishes is simply ignorant of the works and teachings of the Church throughout the world.

Mr MacLennan and I can agree on one important point; the problem is less the beliefs Father Kennedy holds than his argument that these are consistent with the mainstream, orthodox teachings of the Church which must continue to provide for him and his followers the physical and spiritual community to express these views.

Why the Church’s objection to having its teachings misrepresented in this way is apparently such an outrage, is not clear.

Mr MacLennan designates himself (presumably) in the introduction as "a very dedicated Marxist" and lists his commitment to various worthwhile causes.

It is highly unlikely that "very dedicated Marxists" would agree to that label being applied to someone who publicly advocated the benefit of free markets, the human rights of the unborn, the overwhelming economic and social advantages of Western liberal democracy and the primacy of the individual.

Understandably so - such views are at variance with the fundamentals of Marxism and someone who sincerely held them should accept this inconsistency and find a belief system compatible with them.