THE PRIEST the journal of Australian Confraternity of Catholic Clergy

Ubi Petrus, ibi ecclesia. ISSN 0818-9005 Where Peter is, there is the Church. Vol 12 No 1 – May 2008 IN THIS ISSUE Reflections on Spe Salvi Tracey Rowland 2 Welcome to the new Apostolic Nuncio in Australia Editor 2 On the new GIRM for Australia Father Paul-Anthony McGavin 4 Cardinal Arinze on liturgical practice CNA Report 4 Monsignor Guido Marini speaks to Il Reformista Paolo Rodari (trans. by Gregor Kollmorgen) 6 Father John P. Wilkinson, r.i.p.: a tribute Father Peter Thompson 9 Pope Benedict XVI: Fidei Defensor David Birch 10 The hidden costs of co-education

Photo credit: Umut Arabul, Flickr Andrew Mullins 12 Monsignor John P. Kelly, r.i.p.: a tribute Editor 13 [In] many places celebrations The Gift of Confession were not faithful to the prescrip- Father Michael de Stoop 14 tions of the new Missal, but the John Paul II: We love you! latter actually was understood Father Peter Mitchell 16 as authorising or even requiring World Youth Day 2008 Peter Zaans 17 creativity, which frequently led Architecture Motivated by a Desire to Serve God to deformations of the liturgy Ethan Anthony 18 which were hard to bear. I am Vocations shortage? a Sri Lanka story Editor 19 speaking from experience, since Address to the Roman Rota Pope Benedict XVI 22 I too lived through that period with all its hopes and confu- Rural Pastoring Father Paul-Anthony McGavin 24 sions. And I have seen how arbi- Solemn Pontifical Mass in celebration ofSummorum Pontificum trary deformations of the liturgy Father Michael McCaffrey, FSSP 25 caused deep pain to individuals The Real Ratzinger Revealed totally rooted in the faith of the John L. Allen 32 Church. Saying “Yes” – following Christ in the way of Mary (Benedict XVI in his letter to bishops Michelle Vass, Peter Hawes, Brother Greg McDonald 34 transmitting Summorum Pontificum, 7 July 2007) Fly Away to Heaven Project Father John Fowles, CCS 35

2008 Annual Conference venue Riverglenn Conference Centre, Indooroopilly, Brisbane, Queensland THE PRIEST the journal of the Australian Confraternity of Catholic Clergy Editor: Rev Paul-Anthony McGavin, MTh, PhD, MACE. Associate Editor: Professor David Birch, DPhil (York). Editor: PO Box 246, Jamison Centre ACT 2614 [email protected] www.australianccc.org Ubi Petrus, ibi ecclesia. Where Peter is, there is the Church. Editor’s Notices

Editor’s remarks. There have been times in my life when Secretariat remarks. Especially for those paying after 1 my income seemed exactly to match the bills that I had to pay, July 2008, kindly note the revised sums that are shown in and these times helped me early to trust in Providence. As the renewal/membership form enclosed. I have been asked Editor of The Priest, I do not have such fine increments, for to underscore what appears below in the Treasurer’s the printing involves A3 paper, giving increments of 4 pages! notice about the change in dues for Associates. Thank you. Wonderfully, however, the copy seems just to fit! – even if at Please note that we no longer have mail re-direction from times it is due more to the wonders of the InDesign program, our earlier Sydney address for the Secretariat. rather than directly to Providence! In this issue, however, in Please note that past copies of The Priest are available for order to make things fit, I needed to remove the notice of $10 each, posted. Proposed Constitutional Changes published at page 38 herein from the “In This Issue” on the cover. The large number of Treasurer’s notice. From the 1st July 2007 the yearly articles in part reflects that they are mainly brief articles in subscription rate for laity will rise to $25 and for pensions- this issue, rather than long articles. Again, my work has been ers $15. eased by having an Associate Editor of the quality of Profes- The new rates for laity will be as follows: sor David Birch. And I should mention the excellence of the Associate $25 annually (pensioners $15 a year) support by our printers, Active Print of Wagga Wagga, NSW Longer Term Membership: 5 years $110; 10 years $230. – and, of course, the ever-present support of Mrs Carmel This incease in the Associate dues is the first since the ACCC Negline, who provides our Secretariat services. began over twenty five years ago. This increase will cover the rising costs of producing our publications, The Priest Our 2008 Annual Conference, this year 29 September to 2 and Inter Nos. Thank you for your generous support, both October in Brisbane (see February 2008 Inter Nos) is re- material and spiritual, of the ACCC. timed because of WYD2008 in Sydney. Clerical members and seminarians should expect to receive further details for Editor again! I take this opportunity registration in late July. Please plan to come: as always, the again to say that I am happy to receive fellowship is a great help, and an interesting program is being submissions from both clergy and laity put in place. The August 2008 Inter Nos will give notice for (note that there are several lay contribu- Associates of the Conference Public Lecture. tions in this issue). Please note also that This column is an appropriate occasion sincerely again to we have a promotions brochure “An thank those Associates who have kindly included donations Invitation to Laity and Clergy to Sup- with their dues payments: we run a tight budget, and this port Faithful Priests” available from the helps with the promotions work of ACCC. Thank you! Secretariat. (Yes, that’s my photo!)

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1 The Priest Associate Professor Tracey Reflections on “Spe Salvi” Rowland is Dean of the John Paul II Institute for Studies Tracey Rowland in Marriage and the Family, Melbourne, and author of “Ratzinger’s Faith” (Oxford Participants in the ACCC 2006 Annual Conference had a great foretaste of aspects University Press, 2008). of the thought found in Professor Row- The Institute is running a Colloquium land’s recently-released book (see “The over three nights as part of Melbourne Priest”, November 2006). “Days in the Diocese” prior to World The present article carries forward these Youth Day. The first panel discussion insights. (Ed.) will be under the banner of “The Theo- logical Virtue of Hope”; the second, the “Hope of the Dying”; and the third, The second of Pope Benedict’s encyclicals offers a reflection “Heaven, Hell and Purgatory”. Speak- on the theological virtue of hope and is expected to form one ers will include: Dr Adam Cooper on the of a trilogy of encyclicals on the theological virtues (faith, topic of Hope in St Paul’s Letter to the Hebrews, Anna Krohn on Hope in the hope and love), much the same as John Paul II offered a Thought of Dietrich von Hildebrand, trilogy on Christology (Redemptor Hominis), Pneumatology and Dr Tracey Rowland on Hope in the (Dominum et Vivificantem) and the mercy of God the Father thought of Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict (Dives in Misericordia). XVI. (see, www.jp2institute.org)

Reading this encyclical on hope, like reading Deus Caritas and The End of Time? (2004). Chapter 8 of Aidan Nichols’ est on love, is like taking a Christian Doctrine 101 course in The Thought of Benedict XVI is also dedicated to the topic which special emphasis is given to the intellectual errors of of eschatology in the works of Ratzinger and provides an the time which block the perception of ordinary people to an excellent introduction to this territory. understanding of what true love or true hope is. Central to Ratzinger’s reading of this topic is the notion that In this context, Pope Benedict suggests that the culture of at least since the time of the French Revolution the Christian the western world today is in an analogous state to that of understanding of hope has been mutated into Marxist and the Christians in Corinth at the time of St Paul: myth has lost secular liberal notions of progress. The encyclical offers its credibility, the state religion has become fossilised into an overview of these alternative versions of hope. Signifi- simple ceremonial with little socially transforming power, cant here is Pope Benedict’s reference to the works of the and philosophical rationalism had confined the gods within Frankfurt School social theorists, particularly Theodore the realm of unreality. Adorno and Max Horkheimer. They occupy much the same place in this encyclical that Friedrich Nietzsche occupied In classical times however, the Church was confident in her in Deus Caritas est. In both cases Pope Benedict refers to opposition to the gods of Rome, she proclaimed that it was the ideas of non-Christian theorists who shed light on the not the laws of matter which ultimately govern the world and issues from different angles. mankind, but, on the contrary, a personal God governs even the movement of the stars. Here Pope Benedict quotes St Nietzsche may have been off the beam in his allegation that Gregory of Nazianzen’s claim that the very moment when Christianity had killed eros, but Pope Benedict acknowl- the Magi, guided by the star, adored Christ, the new King, edged that many people do believe this and to the extent astrology came to an end, because the stars were now moving that they believe it, Christianity has a credibility problem. in the orbit determined by Christ. The charge needed to be answered.

These topics of history, time and eternity have been quite With hope problems have arisen because redemption is no central to Ratzinger’s thought from his earliest years as a longer expected from faith, but from a newly discovered link professor. Themes which appear in this encyclical were between science and praxis. There is now a faith in progress foreshadowed in earlier academic works such as: Faith and itself, where progress is interpreted as the application of the Future (1971); “Eschatology and Utopia”, Communio: scientific principles to overcome various forms of human International Catholic Review, 5 (1978): 211-27; The Theol- dependency. This change has in turn given rise to new ogy of History in St. Bonaventure (written as an Habilita- conceptions of reason and freedom which appear to hold tionsschrift in the 1950s, but published in English in 1971); out the hope of a new and perfect human community.

His Excellency the Most Reverend Guiseppe Lazzarotto commenced his office as Apostolic Nuncio in Australia in early March 2008. Our first expression of our loyalty to the Successor of St Peter is of course in our fidelity to our Bishops in Communion with the Holy See. Yet as a clerical association, along with our lay associates, who gather under the motto “Ubi Petrus, ibi ecclesia”, we also express our loyalty through our pleasure at the presence of the Holy Father’s new personal representative in Australia. We are sharply aware of the stra- tegic significance of the office of Nuncio for the Holy Father’s engagement with the Bishops of Australia in the leadership and governance of the Church in Australia. And in this expres- sion of Welcome to the new Nuncio, we pledge the prayers and the goodwill of the ACCC in his mission of assisting the mission and ministry of Pope Benedict XVI in Australia. (Ed.)

May 2008 2 These conceptual changes are charted for us by the Pope By means of a tough and rigorous system of religious prac- through the works of Immanuel Kant, particularly his notion tices, by means of prayers and actions, they want to create of a transition from an ecclesiastical faith to a rational faith for themselves a right to blessedness. What they lack is the presented in 1792, and his later 1794 warning about the humility essential to any love – the humility to be able to receive what we are given over and above what we have consequences if even this so-called rational faith were to deserved and achieved. The denial of hope in favour of be found wanting. security that we are faced with here rests on the inability to bear the tension of waiting for what is to come and to abandon Pope Benedict further observes that with the arrival of oneself to God’s goodness. (The Yes of Jesus Christ (Cross- Marxism, hope in progress is mediated primarily by politics, roads, 2005, p. 82) [translation of Auf Christus Schauen] rather than by science, though of course, the Marxist notion of politics claims to rest on a scientific basis. Against the pious pelagians, Pope Benedict wants to remind us that getting to heaven is a group exercise. The good news The “virtue” of the Frankfurt School theorists is that, not- however is that this means people can help one another even withstanding their atheism, they offer an immanent critique if they are separated by death. In paragraph 48 we find the of the failure of the various post-Enlightenment attempts to following statements: ground hope in something other than Christian faith. The major work of value here is Dialectic of Enlightenment, co- The belief that love can reach into the afterlife, that reciprocal giving and receiving is possible, in which our affection for authored by Adorno and Horkheimer. It is one of the great one another continues beyond the limits of death – this has classics of twentieth century social theory. The following been a fundamental conviction of Christianity throughout the is an excerpt from an entry in the Stanford Encyclopedia of ages and it remains a source of comfort today. Philosophy on its central theses: No one lives alone. No one sins alone. No one is saved alone. Long before “postmodernism” became fashionable, Adorno The lives of others continually spill over into mine: in what and Horkheimer wrote one of the most searching critiques I think, say, do and achieve. And conversely, my life spills of modernity to have emerged among progressive European over into that of others: for better and for worse … Our hope intellectuals. Dialectic of Enlightenment is a product of their is always essentially also hope for others; only thus is it truly wartime exile …Their book opens with a grim assessment of hope for me too. the modern West: “Enlightenment, understood in the widest sense as the advance of thought, has always aimed at liberat- While the pious pelagians err by only caring about their ing human beings from fear and installing them as masters. own salvation, others can go in the opposite direction. They Yet the wholly enlightened earth radiates under the sign of want to believe that there are no eternal consequences of our “disaster triumphant” … How can this be? the authors ask. life choices here and now. Against those who want terrorists How can the progress of modern science and medicine and and child molesters to enjoy the same eternal beatitude industry promise to liberate people from ignorance, disease, as a faithful Carmelite nun, Pope Benedict cautions that and brutal, mind-numbing work, yet help create a world where people willingly swallow fascist ideology, knowingly “grace is not a sponge which wipes everything away, so practice deliberate genocide, and energetically develop lethal that whatever someone has done on earth ends up being weapons of mass destruction? Reason, they answer, has of equal value”. Dostoevsky was “right to protest against become irrational. this kind of heaven and this kind of grace in his novel The Brothers Karamazov. Evildoers, in the end, do not sit at Contrary to Enlightenment inspired conceptions of rel- table at the eternal banquet beside their victims without evance and rationality, in paragraph 23 of the encyclical distinction, as though nothing had happened.” Pope Benedict reiterates his often repeated statement that “reason needs faith if it is to be completely itself: reason and Pope Benedict also uses the encyclical as an opportunity faith need one another in order to fulfill their true nature and to reaffirm the Church’s teaching on the existence of mission”; while in paragraph 26 he makes another favourite an intermediate state between heaven and hell, usually point – that it is not science that redeems man, but rather, called purgatory. Here he affirms the idea of some recent man is redeemed by love. Moreover, such love transcends theologians who are “of the opinion that the fire which both time: “the saints way of acting and living is de facto a ‘proof’ burns and saves is Christ himself, the Judge and Saviour: that the things to come, the promise of Christ, are not only This encounter with Him, as it burns us, transforms and frees a reality that we await, but a real presence.” us, allowing us to become truly ourselves … His gaze, the touch of his heart heals us through an undeniably painful The mission of the saints links us to another significant sub- transformation “as through fire”. theme of the encyclical, that salvation is a social reality. In this context the Pope cites Henri de Lubac’s ecclesiological To many this interpretation will make more sense than the masterpiece, Catholicism, as a place to gain an understand- notion of being sent to a concentration camp for physical ing of this point. In his Memoirs 1927-1977, Ratzinger torture, at a time when the body is separated from the described Catholicism as “perhaps de Lubac’s most signifi- soul. It is more like the kind of spiritual purification one cant work” and for him [Ratzinger] a “key reading event”. endures when one becomes conscious of how much of a Part of his concern here is the power of what in other places disappointment one has been to someone else, especially he has called “pious pelagianism”. He has complained that a spouse, parent or close friend. It’s a very painful kind of pious pelagians want security, not hope: self-knowledge that is wounding, but in being wounding, it also begins the healing process. No one lives alone. No one sins alone. No one is saved alone ... We look forward to the next instalment which we expect Our hope is always essentially also hope for others; only thus will be on faith. is it truly hope for me too (Spe Salvi #48).

3 The Priest A Potholed Road “Back to the Future”: the new GIRM for Australia

Father Paul-Anthony McGavin

Introduction. The revised Roman Missal of 1970 was The author in a “non-liturgical” Parish snapshot with some published with a General Instruction of the Roman Missal young members of the Taralga congregation after Sunday (GIRM) that went through several editions (fourth edition, 27 Mass – and who exemplify the view that “active participation” March 1975). The revised Missal itself had a “second edition”, in the liturgy of children and young people is enhanced by and in 2002 a “third typical edition”, typico tertia: the one dignified celebration that is rich in ceremony. that has had such a tortuous history in the process leading to The author is Parish Priest of Taralga in the Archdiocese of an English translation with a Roman recognitio. This edition Canberra and Goulburn and Editor of “The Priest”. in its normative Latin version was circulated with a revised GIRM in 2000 (and is often referred to as the 2000 edition), with its dating; it is a text that both in its universal Latin form but its formal promulgation by the Pope was dated 2002, and and in its English version for Australia mainly captures the for this reason it is referred to as “2002”. As with preceding liturgical culture of the previous pontificate of Pope John editions, the Latin GIRM text allows certain things agreed Paul II, stretching from 1978 to 2005. There is thus a need by respective national Episcopal Conferences and receiving for a “reading” of the text from the enlarged perspective of a Roman recognitio to be incorporated into the text having the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI. This essay addresses application in a given nation. This occurred for Australia in some of the interpretative (“hermeneutical”) issues raised in 2008, and thus the GIRM text for Australia is dated 2008. This such a reading. does not mean that the text is one that is contemporaneous Continued over the page

Cardinal Francis Arinze, the Church’s head of the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments recently made a speech in Kenya in which he criticised liturgical abuses and pro- tested Masses where the recklessly innovative priests act as “Reverend Showmen” (CNA report, www. cardinalrating.com, edited version, below). (Photo credit: Adore24EASA@flickr, edited Ignatius House Services) Cardinal Arinze on Liturgical Practice

The Nigerian-born Cardinal Arinze, who is Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, was in Kenya in March 2008 to conduct a workshop and a retreat on liturgy for the bishops. While he was at the Catholic University of East Africa, the Cardinal delivered a public lecture in which he discussed the importance of following liturgical rubrics and the proper place of inculturation in the liturgy. He discussed sentiments that cause errors in worship, such as:  regarding everyone as an expert in liturgy,  extolling spontaneity and creativity to the detriment of approved rites and prayers,  seeking immediate popular applause or enjoyment,  ignoring approved liturgical texts. He said that liturgical abuses were often due to an ignorance that rejects elements of worship whose deeper meaning is not understood or whose antiquity is not recognised. Cardinal Arinze clarified the nature of the reforms of Vatican II, saying they must be seen as continuous with the past rather than as a dramatic break: “The Catholic Church is the same before and after Vatican II. It isn’t another Church.” Some aspects of liturgical rites can be modified according to pastoral needs. “The Church does not live in the Vatican Museum,” the Cardinal said. However, he said that incorporating local traditions into the practice of the faith – which is known as inculturation – should be compatible with the Christian message and in communion with the universal Church. Inculturation, he said, “should make people part of a Church which is universal but also local.” But he criticised distortions of inculturation, saying, “It is a caricature of inculturation to understand it as the invention of the fertile imagination of some enthusiastic priest, who concocts an idea on Saturday night and tries it on the innocent congregation the following morning. He may have good will, but good will is not enough.” The Cardinal also condemned individualistic experimentation, saying, “The person who of his own authority adds or subtracts from the laid down liturgical rites is doing harm to the Church. According to Arinze, “Proper inculturation accordingly requires that bishops guide the introduction of new elements into worship. Innovations should take place only after careful consideration, after bishops have set up a multi-disciplinary group of experts to study a cultural element to be included in the liturgy. The group of experts should then make their recommendation to their Bishops’ Conference. If both the Bishops’ Conference and the Holy See approve the innovation, after limited experiment and ‘due preparation’ of the clergy and the people, the new element may be incorporated. “Otherwise it is wild liturgy.” Cardinal Arinze characterised a successful celebration of the Mass as one that “manifests the Catholic faith powerfully, encourages those who have the faith already, shakes up those who are slumbering and those who are at the edge, and makes curious those who are not Catholics at all.” The Mass must send Catholics home “full of joy, ready to come back again, ready to live it and to share it.” The cardinal encouraged future priests’ proper formation in liturgy and the ongoing liturgical formation of both clergy and lay people.

May 2008 4 “Back to the Future” identify ephemera for what it is, and still think what is dated to be “contemporary” – especially, “contemporary liturgy”. The I suppose that the first time I noted the phrase, “Back to the latest revised GIRM actually was crafted about 10 years ago Future” was in a movie advertisement of an “imaginative” (or more) and captures an earlier era, and it’s been labyrinthine rather than a “realistic” kind. The first time I heard the phrase politics that led to a 2008 recognitio for Australia. But, “the in a Church context was when my own Ordinary used it as world” (or “the world in the Church”) has “moved on” since a catchy expression when he was plotting a “way forward” then: it’s all rather passé. A decade ago, the likes of the present for diocesan educationalists: He argued that for Catholics, author saying, “Wouldn’t it be great if Ratzinger were our next the future always follows a path of retrieval of Tradition, Pope?!” would have been laughed at in a general audience. Now although not simply a replication of tradition (in the sense of he is Pope. And “Ratzinger” has said things and is saying things re-creating a past era). Bishops, taken as a whole, tend on my (and doing things) that today have coherence, a “fit”, that few observation to “shut the gate after the horse has bolted”: the would have so adjudged even a decade ago. In brief, there are 2007 Catholic Schools at a Crossroads: Pastoral Letter of the “potholes” in the revised GIRM that slow down the journey Bishops of NSW and the ACT well illustrates this point – it being “back to the future” because they have little to do with the a “letter” that could have been and should have been written future, and much to do with the past, with the recent past: they and been implemented at least a generation earlier! In the area are the ideological products of eras that are over – the 1960s, of authoritative interpretation of the Roman Missal, we have a the 1970s, the 1980s, etc. What are the examples of these? similar time lag. The revised GIRM has been available since its issuance approaching a decade ago. But the engagement of Which way do you face? priests in its reception and implementation has been as patchy as Orientation in prayer is the “number one”. The most distinctive the reception and implementation of the 1975 version. For years innovation of the supposed interpretation of Vatican II (that now, Cardinal Arinze as Prefect of the Congregation for Divine actually has little to do with Vatican II) is orientation in liturgical Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments has been “hammering prayer: “facing the people”, versus populum. And it is this, away” at this mis-implementation – often even in the face of above everything else, that is the most damaging legacy of papal ceremonies contrary to what he was pressing. the implementation of Vatican II. And it is this that the revised Now, at last! Pope Benedict XVI has replaced one “Marini” GIRM pushes more aggressively as though it were “dogma”, Papal Master of Ceremonies with another and younger when in truth it is “ideology”, and in this priest’s estimation, “Marini” Papal Master of Ceremonies (see the photo panel on damaging ideology. the adjacent page) – and the “back to the future” has started at It is damaging ideology, because versus populum has been the heart of the Catholic Church, in Rome. Pope Benedict XVI wrongly linked with the laity’s right and duty to be fostered (no “Panzer Pope”!) clearly understands and works with the in active participation (actuosa participatio) in the sacred complexities involved in liturgical renewal in the Church, and liturgy (eg, GIRM 2002, ##303, 307). The revised GIRM in it’s not surprising that he has not tried to introduce a “fourth English (and I shall not generally enter into the niceties of typical edition” of the Roman Missal (however much needed, translation from Latin) sees versus populum as “desirable” as I think!). And in Summorum Pontificum, Pope Benedict (#299) and predicated on the laity having a “clear view of what XVI has named the 1962 Missal (pre-Vatican II), rather than takes place at the altar or what is placed on it” (#307) – and the 1965 Missal (post-Vatican II) that in a timid way at least altars that are traditionally placed are viewed as “mak[ing] the began the process of implementing the reforms of Vatican II in people’s participation difficult” (#303) (note the present Pope’s a more strict reading of the decrees of Sacrosanctum Concilium. alternative 2004 reading of the Latin in the text box below!). In this sense, the road “back to the future” as it is being charted Anyone who has seen a priest eyeing the congregation as he under Pope Benedict XVI is longer and slower than many (this says, “Take this, all of you, and eat it”, and moving around the author included!) would like. The title “a potholed” road in the chalice toward the people while saying, “Take this, all of you, heading of this article makes the point that the “road back to the and drink from it”, knows that this is an abuse, and that we have future” is going to involve slower driving than this author thinks the acting out of an extrovert sensor, rather than the right action desirable: one can’t drive fast across potholes, and the new of a priest consecrating in Persona Christi capitis. GIRM is littered with “potholes” and the version for Australia with a Roman recognitio has increased those “potholes”. There is nothing in the [Vatican II] Council text about turning altars towards the people; that point is raised only in extra/post- Taken as a whole, I judge the new GIRM to be an untimely conciliar instructions. The most important directive is found in document which increases difficulties and that is somewhat paragraph 262 of the Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani, the situated in a liturgical culture that is now dated. I believe General Instruction of the Missal issued in 1969. That says, “It is that the new GIRM requires some judicious hermeneutics better for the main altar to be constructed away from the wall so (interpretative acts) for it better to serve as a “road to the future” that one can easily walk around the altar and celebrate facing the that responds to the map of integral and organic liturgical people (versus populum).” The General Instruction of the Missal issued in 2002 retained this text unaltered except for the addition development that is unfolding under the present pontificate. of the subordinate clause, “which is desirable wherever possible” (#299 of the new GIRM). This was taken in many quarters as The “time factor” in these “increased difficulties” hardening the 1969 text to mean that there was now a general There’s a saying, “A day is a long time in politics”; and there’s obligation to set up altars facing the people “wherever possible”. a saying, “The Church thinks in centuries, not in decades.” This interpretation, however, was rejected by the Congregation But the fact is that a lot of thinking in the Church has been in for Divine Worship on 25 September 2000, when it declared that “decades”, and it’s a bit like fashions: one could straightaway the word “expedit” (“is desirable”) did not imply an obligation but only made a suggestion. [See also this issue at page 33. (Ed.)] pick a man wearing 1970s trousers, but priests (and bishops!) (From the Foreword by H. E. Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger to U. M. Lang, “Turning Towards and laity who are in the obsolete 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, etc., don’t The Lord” (Ignatius Press, 2004). One gains no sense from Pope Benedict XVI that he has shifted in this interpretation of the latest GIRM. (Ed.))

5 The Priest Likewise, the revised GIRM places the “presidential chair” as Monsignor Marini Speaks to Paolo Rodari the focal point in the church (“centre stage”, as I would say) (GIRM 2002, #310); whereas anyone who has seen a priest Gregor Kollmorgen posted an English version on the website for or a bishop in effect going, “Whee! You’ve come to see me!” The New Liturgical Movement of an interview by Paolo Rodari of knows that In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti makes the Italian journal “Il Riformista”; with light editing only, this is sense when it is voiced from the traditional position of the reproduced in the “box” on pages 6 8 of this issue. (Ed.) “presidential chair” (and episcopal “throne”) against the south- Speaking openly. “The very first reaction [to my appointment] side sanctuary wall. Of course, my examples are of clear abuse was great surprise and great fear. Then I felt a certain trepidation cases (what Cardinal Arinze has called “Reverend Showmen”, the night before beginning my service, and I also very much see text box at page 4), but the fact remains that what the revised felt the separation from my diocese and my city, my sister and GIRM sets as a norm, in fact cultivates a culture of abuse. For her family, from so many friends, from the places where I have example, I was asked in Parish Pastoral Council (PPC) why I exercised my priesthood in a special way: the [Genoese] curia, the do not greet people at the beginning of Mass as they do in other seminary, the cathedral. At the same time, however, I felt much parishes! My reply, “I do: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ honoured to be called by the Holy Father to perform the service and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be of Master of Liturgical Celebrations. The possibility I have been with you all” – and this was met with astonishment: the whole given to be near the Holy Father I have felt immediately to be a culture is a horizontal, “’Ow ya goin’ mate?”. It is this culture true grace for my priesthood.” that has gripped much liturgical practice in Australia – which often is conducted as though it were in a kitchen, rather than in a Monsignor Guido Marini, Genoese, 42 years old, thus describes sanctuary! But the ideologists of the GIRM, caught in their own to the Riformista his arrival, last October, at the Vatican to assume time warp, don’t realise this, and are even unaware that, in the the post of Master of the Liturgical Celebrations of the Pope. An present Pope’s words (see front cover quote for this issue), they appointment which allows him to work in close contact with deform the liturgy. On this point of orientation, it is interesting Benedict XVI. “That which I have perceived at the beginning of to note that the authorised English rubrics of the 1975 Missal my new assignment – he tells – I have found confirmed exactly correct the liturgical mistake of the Latin rubrics, and locate every time I have had the grace to encounter the Holy Father. the ad populum conversus, “facing the people”, at the greeting These encounters have been and are always for me a cause of (and not at the In nomine Patris as it is in the Latin rubrics). The great joy and great emotion. I would never have thought, having new GIRM at #124 maintains this correct sequence. been an attentive reader and appreciator of Cardinal Ratzinger, that one day I would have the grace to be as close to him as I am Appropriate “hermeneutic”? now. And then, every time, together with the profound reverence What, then, is the “appropriate hermeneutic”? It is, I think, which inspires in me the figure of the Pope, I experience his given in “Ratzinger’s” words in his 2004 Foreword: serene, gentle, fine and delicate manner of dealing with people which fills my heart with joy and which invites me to exert myself The physical orientation … must be distinguished from the spiritual. Even if a priest celebrates versus populum, he should with all my energy to collaborate with generosity, humility and always be oriented versus Deum per Iesum Christum (toward God fidelity in the exercise of his Magisterium in the liturgical sphere, through Jesus Christ) … For this reason the Congregation [for as far as pertains to my competences.” Divine Worhsip and Discipline of the Sacraments] warns against On “Lex orandi, lex credendi”. The office of Master of the one-sided and rigid positions in this debate. Liturgical Celebrations of the Pope is important because, if it (Foreword, in U. M. Lang, Turning Towards the Lord (Ignatius, 2004, p. 10)) is true that lex orandi, lex credendi (the Church believes in that This has its limitations, for he calls upon the priest’s interiority which She prays [translating Rodari’s rendering in Italian]), then (rightly so, of course; and the younger Marini has likewise so called – see the adjacent text box), while, in practice, Continued at page 8 immature and ill-formed priests will often not have the required interiority, and, thus, will end up being conformed to The “Up there, not them! photo of the spatial arrangements – will end up rendering liturgies that the Holy Father with his inherited are horizontal in focus, and that fail to lift eyes and hearts to Papal Master of Ceremonies, Heaven. It is this that is lacking in the revised GIRM: a sense Archbishop Piero Marini (top of integral orientation of liturgical worship that is classically right) has been reproduced before Catholic. What we rather have is an “instruction” that is shot – for it powerfully captures a through with suppositions that derive from a certain time frame change in focus. (photo: flickr) (Ed.) and a certain temporal culture that tends to loosen liturgical praxis from its foundations. This is illustrated in the new GIRM presumption that “pastoral considerations” may lead The photo (lower right) still has the Holy Father with eyes Pope Benedict XVI, a “gardener” elevated as he receives during The Pope is not an absolute monarch whose will is law, but the Easter 2008 Vigil the is the guardian of the authentic tradition, and thereby the pastoral cross from Monsignor premier guarantor of obedience. His rule is not that of arbi- Guido Marini, the new Papal trary power, but that of obedience in faith. That is why, with Master of Ceremonies. But the respect to the liturgy, he has the task of a gardener, not that of two photos set “side by side” a technician who builds new machines and throws the old ones capture something of the litur- on the junk-pile. gical shift that we see unfolding (H E Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, writing in 2005 in his Preface to the Ignatius Press edition in papal ceremonies. (Ed.) of The Organic Development of the Liturgy by Dr Alcuin Reid – as quoted by Fr Glen Tat- tersall at page 15 of the November 2007 issue of The Priest.) (photo: thenewliturgicalmovement)

May7 2008 6 to a preference for the third Eucharistic Prayer rather than adoration, while at #275 a bow is interpreted as signifying only the first Eucharistic Prayer, the Roman Canon (GIRM 2002, reverence and honour to persons. And, not surprisingly, the #365). Implicitly, there is a systemic failure to see that it is permissive language (“recommended”) of #160 is not included development of the Roman Canon that par excellence may in the quote incorporated in the 2008 Bishops’ Commission for be viewed as “liturgical development”, rather than the recent Liturgy leaflet where as of 11 May 2008 (Pentecost Sunday!) we “liturgical technician” approach (alluding to “Ratzinger’s” read the seemingly prescriptive words, “When approaching to words in the 2005 Preface remark found in the bottom-left text receive Holy Communion, the faithful bow in reverence of the box at page 6). Interestingly, a bit like the hermeneutic of Codex Mystery they are to receive.” (The glossy leaflet of the Sydney Iuris Canonici, “The Code of Canon Law” (1983), where the Liturgy Office further hardens this to: “... will bow ...”.) Thus, last canon provides the interpretative key to the whole (“… in Australia two classes are established: the clergy who follow the salvation of souls, which in the Church must always be the the classical Latin form, and the laity who follow a form more supreme law” (#1752)), the last three paragraphs of the new accommodating to the civil society in which we live. And the GIRM (##397, 398, 399 [by mistake there is no #397 enumerated, but it unity of gesture of the laity (GIRM 2002, ##42f) is elevated does commence Principium quoque servetur, “Furthermore, the principle ...”]) to greater significance than the dignity of gesture before the anchor the GIRM in the norms of Vatican II with citations from Mystery (an allusion to the language, but not the practice, of Sacrosanctum Concilium: “… there should be no innovations GIRM 2002, #160). unless required in order to bring a genuine and certain benefit What, then, should we do? Almost all my Sunday congregation to the Church …” (SC #23) and the Roman Missal must remain under 50 genuflect at the front pew before moving forward “… as an instrument and outstanding sign of the integrity and to receive Holy Communion; some older members bow unity of the Roman Rite” (SC #38). [The citations are as given in profoundly; some older do a head bow; and some do nothing. the new GIRM. (Ed.)] Should I tell them, “Henceforth you bow!” (although I What, then, should we do? My view is that we have to sustain genuflect!)”, or should I maintain my present liturgical and/or adopt practices that enhance the true spirit of the liturgy catechesis and practice? The latter is what I shall do, and, (a phrase that of course alludes to what, for me, was a formative should anyone send a dubium to Rome (or to my bishop, the book in my liturgical reformation, “Ratzinger’s”, Spirit of “moderator of liturgy in the particular church”), I would expect the Liturgy (Ignatius Press, 2000)), and follow practices that that Rome would reply classically: “genuflection is fitting in conform with classical liturgical practice. From what this author approaching the Real Presence of the Blessed Sacrament, and has noticed, every dubium submitted to the Congregation for shall not be suppressed”. The curial congregations in Rome Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments that has are as “hydra-headed” as the rest of the Church, and Roman proceeded from classical lay practice has upheld classical lay liturgical practice has had its “downs” and now some “ups”, rights (for example, to receive Holy Communion kneeling); it but the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of is to be expected that any dubium that proceeds from classical the Sacraments under Cardinal Arinze since 2002 has been priestly practice would similarly be upheld. As “Ratzinger” pretty consistent in finding against “innovation” and locally has said, we don’t have a right to re-engineer the liturgy (see “enculturated” practice. Again, a larger “hermeneutic” seems adjacent “gardener” quote). Doubtlessly, we will travel slower required in re-reading the juridicial positivism expressed in getting around this particular stretch of “potholed road”, but this latest “instruction”. travelling “back to the future” will not occur if we allow ourselves to get stuck in the versus populum pothole. Dangers All this of course has its dangers. It can lead to a self-choosing Do we content ourselves with minimalism? eclecticism that undermines liturgical integrity. But because The decrees of Vatican II in Sacrosanctum Concilium, 1963, interpretation has its dangers, that is not cause not to interpret! #50-58, rightly grapple with enculturation. The liturgy of – but, rather, to interpret judiciously and in accordance with the universal Church is received as “from heaven”, and not the “mind of the Church”. To take an analogy from Scriptural viewed as “from men” / “from culture” – at least not mainly interpretation (and one extensively expounded by Pope so. Necessarily, however, in a religion the foundation of which Benedict XVI in Jesus of Nazareth (Bloomsbury, 2007)), one’s is “The Word became flesh” (Jn 1:14), there is a cultural interpretative acts need to be “canonical”: need to be read in the engagement, and liturgies reflect the cultures in which they context of the whole of canonical Scriptures. Likewise, one’s developed (note, “developed”, not “were invented”). Thus, liturgical interpretations need to be read (to be formed) in the GIRM at #390 allows that Episcopal Conferences propose context of a larger liturgical inheritance. It follows that they adaptations in certain respects (including “posture of the not be read too closely in the context of an ephemeral culture faithful”). The Catholic Bishops of Australia as a whole tend that is not a faith culture (but, rather, is a temporal civil society to liturgical minimalism, and the Liturgical Commission of culture). So to read is to take oneself and the Church into the Conference was until recently focused on Brisbane (a “potholes”; to frustrate authentic liturgical reform; to frustrate centre of “minimalism” and “wreckovation”), and it is not genuine liturgical development; and to make oneself antiquated, surprising that the new GIRM for Australia should seek a like wearing 1960s trousers when anyone who has lived through recognitio for elements that give liturgical expression to a that era knows that “blue suede shoes” were a passing fad of a culture of minimalism and of conformity. This is most evident passing and undiscerning culture. Again, one steps around the in establishing as normative bowing – rather than genuflection “potholes”, and gets on with “getting back to the future”! – in approaching the Blessed Sacrament in Holy Communion. The norm of genuflection is maintained for celebrants (GIRM Summing-up 2002, ##242, 246, 268), but is dropped for laity for whom a bow There are many more issues raised by the new GIRM that is “recommended” (GIRM, 2002, #160). Ironically, this is at could be examined along these lines – even some that are in odds with #274 where genuflection is interpreted as signifying my view useful! And there are some compliments that could

7 The Priest be made (like its simplified structure and its much smoother The celebration of the Mass [in a manner urged in this Letter] English rendering of the Latin than the preceding GIRM). But according to the Missal of Paul VI will be able to demonstrate, such an examination would become a book, not an article. more powerfully than has been the case hitherto, the sacrality Such an amplified examination might be better balanced, but which attracts many people to the former usage. The most sure it would lack punch! And it is “punch” that is needed if the guarantee that the Missal of Paul VI can unite parish com- munities and be loved by them consists in its being celebrated “potholes” are to be identified, and named for what they are, with great reverence in harmony with the liturgical directives. and if priests (and, please God even bishops!) are to interpret This will bring out the spiritual richness and the theological and implement the revised GIRM for Australia in ways that depth of this Missal. as I have elsewhere outlined contribute to the Holy Father’s (Letter dated 7 July 2007 of Pope Benedict XVI to the Bishops of the World to present the “Motu proprio” on the Use of the Roman Liturgy prior to the Reforms of 1970. See “The call for “mutual enrichment” between the two forms of the Priest”, November 2007, pages 24f.) Roman rite (“Implementing Summorum Pontificum”, Inter Nos, February 2008, pp.2-3). The crucial need in Australia today “The” Motu proprio. In this progress it is impossible is not “levelling” nor “minimalisation”, but enrichment. And not to mention the Motu proprio Summorum Pontificum: the new GIRM needs to be received and implemented with an “Considering attentively the Motu proprio, as well as the letter eye to liturgical “enrichment”, and with an eye to the greater addressed by the Pope to the bishops of all the world to present glory of God, the edification of our congregations, and the it, a twofold precise understanding emerges. First of all, that of actual participation in the divine worship through the worthy facilitating the accomplishing of ‘a reconciliation in the bosom celebration and adoration of the Most Holy Sacrament of the of the Church’; and in this sense, as has been said, the Motu Eucharist. proprio is a most beautiful act of love towards the unity of the Church. In second place – and this is a fact which must not be forgotten – that [understanding] of favouring a reciprocal Continued from page 6 enrichment between the two forms of the Roman rite: in to direct the papal ceremonies with rigour and faithfulness to the such a way, for instance, that in the celebration according to norms is a help to the Faith of the entire Church. “The liturgy of the Missal of Paul VI (the ordinary form of the Roman rite) the Church – explains Marini – with its words, gestures, silences, ‘can become manifest, more powerfully than has been the chants and music causes us to live with singular efficacy the case hitherto, the sacrality which attracts many people to the different moments of the history of Salvation in such a way that ancient usage’.” we become really participant in them and transform ourselves These are important days for the Church. Days in which she ever more into authentic disciples of the Lord, walking again in relives the Passion, Death and Resurrection of the Lord. The our lives along the traces of Him who has died and risen for our days of Lent, of Holy Week and then of Easter: “Lent – Marini salvation. The liturgical celebration, if it is truly participated in, says – is a time of sincere conversion in a spiritual climate of induces to this transformation which is the history of holiness.” austerity. An austerity which is not an end in itself, but directed Spatial “Repositioning”. And a help in this “transformation” can at facilitating the recovering of what is truly essential in human be that “repositioning” of the Cross in the centre of the altar, which life. And that which is truly essential, beyond everything, is has been carried out in the papal liturgies, as a residue [Rodari’s God. That is why Lent is a privileged time of returning to word] of the old “orientation towards orient” of churches: towards God with all one’s heart, by means of the threefold way of the rising Sun, Him who is Coming. “The position of the Cross prayer, fast and almsgiving, as the page of the Gospel of Ash at the centre of the altar – says Marini – indicates the centrality Wednesday recalls. It is the time in which we are called to of the Crucified in the Eucharistic celebration and the precise relive interiorly, in the arch of the forty days, the experience interior orientation which the entire congregation is called to have of the ancient people of God wandering in the desert and the during the Eucharistic liturgy: one does not look at each other, experience of temptation undergone by Jesus. Fundamentally, but one looks to Him who has been born, has died and is risen both these experiences take us back to a battle lived in order for us, the Saviour. From the Lord comes the salvation, He is the to find God and remain in intimate communion with Him, to Orient, the Sun which rises to whom we all must turn our gaze, preserve the primacy of His will in our life, not to allow that from Whom we all must receive the gift of grace. The question something else than Him have the capacity to annex the human of liturgical orientation, and also the practical manner in which it heart. With Easter, on the other hand, new spiritual sceneries takes shape, is of great importance, because through it is conveyed open themselves, coloured by exultant joy, by overabundant a fundamental fact, at once theological and anthropological, life, by luminous hope: because with the risen Christ, death ecclesiological and relevant for the personal spirituality.” is vanquished, sin and evil do not have the last word anymore on the life of man, the blessed eternity is a real prospect, life Continuity. A “repositioning”, that of the Cross, which exposes finds a fulfilled meaning, it is discovered that the Truth of the how the liturgical practices of the past must also live today. face of God is merciful Love without end.” “The liturgy of the Church – says Marini – (as incidentally all Her life) is made of continuity: I would speak of development (www.thenewliturgicalmovement.blogspot.com [20 October 2007]) in continuity. This means that the Church proceeds on her way through history without losing sight of her own roots and her This means that the Church proceeds on her way through own living tradition: this can require, in some cases, also the history without losing sight of her own roots and her own living recovering of precious and important elements which have been tradition: this can require, in some cases, also the recovering of lost, forgotten along the way and which the passing of time has precious and important elements which have been lost, forgotten rendered less shining in their authentic significance. When that along the way and which the passing of time has rendered less happens it is not a return to the past, but a true and enlightened shining in their authentic significance. When that happens it is progress in the liturgical field.” not a return to the past, but a true and enlightened progress in the liturgical field. (Monsignor Guido Marini in translation of interview reproduced on this page.) (Ed.)

May 2008 8 Father John Patrick Wilkinson, CM: an obituary

Father Peter Thompson, CM

It was not until I read this Obituary that I realised the age of This “in memoriam” for this Father Wilkinson – certainly, I reckoned him as an aged priest, long-time and faithful ACCC but not one of advanced age! And he never gave a sense of a man member is contributed at the who had taken a vow “not to waste time”, because his manner invitation of the Editor by the was always serene and unhurried, and his mind remained sharp. Very Rev. Peter Thompson, His kindly face and demeanour will be missed at ACCC Annual CM, Rector of Vianney College Conferences, at which he was a regular participant. (Ed.) Seminary in Wagga Wagga.

John Patrick Wilkinson was born in 1914 in Wallsend, NSW, years on parish missions and supply work, based at Ashfield in and after completing his primary education at St Patrick’s Sydney. He loved this work too and whether he was invited to Convent School, under the Sisters of Mercy, he completed a parish for a formal mission or whether it was a supply, while his secondary education at St Stanislaus’ College, Bathurst the PP took a holiday, the parish got a mission anyway. from 1927 to 1931. In 1990 he was invited by the late Father John Whiting, to join He joined the Vincentians in 1932 and was ordained a priest on the teaching staff at Christ the Priest Seminary at Scoresby in 20 July 1938. He left almost immediately for Ireland, gaining Victoria, where he was involved in formation of members of a Master of Arts and a Diploma in Education. Because of the the Confraternity of Christ the Priest. It was from Scoresby danger associated with travelling during the war, the Vincen- that he accepted the invitation of Bishop Brennan to be part of tian superiors insisted that Father Wilkinson remain in Ireland the foundation staff of Vianney College. And so at the age of until the end of the war, teaching at St Patrick’s Seminary, 77 he moved to Wagga Wagga for what was to be his longest Armagh and then serving for a short time as spiritual director single appointment of 13 years. at All Hallows’ College. On return to Australia in mid-1945 he In typical fashion Fr John soon added other ministries and was appointed to the teaching staff of St Stanislaus College. apostolates to add to his work here in the seminary. Finding In 1948 the Vincentians were asked to staff St Charles’ Semi- himself again close to a University he was soon active as nary in Perth and Father John Wilkinson, at the age of 34, a chaplain to Charles Sturt University, probably creating a became the Rector and Superior of the Vincentian Community. record as the oldest university chaplain in Australia. He was He remained in that post for 10 years. active in providing spiritual support to various groups and individuals around Wagga and beyond and his friendship In 1958, Fr Wilkinson was appointed Provincial for the was appreciated by countless individuals and families. With Vincentian Congregation in Australia and New Zealand, a an astounding memory for names and faces he kept up a pro- position he held until 1964. He was responsible during this digious correspondence right up to the end of his life, despite period for extending the Vincentian apostolate to Fiji and severely failing eyesight. was often personally involved in that pioneering work. It was during this period that I began my formation as a Vincentian John Wilkinson was a man of great faith, in every sense of seminarian and I can well recall him returning from long the word. The Catholic faith filled and directed every decision periods in Fiji and relating long stories of his experiences he made, every direction he took. He was most sensitive with there, well adorned with names and places that were fixed in regard to orthodoxy. But most of all we recall his unremitting his prodigious memory. zeal and constant effort to see that the Gospel be proclaimed and lived as widely and as thoroughly as possible. “Woe to On leaving the office of Provincial, Fr John had short appoint- me, if I do not preach the Gospel”, was the cry of St Paul and ments again at Bathurst and Perth, before being appointed, in indeed should be the cry of every priest. But it was certainly 1967, as the first Catholic Chaplain to the newly established a strong motivation with Fr John. Macquarie University. The university authorities refused to recognise him as chaplain and so he operated by enrolling If Fr John had a personal motto, it could well have been, Zelus as a student himself and living in a small dilapidated cottage domus tuae comedit me (Zeal for your house has consumed nearby, which also became the centre of his chaplaincy work. me). Fr John so identified himself with the Gospel, the Good Despite the less than ideal conditions, he took to this work News, that we could say the same of him, especially given with his usual enthusiasm and formed many contacts and that he had made a vow to God never to waste time. friendships that endured until the end of his life. With this tremendous dynamism that led him never to be In 1973, Fr John was appointed to the Holy Cross Seminary idle, there was also a great serenity that seemed to be more in Mosgiel, New Zealand, where he remained for six years. obvious as he grew older. Fellow priests, religious and lay It was not an easy time to work in a seminary and one of his people from all walks of life turned to him for advice and colleagues remarked that if John had any Purgatory to do direction, for Confession and spiritual healing, and he found he would have done it during that appointment. However if time for them all. Mosgiel had been his Purgatory, his next appointment could Shortly after Fr John’s 90th birthday, his superiors decided that be described as Hell. It took him to the centre of the war zone the time had come to withdraw him from active work and trans- during the Lebanese War where he served for two years, 1979- 80, at Beirut, at the College St Joseph. There followed 10 Continued at page 13, below.

9 The Priest Professor David Birch Pope Benedict XVI : Fidei Defensor holds the Chair in Com- munication at Deakin faith as the substance of things hoped for University, Burwood, Melbourne, and is Associate Editor of the David Birch journal.

First, love (Deus Caritas est)1 then hope (Spe Salvi)2, and What we have here, then, in the opening sections of Spe Salvi perhaps now (who knows?) at this very moment, Pope Benedict is a rigorous defence of what faith means in Catholicism. Pope XVI is working on a third encyclical dedicated to faith (Fides). Benedict further explains: “Faith gives life a new basis, a new Certainly, understanding “faith” from a specifically Catholic foundation on which we can stand.” He then goes on to say perspective is a foundational tenet of Pope Benedict’s teaching that this creates a new freedom for us – a “new substance” and theology. In that respect, dare I suggest, the third encyclical – enabling people to “resist the overbearing power of ideology may well be entitled Fidei Defensor, if, as he is likely to (should and its political organs and, by their death, renew the world.” he ever write it) he returns to the theme he developed in the This need to resist such things has been, and continues to be, a opening sections of his second encyclical Spe Salvi where he recurring theme in the Pope’s writing and teaching. quotes from the Letter to the Hebrews (chap.11 v. 1): “Faith Faith, as the Pope teaches it, is the concrete (substantial) is the hypostasis of things hoped for; the proof of things not promise of Christ. It is not, therefore, something we hope seen.” This short verse is absolutely central in the way that for from the future, obtained by our own actions (Luther’s “faith” has been variously defined over many centuries, and “justification by works”), but is a real presence now. It is the Pope Benedict’s teaching on it in Spe Salvi, I suggest here, is acceptance of this understanding of faith which, as Catholics, absolutely crucial to our better understanding of his teaching we can, and should, use as a counter action in the ever increasing on Church/State relations and the role of the Church and laity “dictatorship of relativism” which seeks, as the Pope has pointed in public and civic life. out many times, to weaken “the possibility of a common ethical He italicises “hypostasis” (the Vulgate uses “substantia”) horizon” in an ever globalising world where we seem more pointing out that since the Reformation this word has been and more anxious, as we construct more and more, to destroy the subject of considerable debate and dissenting theology, more and more. not least from Martin Luther onwards. Translated as, “Faith is This does not mean retreating from the world, to protect the substance of things hoped for”, the Holy Father points out ourselves and our faith from the world. For many years, before that, as such, “there are already present in us the things that are he became Pope, Cardinal Ratzinger made it clear that, “the hoped for: the whole, true life.” But Luther3 defined “substance” Church must make claims and demands on public law and not in the sense of a reality present within us, but as an interior cannot simply retreat into the private sphere.”8 But he has attitude. What this has meant over the last few centuries is that also made it clear that there are also limits to those claims and “faith” has been increasingly understood as “being convinced of demands.9 The Church also includes the laity who, the Pope what one does not see”, rather than of a concrete (“substantial”) teaches, also has a significant role to play. In November 2002, reality already there. as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Ronald Knox translated this crucial verse as, “What is faith? It he issued (with Archbishop Bertone) Doctrinal Note on Some is that which gives substance to our hopes, which convinces us Questions Regarding the Participation of Catholics in Political of things we cannot see.”4 This is a distinctly more objective Life, writing that, in accordance with the teaching of the Second understanding of “faith” than the rather more subjective version Vatican Council,10 “By fulfilling their civic duties, (guided by given, for example, in the New International Version5 which a Christian conscience), in conformity with its values, the lay says, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain faithful exercise their proper task of infusing the temporal of what we do not see.” This translation (from a version of the order with Christian values, all the while respecting the nature Bible widely used by many non-Catholics) puts the agency and and rightful autonomy of that order, and cooperating with responsibility of faith onto us as individuals – as something we other citizens according to their particular competence and can obtain by our own acts (a very post-reformation perspective), responsibility.”11 whereas the Holy Father in Spe Salvi is seeking to restore the As such, quoting Pope John Paul II,12 he continued, “the lay concept of faith as a reality already present. He says, “Faith is faithful are never to relinquish their participation in “public not merely a personal reaching out towards things to come that life”; that is, in the many different economic, social, legislative, are still totally absent: it gives us something. It gives us even administrative and cultural areas, which are intended to promote now something of the reality we are waiting for, and this present organically and institutionally the common good.” In this way reality constitutes for us a ‘proof’ of the things that are still the Catholic laity can actively contribute in the “promotion and unseen.” In other words “faith” is not something we can create defence of goods such as public order and peace, freedom and ourselves – something human – but is a gift from the Divine. equality, respect for human life and for the environment, justice The Jerusalem Bible emphasises this teaching by translating the and solidarity.” But always from a perspective demonstrating verse as, “Only faith can guarantee the blessings that we hope the “coherence between faith and life, Gospel and culture”.13 for, or prove the existence of the realities that at present remain Importantly, as Prefect of the Congregation then, and as Pope unseen.”6 This version focuses more closely on the fact that it is now, Benedict XVI makes it very clear that the Catholic laity faith that does the guaranteeing not the person doing the hoping, can’t simply decide which bits of that “perspective” to choose to and further, emphasising the original Greek ejlegco~ (objective follow, just as none of us can decide that faith is about personal proof)7, as against a personal (subjective) conviction. aspiration rather than Divine substance. With Archbishop

May 2008 10 Bertone he points out that: the Pope’s defence of the faith and continuation of Pope John In recent years, there have been cases within some organisations Paul II’s new evangelisation. founded on Catholic principles, in which support has been given Speaking the day before he became Pope he said: “To have to political forces or movements with positions contrary to the moral and social teaching of the Church on fundamental ethical a clear faith according to the Church’s creed is today often questions. Such activities, in contradiction to basic principles labelled fundamentalism while relativism, letting ourselves of Christian conscience, are not compatible with membership be carried away by any wind of doctrine, appears as the in organisations or associations which define themselves as only appropriate attitude for today’s times. A dictatorship of Catholic. Similarly, some Catholic periodicals in certain countries relativism is established that recognises nothing definite and have expressed perspectives on political choices that have been leaves only one’s own ego and one’s own desires as the final ambiguous or incorrect, by misinterpreting the idea of the political measure.”21 autonomy enjoyed by Catholics....14 That “final measure”, is, in effect, one of the very negative And he calls for Christians to, “exert a greater effort in building consequences of not understanding faith as “the substance a culture which, inspired by the Gospel, will reclaim the values of things hoped for”. Hence the importance, I would suggest, and contents of the Catholic Tradition.” Saying that, “It is of the Pope’s teaching on faith in the opening sections of Spe insufficient and reductive to think that the commitment of Salvi. Catholics in society can be limited to a simple transformation of structures, because if at the basic level there is no culture Notes: capable of receiving, justifying and putting into practice 1 Deus Caritas est, Rome 25 December 2005. positions deriving from faith and morals, the changes will 2 Spe Salvi, Rome, 30 November 2007. 15 always rest on a weak foundation.” 3 Luther gave a series of lectures on the Letter to the Heberws in 1517-18; see James Atkinson, Martin Luther and the Birth of Protestantism, Pelican Books, It is clear then that the politics of such a statement becomes 1968, pp.127-132. even more powerful and dynamic when we fully understand 4 The New Testament of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Burns Oates and what the Pope here means by “faith”. Because if not understood Washbourne, London, 1953. as he means it to be, as substance – a concrete reality, his call 5 New International Version, International Bible Society, Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1973. for action and change here, from Catholics in public and civic 6 The Jerusalem Bible, Darton, Longman & Todd, London, 1966. life, might read as somewhat benign theology – when in fact, 7 The original Greek word referred to a very specific legal assurance much along the read through his definition of faith as substance, it is a much lines of a contemporary deed of title to a property. more highly “politicised” call to evangelisation. This is what 8 “Theology and the Church’s Political Stance”, in Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, a defender of the faith does – actively defends.16 Church, Ecumenism and Politics: New Essays in Ecclesiology, New York, Crossroad, 1988. But such a call to action should not be interpreted in any way 9 For example, as Pope Benedict XVI, he made it clear in his Letter of the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI to the Bishops, Priests, Consecrated Persons and Lay as a call for a diminution of the clear duality of Church and Faithful of the Catholic Church in the People’s Republic of China, 27 May, 2007, State, which is firmly at the heart of Catholic teaching. The that “the Catholic Church which is in China does not have a mission to change the Pope, as Cardinal Ratzinger, argued, many years ago, for structure or administration of the State; rather, her mission is to proclaim Christ to men and women, as the Saviour of the world, basing herself – in carrying out her example, that “the fundamental task of the Church’s political proper apostolate – on the power of God.” But, at the same time, the Church “asks stance ... must be to maintain this balance of a dual system as the State to guarantee to those same Catholic citizens the full exercise of their faith, with respect for authentic religious freedom.” the foundation of freedom.”17 And he rigorously maintains this 10 See the Second Vatican Council, Decree Apostolicam Actuositatem, 7; Dogmatic position today. Political freedom in this light is, the Pope has Constitution Lumen Gentium, 36 and the Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, argued many times, a fundamentally Christian “invention”, 31 and 43. and does not translate as easily as some might like to think into 11 Doctrinal Note on Some Questions Regarding the Participation of Catholics in Political Life, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Rome, 24 November non-Christian discourses. This position is at the heart of his 2002, 1. current concerns on the state of world polity and its increasing 12 John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles Laici, 42. marginalisation of Christianity, especially in Europe. He refers 13 Doctrinal Note on Some Questions Regarding the Participation of Catholics to this marginalisation as a result of a growing “secularism” in Political Life, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Rome, 24 November 2002, V,9 which seeks to minimise, or in some cases, completely exclude 14 Doctrinal Note on Some Questions Regarding the Participation of Catholics in any sign of religion in the affairs and activities of the State. He Political Life, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Rome, November 24, would prefer to see a return to an understanding of “secularity in 2002 IV, 7 a world (“saeculum”) which recognises the distinctive domains 15 Doctrinal Note on Some Questions Regarding the Participation of Catholics in Political Life, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Rome, November 24, of religion and state, but which does not exclude (or oppose) 2002, IV, 7 18 the presence of religion within it. 16 This is what St Thomas More did from 1520 until his imprisonment and eventual martyrdom in 1535 for example, when he actively defended Catholic doctrine against Further, the Pope has made it clear (through his reiteration of the incursion into then Catholic England of numerous reforming tracts and books, the teaching of the Second Vatican Council19) that, “The Church painstakingly answering each with a counter book of his own on behalf of the Church. King Henry VIII may have gained the title Fidei Defensor from Pope Leo X in October cannot and must not take upon herself the political battle to 1521, for the anti-Lutheran book, written for Henry by [St] Thomas More, Assertio bring about the most just society possible. She cannot and must Septem Sacramentorum, but it was More who was the real defender. not replace the State. Yet at the same time she cannot and must 17 “Theology and the Church’s Political Stance” in Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger Church, Ecumenism and Politics: New Essays in Ecclesiology, New York, Crossroad, not remain on the sidelines in the fight for justice. She has to 1988. play her part through rational argument and she has to reawaken 18 See, Fr James Schall (2007),“Secularity: On Benedict XVI and the Role of Religion the spiritual energy without which justice, which always in Society”: http://www.ignatiusinsight.com/features2007/schall_secularity_jan07. asp. demands sacrifice, cannot prevail and prosper. A just society 19 Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the 20 must be the achievement of politics, not of the Church.” It Modern World Gaudium et Spes, 76. is that “spiritual energy” that is central to the activity of the 20 Deus Caritas est 25 December 2005, 28. Church, clerical, religious and lay. It is an energy essential in 21 Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, sermon at the pre-Conclave Mass, 18 April 2005.

11 The Priest The Hidden Costs of Co-Education

Andrew Mullins is head- Andrew Mullins master of Redfield College, a school in Sydney for boys in It is now “news” that boys in schooling in Australia under- Years 2 to 12. He is author of perform compared with girls. The issues are more complex “Parenting for Character” than “single sex” (now long ago! all my schooling was (Finch Publishing, 2005). co-educational, and I did not under-perform), and there is the large issue also of curriculum design for boys. The lack First, the economic argument. There are apparent economies of flourishing of boys also impinges upon their identifying of scale for coeducational schools: the extra costs involved a manly vocation – priesthood – and this is relevant to our of either duplicating facilities to run separate boys and readership. In their own ways, girls also are losing, and girls schools, or of halving market appeal should schools we see this in the continuing lack of identification of those open doors for one sex alone. But how can we not afford uniquely womanly vocations – spiritual motherhood in the single-sex schools? The costs to our country of educational religious life, and natural maternity in marriage – besides under-achievement are astronomical. We know that tertiary also in robust womanly leadership across the “life’s work” enrolment rates for males have dropped some 15 percentage spectrum. This article simply makes some points that need to points in the past 30 years. We know that until 20 years ago be heard. It was drawn from www.mercatornet.com. (Ed.) there was minimal difference in boys and girls performance in end-of-schooling exams in Australia; now only 45 per The four schools of the Parents for Education Foundation in cent of boys score above-average marks. Most important, Sydney are, to my knowledge, the only single-sex schools to the research shows that single-sex schooling can reverse have commenced in Australia since 1980, public or private. these trends. The economic conclusion follows. For example Given the renewed interest over the past 15 years in single- the studies of Australian researcher Ken Rowe present a sex education in both the United States and Europe, this is compelling case for the effect that single-sex schools have surprising. on improving academic achievement.

Escalating support for single-sex schooling is evident particu- Single-sex schools are also better able to address socio- larly in the United States. A major feature, “Teaching boys and economic and gender injustice. There is evidence that the girls separately”, recently appeared earlier this month in the educationally rich have access to ever-better education, but New York Times. Author Elizabeth Weil outlined the dramatic that the educational ghettos are growing and that children at increase in public schools offering single-sex classes, from risk are falling further behind. In the entire Western world we some dozen schools in 2002, to more than 360 schools currently seem to have no problem filling our classrooms with happy in cities right across the State. In the past three years alone, some primary kids, but something too often is coming unstuck 30 single-sex schools, not just schools with some single-sex in secondary comprehensive coeducational schools. Weil classes, have opened. She attributes the new commitment to quotes a Tennessee educational bureaucrat, “Co-ed’s not single-sex schooling primarily to interest in the work of Leonard working. Time to try something else.” Sax, and she also refers to a number of new schools that have drawn inspiration from the Young Women’s Leadership School Here in the state of New South Wales, the State Govern- in Harlem (TYWLS), regarded by some as the birthplace of the ment has established a system of selective schools for current single-sex public school movement in the USA. children with IQs over 130 and only permits the release of top performer scores at the end of schooling. This makes it A surge of support for single-sex schooling is also evident in appear that selective public schools hold their own against Europe. Last year the European Association of Single-Sex single-sex independent schools. But most children learn in Education (EASSE) held a major international conference in non-selective, coeducational environments. They are being Barcelona with an impressive array of international speakers. short changed. Matt Aldous, a young history teacher working in a Sydney school, attended. After hearing about the scientific and socio- Furthermore male and female brains are essentially differ- logical evidence for the benefits of single-sex schooling, his ent. Elizabeth Weil writes, “A deluge of data has emerged impression was that “the lack of government support for single- in recent years detailing how boys and girls have different sex schooling is driven not by the data, but by blind ideology developmental trajectories and different brains.” Leonard or outdated assumptions.” Sax has developed a comprehensive case for single-sex schooling in his book Why Gender Matters: What Parents There are at least five essential arguments for governments to And Teachers Need To Know About The Emerging Science sponsor the development of single-sex schools. First of all there Of Sex Differences. His recent book Boys Adrift: The Five is the argument of economic necessity: that the demonstrable Factors Driving The Growing Epidemic Of Unmotivated educational under-achievement of students in near universal Boys And Underachieving Young Men, supports his earlier coeducational environments damages national economies. findings. Second, the new educational approach could remedy social- economic and gender injustices. Third, boys and girls learn A significant number of single-sex schools are being estab- differently and require differing educational environments. lished on the related insight that boys and girls have different Fourth, boys and girls have differing social needs. Finally, moral social needs. The TYWLS schools are founded on the principle education is more effective in a single-sex environment. that exclusive attention to girls in a single-sex setting allows

May 2008 12 Cont., Mullins from page 12 Cont., Wilkinson obituary from page 9 their gifts to flourish. The data is particularly compelling for fer him from Vianney College to the Vincentian Community girls’ schools. John Williams is the father of five girls who at Malvern. They envisaged a restful winding down of a long have completed single-sex schooling in Sydney, with another and fruitful apostolate. In his speech at Fr John’s farewell from still at school. He says, “My girls flourish in a girls-only Wagga before taking up the appointment in Malvern, Bishop classroom. They are allowed to be themselves and develop Hanna made the mistake of publicly wishing Fr John a happy their own talents. And it has certainly not held them back retirement. The Bishop was very quickly corrected over that in relationships. My oldest three are now have settled into matter! Fr John accepted his transfer with typical obedience but marriages and are very happy. Between them they have nine retirement was far from his thoughts. Although he was a rela- children of their own.” tive stranger to Melbourne, he soon found ample fields for his priestly ministry in celebrating Mass for communities of sisters, Lastly, there are strong moral arguments for single-sex school- giving talks to religious and to other groups, and constantly ing. Perhaps there was a pre-industrial, pre-urban time in the keeping up old contacts and making new ones. village when mixed schooling was natural and socially appro- priate. But we live in a different age. A large coeducational I am sure John was ready when the Lord unexpectedly called school in the modern city can be positively damaging for some him on the evening of February 18. He had been out to dinner children because parents lose all management of the incipient with friends that very day and had had enjoyed a hearty meal. social life of their children. Parents are the primary educators He was preparing to retire for the night and was about to make and nobody else has the right to set the moral agenda in chil- a final visit to the Blessed Sacrament, as was his custom, when dren’s upbringing, neither a peer group nor their teachers. the Lord decided to call him directly to his heavenly presence. He was found a few hours later, having died, as he would have The New York Times feature on single-sex schooling is one of wished, literally with his boots on. the most talked-about articles of the month of its publicaiton. This is a change we all can believe in, wherever we are. The He was indeed a man of great faith and great virtue and his new Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, recently promised example should encourage us and help us to imitate him. The an “educational revolution” – and it turned out to be a billion consoling doctrine of the Communion of Saints teaches us that dollars worth of computers for secondary students. Of course our prayers and especially our offering of the sacrifice of the these funds are welcome, but why not try something truly Mass are acceptable to the all merciful God for our departed revolutionary, like applying common sense to the frightening brothers and sisters who are still undergoing purification. And decline in the educational fortunes of boys? The evidence so we pray for John if he is still in need of our prayers. Eternal is overwhelming for single-sex schools. The only thing that rest grant unto him, O Lord, and may his soul and the souls of stands in the way is cobwebbed ideology. all the faithful departed rest in peace. Amen

Monsignor John Patrick Kelly: a tribute Rev. Monsignor John P. Kelly was Pastor Emeritus of Garran Parish in the Woden Valley At the time of his death, Mgr Kelly was the senior priest of Canberra, and a long-time supporter of of the Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn, having been ACCC, who expressed this by a bequest to the ordained 67 years earlier at the age of 22. He was born in Confraternity. The brief tribute here presented Goulburn, spent early years in the Monaro region, and was draws upon the Editor’s personal knowledge of Mgr Kelly and the tribute by the Most Rev. a foundation student at St Christopher’s School opened by Patrick Power appearing in Catholic Voice of the Good Samaritan Sisters in Manuka. As a lad, he wit- September 2007. (Ed.) nessed the opening of Parliament House in Canberra in 1927, standing with his brother Terry on a haystack at their uncle Eddie’s farm. Over the years, Father Kelly undertook many roles, includ- ing Diocesan Consultor and Trustee, Chairman of the Sick After studying at St Columba’s College, Springwood, and and Retired Priests Fund, and Dean of the Central Deanery. St Patrick’s Seminary, Manly, he was ordained to the priest- hood by Archbishop (later Cardinal) Gilroy in St Mary’s Across his long priestly life, Mgr Kelly manifested a great Cathedral, Sydney, on 25 July 1940. The then Bishop of stability in his devotion to his priesthood, and also a great Goulburn sent him to the University of Sydney to complete stability in his adherence to the Magisterium of the Church. a Bachelor of Arts and Diploma of Education, and in 1947 Throughout his life he also continued as a serious student he was appointed Inspector of Schools for the diocese. – as the rooms packed with books in his retirement home testify. In 1958 he was appointed Parish Priest of Bombala. During this time, the then young widow, Mrs Ida Feld, began house- Although the Australian Confraternity of Catholic Clergy keeping for Father Kelly, and faithfully continued thus for benefits from the support of the recent growth in young the rest of his life. In 1966 he was appointed to Braidwood clergy who adhere to the Magisterium of the Church, the Parish, and then in 1968 he began as the founding pastor of “tributes” to our deceased brethren in this issue nevertheless St Peter and Paul’s Parish, Garran, in the then new satel- reflect the impact on the ACCC also of the age profile of lite city area of Woden Valley, Canberra, where he remained clergy in Australia. We are grateful of the support across the until his retirement at the age of 75 in 1992. In 1971 he was years of this loyal priest, offer our suffrages for his repose, appointed Prelate of Honour with the title of Monsignor by and pray that God will bless us with like increase. (Ed.) His Holiness Pope Paul VI.

13 The Priest The Gift of Confession: A Positive Approach to the Sacrament of Reconciliation

Rev. Michael de Stoop is a priest of the Father Michael de Stoop Archdiocese of Sydney, and Director of Vocations, and an Assistant Priest at St Taking a cue from the author’s first heading, below, I might say, Mary’s Cathedral, and Catholic Youth “How I came to publish this article? Unusually, I decided to invite Services Chaplain. the author to do his own review of his book! figuring that he’s best placed to tell us what we need to know. I notice that he’s not book, I was very happy to see that my appreciation of this told all, and it’s still worth buying the book! (Ed.) sacrament was richly renewed in the process. It is a welcome alternative to focus on the positive things we receive from Confession rather than just the negative things it takes How I came to write this book away. The beginnings were not with the intention of writing a book. As a chaplain for the Catholic Youth Services, one of I can understand why many, including myself, have been my tasks is to provide spiritual direction for the three young amazed to learn how this sacrament affords so many benefits. men and three young women who have dedicated one year of Fear blinds us. It can even blind us to positive things. Our their lives to the Church. They live together in an old convent response to the Priesthood is another instance of this. How in separate quarters, pray together and work together. Their many of us through fear tried to run from our calling when work consists of helping parishes to establish youth groups we first perceived it, only to find out the many blessings and they also assist Catholic schools to run their retreats. In of our vocation when we responded? Since most of our all this they promote and give witness to the Catholic Faith attention in going to Confession is usually focused on the with their contagious enthusiasm. negative things it takes away; namely, sin and its effects, then it is most understandable why the fears associated with During the first few weeks of the year these volunteers guilt, shame, disappointment, eternal punishment, and what undergo their training. When the director of Catho- the priest will think of us can prevent us from seeing what lic Youth Services, Lyndon Cox, asked me to give a talk the Lord is doing in us because we only have eyes to see to this Missionary Team on this topic I set myself the task what we are doing – that is, coughing up our sins! of preparing a few thoughts, much from the appreciation that I have gained from receiving spiritual direction myself So, for those who would like to know how this sacrament over the years. can be much more than a spiritual equivalent of a trip to the dentist, they will not be disappointed. In expectation of its Having read some of my notes, Cardinal Pell encouraged many gifts, I now look forward to receiving this sacrament me to publish my talks for the benefit of other young people all the more as a penitent. It has also enriched my apprecia- within Catholic circles such as university chaplaincies, tion of this sacrament on the other side of the grille –and, parishes and youth groups. Such prompting gave me the for as a priest, being more aware of what grace is made motivation to explore further detail on this topic so as to available to penitents inspires much awe. provide a more substantial presentation of what spiritual direction is and how young people may benefit from it. In so The Main Points in the Book doing, the chapter in the book which explains how spiritual direction relates to the Sacrament of Penance became quite If there is one thing in common with the main points in this lengthy. So the Cardinal suggested that I write a separate book, it is that the Sacrament of Reconciliation does not book which enumerates the benefits we receive from the just free us from vice; it also gives us freedom for virtue. Sacrament of Reconciliation in particular. Likewise, it does not just liberate us from sin; it also provides freedom for holiness. When I picked up where I left off, I began writing about ten benefits we are able to receive from the Sacrament As for the specific benefits described in the book, there are of Reconciliation. Then it grew to fifteen. Then twenty. too many to summarise here. So if you want to know what Prayerful reflection upon my own appreciation of this the twenty-five benefits are, “unwrap” it and find out! It also sacrament as a penitent led me to consider that there are at features many quotes from the saints, interesting analogies, least twenty-five benefits. I did not want to add any more true stories, and reflections on my own experiences of this benefits beyond this point because I knew that would detract sacrament both as a penitent and priest. from the aim of the book; namely, to convince the reader that It is the kind of book parents could leave lying on the kitchen the benefits of Confession are many – yes, many – but that table. They will not need to draw it to their childrens’ atten- every one of them is indeed striking and genuine. tion because the book cover will do that! If the book was Many who have read the book have told me that they are called, “Why Sin is Bad” or “Why we Need Confession” it amazed to learn that this sacrament profits us in so many certainly would not suit a person to read it if it threatens his ways. I too am surprised because my appreciation of this bad habits he has come to love as portions of himself. As sacrament before writing this book consisted of not much Benjamin Franklin said: more than an awareness of the negative things this sacrament To change the mind against its will takes away; namely, sin and its effects. Having written the is to be of the same opinion still.

May 2008 14 No one is likely to be curios about what does not suit him to I guess they wanted to know what the twenty-five benefits be curious about! However, since the book consists of a posi- were, rather than answers to frequently asked questions. tive approach to the Sacrament of Reconciliation, it appeals The following comments have been noted from those who to the will, not just the intellect. The “curiosity factor” is have read it: likely to cut in for practically everyone who comes across There is a whole lost generation. This book has long been it, because unless governed by melancholy, no one likes the needed to bring Catholics back to Confession. prospect of missing out on something legitimately good. I find it hard to read. I don’t have a mind for abstract concepts, but since this book contains easy-to-read sentences and con- In addition to describing the benefits this Sacrament affords, tains good analogies, I couldn’t put it down. What also made this book also contains information about the reality of sin it easy to read are its short chapters. and its effects. This content fits well within the work because I haven’t been able to find many books today which have a to know how this Sacrament is beneficial the reader first good guide to Confession and an examination of conscience. needs to understand how and why sin is detrimental. In so I was delighted to see that this book has the guidance I was doing, the reader is more likely to become more aware of looking for. such things as: occasions of sin, a disquieted conscience, All the anxiety I had about Confession is now gone. I am not temporal punishment, what constitutes serious matter, and afraid to confess my sins to a priest anymore. In fact I am numerous other things of which Catholics would do well to looking forward to it. be more aware. The reader is not likely to find this content (The regular retail price of the original work is $19.95, unpleasant because it is fully integrated with the book’s while the abridged edition is $9.95. Published by Connor Court, 2007.) scope in describing Confession’s benefits. Thus, the reader is apt to grow in awareness of sin in our age – which often denies its very existence. Cont., Mitchell from page 16 The idea for incorporating personal testimonies from young In the appendix there are a number of things which make people into my journal came from Cindy Cavnar at Servant the book all the more practical. These include answers to Books. I credit her with the idea and initiative for making questions such as, “Why do I need to confess my sins to this book happen. Writing a book is a daunting task for a priest?”; “But can’t God forgive me without this sacra- anyone, let alone a pastor of two parishes. But by the grace ment?”; “What will the priest think of me if I confess this or of God and the help and support of my parents, family, and that sin?”; and other frequently asked questions. I consider many, many friends, it gradually took shape. I wish also to this content to be valuable, because many Catholics have thank Aine Gianoli for her amazing dedication in compiling these questions, and yet they often remain unanswered. Were and editing the final manuscript. this not the case, the stand-offish approach of many would soon dissipate – for, as I have observed, when questions God’s Providence was again at work in making the deadline such as these are answered much assurance in Confession’s for this book fall on All Saints’ Day. As I sit here in my merits is often received. country rectory looking out at the November sky, the grain trucks are rolling by carrying this year’s corn harvest from The appendix also features a guide for a good confession. the Nebraska farmland. The Lord Jesus himself told us in This includes an examination of conscience based upon the the Gospel that the harvest was ready, a harvest of saints for Ten Commandments and the Precepts of the Church and the his kingdom. John Paul II was one of the greatest labourers step-by-step procedure in the confessional. that Christ ever called into his service, and by his life and Lastly, the book contains a comprehensive subject index and witness he has raised up a harvest of saints for the kingdom an index of Scriptural citations. This is designed to provide of heaven, a harvest whose magnitude is only just beginning valuable assistance for priests who wish to integrate some of to be seen. This book is a testimony to just a very few of the book’s contents in their homilies, and for catechist teach- the first fruits of that harvest. I know that I am one of them. ers who wish to expound on the Scriptures in the classroom. And if this little book brings an increase to the harvest, then It may also be helpful to sacramental coordinators, university may Jesus Christ be praised! chaplaincies, youth groups, etc., because in addition to the Endnote: index the book features questions for personal reflection or 1 Pope Benedict XVI, Papal Installation Mass, 24 April 2005. Source: group discussion at the end of each chapter. http://www.ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/B16INSTA.HTM.

Abridged Pocket Edition St John Nepomucene Neumann (1811-1860) An abridged Pocket Edition is also available. It features Readers of the article “Architecture motivated by a desire to serve God” may wonder at the dedication of the church (see pages 18-20, selections of material from the original work to answer the below). This Bishop of Philadelphia,USA, was canonised by Pope Paul questions people frequently ask about this sacrament. So VI in 1977. (See www.stjohnneumann.org from which the photo is drawn.) doing, it is a good teaching resource. Since it is only half the length it is also ideal for the RCIA, young people, and the general use of the laity.

How the Book has Been Received Only three months after the book was released it went out of print (2000 copies were printed). Furthermore, half of the books in the second print are sold already. More people have purchased the original work than the abridged edition.

15 The Priest John Paul II: we love you!

Father Peter Mitchell Way back in November Rev. Dr Peter 2005, a shorter memoir of Mitchell is Parish the momentous events of Priest of Assump- the close of a great pontifi- tion Parish, Dwight, cate by Father Mitchell were in the Diocese of published in this journal. Lincoln, Nebraska, As this issue goes to press, we now celebrate the third USA. anniversary of the pontificate of his august successor, and I had the privilege of being introduced to Pope John Paul in anticipate the presence of His Holiness for WYD2008 in his private library in the Vatican. That morning, knowing I Sydney. These events led to would have just a few seconds to speak to the man who was renewed contact between the and is my hero, I prayed intensely about what I should say to author and the Editor, and him. So many thoughts rolled through my head – but in the my decision to give a taste of this token-of-love book end I knew that I had to tell him just one thing and one thing by publishing (after light only. As my parents, sisters and I were introduced to him, editing) the author’s preface I knelt in front of him and told him, “Holy Father, I was in to this book, “John Paul II; Denver at World Youth Day.” “Denver…” he said back, “…I we love you! young people encounter the Pope” (Servant remember!” And then with tears in my eyes and the biggest, Books, 2007, and available proudest smile I ever smiled, I said, “And I listened to you from Portico Books in Aus- and I became a priest!” “Ve…ry…gooood,” the Pope replied, tralia at A$19.95.) (Ed.) and he blessed me on my forehead and gave me one of his rosaries. A photo of this moment is prominently displayed in “The Church is young!” These were the words of Pope my rectory, and I have told this story of a proud and grateful Benedict XVI at his Solemn Mass of Installation. This son encountering his spiritual father more times than I can truth was made unmistakably clear to the Church and to the possibly remember. I so wanted him to know that after all whole world through the events of the momentous days in that time I was still listening and praying and struggling to Rome in April, 2005, when Pope John Paul the Great passed follow Christ the way he had asked me to. He is the reason from this life to the next. As Pope Benedict described them, I left everything and became a priest. Period. “During those sad days of the Pope’s illness and death, it became wonderfully evident to us that the Church is alive. Fast-forward to April, 2005. I had been scheduled to leave And the Church is young.”1 Rome for the United States during the first week of April to begin a pastoral assignment in my diocese when the Pope This book is about the joy and sadness of those days, as wit- died on April 2. My bishop gave me permission to stay for nessed personally by a young American priest whom God’s the funeral and conclave. God’s Providence brought me Providence happened to favour with the grace of being “in face-to-face with history. Had the Pope died even a week the right place at the right time.” I am a priest of the “JPII later, I would already have departed Rome and this book Generation,” one of a countless number of young American would never have been written. priests today who trace their vocations to hearing the call of Christ at Mile High Stadium in Denver through the words This book exists because of a call I felt from God during and presence of John Paul II at World Youth Day 1993. I those indescribable and absolutely unprecedented days to was ordained in 1999 by Bishop Fabian W. Bruskewitz for share the incredible things I was seeing and experiencing the Diocese of Lincoln, and for three years worked in parish with as many people as possible. Since it was clear to me ministry, taught high-school religion, and served as chaplain that God had willed that I be there to live them first-hand, at the Newman Center at the University of Nebraska. I I felt that the best way I could express my gratitude to him attended the World Youth Days in Paris 1997, Rome 2000, was to use the gift of writing he has given me to help others and Toronto 2002, helping as a chaperone and spiritual guide experience through my eyes what they could not see in to the youth on our diocesan pilgrimages. Throughout these person. They were not written without sacrifice. Almost years, youth ministry in some way, shape, or form took up every one of my accounts was written in the wee hours of the the majority of my waking hours. morning on the same night that the events described actually happened. I knew that if I waited to write, not only would Then in 2002 I was sent to Rome by my bishop to pursue my account lose freshness and vividness, but there was also a a doctorate in Church History at the Pontifical Gregorian good chance I would never find the time. So for the duration University. For three years I was privileged to attend Mass of those days I became one incredibly sleep-deprived, emo- with the Holy Father frequently, to assist in distributing Holy tionally drained and physically exhausted scoop reporter. Communion at his Masses in St Peter’s Basilica, and to be I never sent them to anyone besides the people in my per- a first-hand witness of the suffering Pontiff’s final years in sonal email address book, about one hundred people. But the Chair of Peter. There was never a moment when being because the events described were so dramatic, they were in his presence became routine or normal. I knew that my rapidly passed around the world via email forwarding again priesthood was being marked by John Paul II in a way that and again and again. Somehow they took on a life of their would shape and form my priestly ministry forever. own, and soon I began receiving them back from people I had never even heard of! In the spring of 2003, ten years after Denver, my family and Continued opp. at page 15

May 2008 16 World Youth Day 2008

Peter Zwaans Peter Zwaans commenced his The visit of the Holy Father to WYD2008 in Sydney in July has seminary formation for the increased the busyness of ACCC priests, and is the reason (see Archdiocese of Adelaide at Good page 1) for the transfer of our Annual Conference to a later Shepherd Seminary in Sydney, date this year. and is now a year-5 student in Rome. The texts for the first readings at Holy Mass following Easter are traditionally chosen from the book of the Acts of the Apostles, with the lead text being, “You shall be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8) the rain stopped, the wind hushed and the sun came out to – and, once noticed, with “witness” and “witnesses” being a key warm our wet faces. It was as if even the elements were word in the Gospel readings. “You shall be my witnesses” is the silent to hear the Good News of Christ! banner text for WYD2008 Sydney, and “Witnesses for Christ” was the title for the 2008 booklet for the Lenten Program pub- I listened attentively to the Holy Father’s homily, trying lished by the Catholic Education Centre of the Archdiocese of to appreciate every word, when the subject shifted toward Sydney. The accompanying brief article by a young seminarian vocations. One phrase from his homily I expect will never is drawn from pages 12-13 of that booklet. leave me; he said that if we felt Christ calling us, “Do This particular contribution is reproduced with an eye to not be afraid to follow Christ along the royal road of the encouraging prayer for more fruit of priestly (and religious) cross.” I soaked in those words for a few seconds when vocations from WYD2008. (See also Father Mitchell’s witness the moment of grace, for which the Holy Spirit had been at page 16 of this issue. (Ed.) preparing me, struck.

When I attended WYD in Toronto in 2002, I was seriously Interiorly and powerfully I felt the call to the priesthood. trying to discern whether I had a vocation to the priesthood. It was not a command but a question, an invitation; it As I walked around the WYD site and attended the vari- required a response from me. At that moment I knew what ous events, I was astounded by the incredible number of God wanted from me. I find it difficult to explain what young people who had joined the Pope on this pilgrimage. occurred at that instant. It was my “eureka” moment, a time There seemed to be people from every race and country in of grace-filled clarity. I answered there and then, in Toron- the world. Though I was suitably impressed by the scale to’s Downsview Park, that I would follow Christ along that of WYD and by the witness of so many young people, I “royal road of the cross”. would say that spiritually I was largely unaffected. At that I am now in Rome, in my fifth year in the seminary, prepar- moment, the Holy Spirit was working quietly within my ing to be a priest for the Archdiocese of Adelaide. soul. He was preparing me for an impending moment of great grace. The impact that WYD had on me is not unique. There are many other young people who have discovered vocat- The closing Mass of WYD was celebrated on the Sunday ins and met spouses through their pilgrimages. WYD is by Pope John Paul II. JP2 had been a hero of mine for an opportunity for the Holy Spirit to reach out to young many years before that moment, so being in his presence people. It is a time when young people pause to listen to brought goose-bumps. Those who were at the Downsview the voice of God and are open to his Word. There were 1.2 Park in Toronto would remember the dramatic weather that million people at the papal Mass in Toronto, Canada, yet accompanied the start of Mass. The temperature had plum- I encountered the Lord in a most intimate way in my own meted, the wind blew at gale-force and rain pelted the faith- heart. I hope and pray that WYD2008 will have a simi- ful at an angle not far from horizontal. The rain blew under lar impact on many young people, for the benefit of the the canopy of the make-shift sanctuary and the Holy Father Church and the world. too was getting wet. The Mass continued under these con- ditions right up until the proclamation of the Gospel. Then

Anthony: Cont. from the opposite page tion process to delve into the motivations of the architects manent terra cotta roof, natural stone veneer, marble floors, who would design churches for them. Are they motivated by marble walled santuary and custom-designed marble altar a desire to establish themselves within the architectural estab- and reredos, and many fine artistic features throughout, is lishment? Do they seek to please the judges of architectural costing about US$500 per square foot exclusive of stained magazines”? Are they liturgically aware”? Do they evince a glass. Many “modern” churches are costing as much or more personal spirituality”? than this – and they require costly amplification systems for Only where the architect is motivated by a desire to serve God sound that are not required in an acoustic building. through his (her) work can the result be a truly spiritual space. Summing-up. In sum, the architect of sacred space should The path to knowing God is to know his Church, and this is have an overarching goal of a strong spiritual and liturgical only possible through careful study and contemplation. No space, and appreciation of the many ways of achieving this quick study can lead to a thorough understanding for a priest desired result. The architect can use many means to this end, or for a liturgical architect: we must respect our churches but this requires that a correct “end” be had in mind from the enough to demand that their designers specialise in the design beginning. I counsel priests who are contemplating the selec- of churches.

17 The Priest Architecture motivated by a desire to serve God: the case of the Catholic Church of St John Neumann,

Farragut, Tennessee, USA The author is Principal of HDB /Cram and Ferguson of Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

(A note on St John Neumann appears at page 15, above. (Ed.)) Ethan Anthony

Readers may recall an article by the USA architect, Ethan of being in the church. The original idea of the west front was Anthony, in the November 2006 issue of “The Priest” that to create a sense of entry into the gate of a city – of course, showed at page 21 computer drawings of a proposed Catholic not a city of man, but the city of the New Jerusalem; indeed, Church of St John Neumann in Farragut, Tennessee, USA. That the entry of the church was to be the Gate of Heaven! church is now approaching completion. The Editor’s “home town” is our national capital, Canberra, where – except for the The client also requested one great bell tower in the Italian founding parish church, since 1972 the Cathedral Church of campanile tradition (see top-right photo at page 19), and St Christopher – there is virtually no significant ecclesiastical this meant we had to rely on the decorative treatment of the architecture, and where the most recent church exemplifies the doors to create a sense of a gate. We created doors with deep decline in church architecture in Australia. It is thus notable to reveals that are surmounted by three tympana (see bottom- see from the USA an example in quite a different direction. At left photo at page 19). Through consulation with the Pastor, the Editor’s invitation, the truly ecclesiastical architect, Ethan Father Dowling, we developed all the iconographic mean- Anthony, Principal Partner of HDB Cram, Boston, Massachu- ings of the church, choosing three scenes to be depicted, with setts, contributed this brief piece on a truly worthy and beautiful church. (Ed.) the central one to be the scene of Jesus with children. Introduction. The entire thrust of the modernist movement Once inside the church, one enters into a great gather- in church architecture has been to adopt materials and meth- ing space, much as is the case in Burgundy Romanesque ods that maximise the use of (relatively) low-skilled work- churches. This space is fronted by a second set of doors into ers to reduce costs, and thereby over time to remove skilled the nave, and to access the nave one enters a short tunnel-like craft work that has been the foundation of truly ecclesiasti- space that prepares one for the expansion of the high-vaulted cal architecture. This has also exalted an egalitarian impulse nave (see photos at page 20, over). that disdains anything that is hierarchical and that suggests The ceiling is finished with quadripartite vaults that are con- stylistic movements of the past. This new architecture uti- structed of gypsum and polymer, that are then cast by a new lised a language composed of pure form, shape, line, colour, process which entails development of a mould that is the size and light; instead of the traditional language of door, frame, of an entire vault. The mould is cut from our computer draw- lintel, arch, and its decoration. The result was a cutting loose ings by a laser, and then the ceiling vaults are cast on top of from the traditions of church architecture that, I believe, con- the mould as a single piece. This single vault is then cut into tributed to the loss of church attendance. When the liturgy manageable panels that can be assembled and hung from the took place in a barren auditorium without the support of a ceiling and finished in place. truly spiritual space, it became isolated and the worshipper A similar material is used to clad the structural steel columns became confused. throughout the space. Due to the size of the building, our Retrieval of church architecture. In the last 10 years, we structural system must be steel to resist the great wind loads have been swept up in a new wave, as some Catholic wor- that are possible in such a large building. The columns are shippers in the USA are looking for something different. enclosed in a material that is cast from gypsum and poly- Dissatisfied with the bland and mute forms of modernist mers, and textured and coloured to look like real stone (see architecture, they look back longingly at the older churches bottom-left photo at page 20, over). Finally, the piers are that still have a sense of quiet spiritual awareness emanat- completed by the addition of natural marble half-columns ing from the building – recognising in the older churches in topped by the sculpted figural capitals. Each capital has a America and in Europe a support for feelings of deep spir- story, such as Jesus’ raising of Lazarus from the dead. ituality in the worshipper. Thus, the work of HDB / Cram A word about costs. Finally, a word about cost is appropriate. and Ferguson in the last 10 years is notable for its inspira- Often I am asked how much more it costs to build a traditional tion from classical models of church architecture. Over the church than a modernist one. I think the best answer might last decade, we have designed 6 traditional churches, and be that a traditional and a contemporary church of compara- built 4. The most recent to be completed is based on French ble quality in construction should cost about the same. It is a Romanesque models. In no case have we copied any par- straw-man argument to say that a “contemporary” church is ticular model, and in every case we have looked to several less expensive than a “traditional” one. Today, we are build- models, even to an entire period, for ideas that have formed ing traditionally-styled churches using contemporary materi- the basis of our designs. als. It is really a matter of what you want to achieve. The Parish Committee in Farragut, Tennessee, approached us Many modern churches are built of poor materials and are seeking a church incorporating the feeling that they had seen not intended to have a long life. Apart from the unworthi- on visits to Burgundy. The design of the church began with ness of the structures, it is wasteful to build structures that an overall impression of the west front (see centre-left photo are not expected to last. Our Romanesque church of 16,000 on page 19). This is the most critical elevation, and sets the SF, to seat 932 people with a 55-foot vaulted ceiling, per- tone for how people will feel during their entire experience Continued on the opposite page

May 2008 18 The Church of St John Neumann at Farragut, Tennessee, USA, as viewed from the town (above) and a view of the campanile (above right).

Photographs on the left-hand column of the adsacent page show the nave of St John Neumann Catholic Church (top), the celestory of the nave (middle), and a side aisle of the church (bottom). Below is a detail of one of the internal decorative carvings in progress. (All phtographs kindly supplied by Ethan Anthony.)

Above top shows the West end of St John Neumann Church, and above shows the carving in the tympanum above the West Door; the photo on the right shows a look- ing-up view of the nave ceiling.

19 The Priest Vocations shortage? A Sri Lanka Story In January 2008, the Editor travelled to Sri Lanka, and there experienced a different notion of “vocational shortage”: see brief story below.

Sri Lanka is a country smaller than Tasmania, but with a population of about 21 million (about the same as Australia) – of whom about 1.2 million are Catholic; and about half those (about 600,000) reside in the metropolitan diocese of Colombo, the national capital. The National Seminary, located near Kandy in the central mountains, has about 300 seminar- ians – and it is not the only seminary in Sri Lanka. During conversation with His Grace, the Archbishop of Colombo, at his episcopal palace, the Editor was informed of the “vocational shortage” and “vocational decline” in Sri Lanka. And this from a bishop who was shortly to ordain 22 deacons to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Colombo! (A great grief to His Grace was that one of these was murdered in a Tamil Tiger attack, and only 21 were ordained.) The ordina- tions occurred in the Cathedral (photographed by the Editor, above), but there was such a pack of non-official photogra- phers and the Editor was so soaked through after 3 hours in 30-degree heat and high humidity, that only the laminated photograph kindly supplied through the offices of the Semi- nary Rector is available (bottom, below). This shows the 21 new priests with the Archbishop. Put things in perspective! In Australia, the Archdiocese of Melbourne has I think about 1.4 million Catholics (that is, about the Catholic population of Sri Lanka) – just imagine if it had 300 seminarians! The Archdiocese of Sydney has more Catholics than the 600,000 in Colombo – just imagine if the Cardinal Archbishop of Sydney in one ceremony ordained 21 men priest! And just imagine if his priests commonly deported themselves in cassock and cincture, as do priests on the streets in Sri Lanka. (see photo on right)! (Ed.)

May 2008 20 Allen, continued from page 32. In general, most observers regard the Pope’s writings and public addresses to date as impressive. Some have been Christianity, Catholicism, isn’t a collection of prohibitions: it’s tempted to style Benedict as “a pope of words”, in contrast a positive option. It’s very important that we look at it again because this idea has almost completely disappeared today. to his predecessor, John Paul II, as a “pope of images”. We’ve heard so much about what is not allowed that now it’s Although Benedict at 80 seems remarkably healthy, his time to say: we have a positive idea to offer ... The human person must always be respected as a human person. But all advanced age nevertheless beckons thoughts about his this is clearer if you say it first in a positive way. legacy. In the long run of history, John XXIII and Paul VI will be For a Pope with a passion for classical music, this effort remembered as the popes of the Second Vatican Council, to phrase the Christian fundamentals in a positive key has the men who launched that moment of top-to-bottom reform become something of a leitmotif. Having been responsible in Catholicism and who brought it to fruition. John Paul II for expressing the “Noes” of the Catholic Church for 20 and Benedict XVI, on the other hand, have sought to foster years, Ratzinger as Pope appears determined to articulate a rebirth of Catholic identity, a transition from a period of what he sees as its much deeper “Yes”. internal reform to one of engagement with the wider world. Under John Paul II, evangelisation was the watchword The second such occasion came with Benedict’s trip to rather than aggiornamento; he was an ad extra pope, far Turkey late last year, his first to a majority Muslim state, more interested in how the Church can affect the social, which took place shortly after the Regensburg episode. On cultural and political questions of the day than in reform the basis of that contretemps, many had enlisted Benedict of its internal structures [and, by implication, Benedict as chaplain for a new anti-Islamic crusade. Instead, what XVI is, relatively, ad intra (Ed.)]. Cardinal Ratzinger was they saw in Turkey was a “kinder, gentler” Benedict, key for John Paul, but no one is to Benedict XVI the same whose consistent message was reconciliation. That spirit trusted lieutenant. The vision of the pontificate is flowing culminated in a remarkable, and thoroughly unexpected, very much from himself for good and for ill, and there have moment of simultaneous prayer with the Grand Mufti of been instances of both. Istanbul inside the city’s Blue Mosque. Benedict XVI’s top priority, as stated on 22 March by his In Benedict”s approach to matters inside the Church, a similar Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, during a pattern has emerged. His most important appointments, both lecture in Milan, is to complete his reassertion of Christian in the Holy See and in major archdioceses, have revealed identity. a preference for pastoral moderates rather than ideologues. To date, there has been no systematic clampdown on If the danger of the John XXIII and Paul VI era was dissidents, no night of the long knives. This gradualism throwing the baby out with the bathwater, the chief risk in has even generated alarm among some of the most ardent today’s politics of identity cuts in the opposite direction, supporters of Benedict’s election. Last year, Fr Richard John towards rigidity and exaggerated defensiveness – a sort of Neuhaus publicly acknowledged “palpable uneasiness” “Taliban Catholicism” that knows only how to excoriate and about the Pope’s lack of decisive action. Another American condemn. To be sure, one can see the stirrings of such a spirit neo-conservative privately groused, “We thought we were in today”s Church. Potentially, Benedict XVI’s legacy may electing Ronald Reagan, but we got stuck with Jimmy lie in pointing a way around these shoals. Given all that he Carter.” represents, Benedict is in a unique position to illustrate that one can embrace Catholic fundamentals without becoming Benedict’s commitment to collegiality has been visible a fundamentalist, that reason and faith are not opposed but in ways large and small. He has repeatedly spoken out inextricably linked. That, in fact, was the argument he was about the crisis of Africa, for example, including a strong trying to make in Regensburg, although the uproar over the condemnation of the way Africa has been “plundered and quotation occluded his effort. sacked” in his new book, Jesus of Nazareth, and a plea for humanitarian concern with Africa in his Easter homily. Because Benedict is not the charismatic media figure that That focus does not come out of the blue. In the General John Paul II was, it is unclear how much of this will ever Congregation meetings in April 2005 leading up to the register on the broader cultural radar screen. To date, pundits conclave, the African cardinals made a plea for the next still seem to be waiting for the “real” Ratzinger to emerge pope, whoever it might be, to put Africa at the centre of his from beneath his thoughtful, pastoral facade. Perhaps, pastoral concern. Benedict obviously wants to honour that however, the deepest truth is that this facade is the real request. His collegiality can also be measured by what hasn’t Ratzinger. happened, including the delayed release of a Motu proprio authorising wider celebration of the Tridentine Mass. If it were entirely a matter of the Pope’s personal instincts, the New Benedictine venture for Australia? document would have come out long ago, but in light of Often hopes and plans need to be kept quiet until they can reservations voiced by several bishops, Benedict has opted come to fruition, but that raises its own difficulties. Thus the to go slow. Editor responds herewith to a request to act as an intermedi- ary with men who may be interested in a small new monastic Perhaps the best expression of Benedict’s emerging persona venture in Australia where the emphasis is upon liturgical came in his first encyclical, Deus Caritas est, released observance consonant with Summorum Pontificum, and an at Christmas 2005. The Pope treats human erotic love in observant observance of the Holy Rule. deeply approving terms, deliberately avoiding anathemas. Enquiries in confidence to the Editor.

21 The Priest Address to the Roman Rota

Pope Benedict XVI

The following address by His Holiness Benedict XVI to the Mem- bers of the Tribunal of the Roman Rota was delivered in Clemen- tine Hall on 26 January 2008, and published in “L’Osservatore Romano” on 2 February 2008. In reading it, I was reminded of some years back when I first made the recognition that – prop- erly understood – canon law is a “theological practice” before it is a “juridical practice”. The Pope’s recent address is a timely reminder of this. (Ed.)

Dear Prelate Auditors, Photo: Tamino Petelinsek @ flikr Officials and Collaborators of the Tribunal of the Roman Rota,

The occurrence of the first centenary of the restoration of the Only in this way is a trusting atmosphere created in the tri- Apostolic Tribunal of the Roman Rota, ratified by St Pius X bunals’ activity and the arbitrary nature of subjective criteria in 1908 with his Apostolic Constitution Sapienti Consilio, avoided. Furthermore, within each judicial organisation the has just been recalled in the cordial words of your Dean, hierarchy that exists between the various tribunals is such Bishop Antoni Stankiewicz. This circumstance enhances the that possible recourse to higher tribunals in itself provides sense of appreciation and gratitude with which I am meeting for the unity of jurisprudence. you, already for the third time. I offer my cordial greeting to each and every one of you. I see personified in you, esteemed The above-mentioned considerations are also perfectly Prelate Auditors, and in all those who take part in various applicable to ecclesiastical tribunals. Indeed, since canonical capacities in the work of this Tribunal, an institution of the processes concern the juridical aspects of salvific goods or of Apostolic See whose roots, embedded in canonical tradition, other temporal goods which serve the Church’s mission, the have proven an inexhaustible source of vitality. It is your requirement of unity in the essential criteria of justice and task to keep this tradition alive, in the conviction that you the need to be able reasonably to foresee the direction that are thereby rendering an ever timely service to the overall judicial decisions will take becomes a public ecclesial good administration of justice in the Church. of particular importance for the People of God’s internal life and its institutional witness in the world. In addition to This centenary is a favourable opportunity for reflecting the intrinsic value of reasonableness inherent in the work on a fundamental aspect of the Rota’s activity: the value of a Tribunal that usually decides cases in the last instance, of rotal jurisprudence in the ensemble of the administra- it is clear that the value of the Roman Rota’s jurisprudence tion of justice in the Church. It is a dimension highlighted is dependent upon its nature as a higher instance which in the very description of the Rota given by the Apostolic can appeal to the Apostolic See. The legal measures which Constitution Pastor Bonus: “The Roman Rota is a court of recognise this value (cf. can. 19, Code of Canon Law; Apos- higher instance at the Apostolic See, usually at the appellate tolic Constitution Pastor Bonus, art. 126) do not create, but stage, with the purpose of safeguarding rights within the rather, declare this value. It derives ultimately from the need Church; it fosters unity of jurisprudence, and, by virtue of its to administer justice in accordance with equal parameters in own decisions, provides assistance to lower tribunals” (art. all that is precisely in itself essentially equal. 126). In their annual Discourses, my beloved Predecessors frequently spoke with appreciation and trust of the Roman As a result, the value of rotal jurisprudence is not a factual Rota’s jurisprudence, both in general and with reference to sociological issue since it has a properly juridical character, practical matters and especially matrimonial topics. placed at the service of substantial justice. It would there- fore be improper to admit to any opposition between rotal If it is only right and proper to remember the ministry jurisprudence and the decisions of local tribunals that are of justice exercised by the Rota during its centuries-old called to play an indispensable role in rendering the admin- existence - and especially in the last 100 years - it is also istration of justice immediately accessible, and in being able appropriate on this occasion to endeavour to examine the to investigate and resolve practical cases at times linked to meaning of this service, the annual volume of whose deci- peoples’ culture and mentality. In any case, all rulings must sions demonstrate that it is a practical instrument. We might always be based on the principles and common norms of wonder in particular why rotal sentences possess a juridical justice. This requirement, common to any juridical order, importance that exceeds the immediate context of the causes has specific significance in the Church to the extent that in which they are issued. Regardless of the formal value the requirements of communion are at stake. This involves that every ordinary juridical process can attribute to previ- the protection of what is common to the universal Church, ous proceedings, there is no doubt that in a certain way, its entrusted in a particular way to the Supreme Authority and individual decisions concern the whole of society. Indeed, to the bodies that participate ad normam iuris in its sacred they continue to determine what all can expect from the authority. tribunals, which undoubtedly influences the tenor of social life. Any legal system must seek to offer solutions in which, In the matrimonial context, rotal jurisprudence has carried as well as the prudential evaluation of individual cases, the out very conspicuous work in the past 100 years. In particu- same principles and general norms of justice are applied. lar, it has made significant contributions that are expressed

May 2008 22 in the codification in force. In this light, one cannot think concerns the context of law, without requiring any further that the importance of the jurisprudential interpretation of formal procedure to become juridically and morally binding. law by the Rota has diminished. Indeed, the application of For a healthy juridical interpretation, it is indispensable to current canon law requires precisely that it reflect the true understand the whole body of the Church’s teachings and to sense of justice, linked first of all to marriage’s very essence. place every affirmation systematically in the flow of tradi- The Roman Rota is constantly called to carry out an arduous tion. It will thus be possible to avoid selective and distorted task which has a strong influence on the work of all tribunals: interpretations and useless criticisms at every step” (John that of understanding the existence or non-existence of the Paul II, Address to Roman Rota, 29 January 2005). matrimonial reality, which is intrinsically anthropological, theological and juridical. For a better understanding of the This centenary is destined to go beyond the formal com- role of jurisprudence, I would like to insist on what I said to memoration. It will become an opportunity for a reflection you last year concerning the “intrinsic juridical dimension that must temper your commitment, enlivening it with an of marriage” (cf. Address to Roman Rota, 27 January 2007). ever deeper ecclesial sense of justice which is a true service Law cannot be reduced to a mere collection of positive rules to saving communion. I encourage you to pray daily for that tribunals are required to apply. The only way to give the Roman Rota and for all who work in the sector of the a solid foundation to the jurisprudential task is to conceive administration of justice in the Church, with recourse to of it as a true exercise of prudentia iuris. This prudence is the motherly intercession of Mary Most Holy, Speculum quite the opposite of arbitrariness or relativism, for it permits iustitiae. This invitation might seem merely devotional and events to reveal the presence or absence of the specific rela- somewhat extrinsic to your ministry; but we must not forget tionship of justice which marriage is, with its real human and that everything in the Church is brought about through the saving meaning. Only in this way do jurisprudential maxims force of prayer, which transforms our entire existence and acquire their true value without becoming a compilation of fills us with the hope that Jesus brings to us. This prayer, abstract and repetitive rules, exposed to the risk of subjective inseparable from daily commitment that is serious and or arbitrary interpretations. competent, will bring light and strength, faithfulness and authentic renewal to the life of this venerable Institution The objective assessment of the facts in the light of the through which, ad normam iuris, the Bishop of Rome Magisterium and the law of the Church thus constitutes a exercises his primatial solicitude for the administration of very important aspect of the Roman Rota’s activity and exer- justice throughout the People of God. Therefore, may my cises great influence on ministers of justice of the tribunals Blessing today, full of affection and gratitude, embrace both of local Churches. Rotal jurisprudence should be seen as you who are present here and all those worldwide who serve exemplary juridical wisdom carried out with the authority the Church and all the faithful in this field.

of the Tribunal permanently constituted by the Successor © Copyright 2008 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana ihmhermitage.stglogs.com of Peter for the good of the whole Church. Thanks to this work, the concrete reality in causes of matrimonial nullity is objectively judged in light of criteria that constantly reaf- His Holiness speaking to the community of the firm the reality of matrimonial indissolubility, open to every Roman Major Seminary, 1 February 2008. man and woman in accordance with the plan of God, Creator and Saviour. Constant effort is needed to attain that unity “It is inevitable that in a certain manner, the vocations of of the criteria of justice which essentially characterises the children become the vocations of their parents also. In seeking notion of jurisprudence itself and is a fundamental presup- to understand your children and following them on their way, position for its activity. In the Church, precisely because of you too, dear fathers and dear mothers [of seminarians and her universality and the diversity of the juridical cultures deacons and priests], very often find yourselves involved in a in which she is called to operate, there is always a risk that journey in which your faith is strengthened and renewed. You “local forms of jurisprudence” develop, sensim sine sensu, find yourselves sharing in the marvellous adventure of your ever more distant from the common interpretation of positive sons. law and also from the Church’s teaching on matrimony. I “Indeed, even though it may seem that the priest’s life does hope that appropriate means may be studied to make rotal not attract most people’s interest, it is in fact the most interest- jurisprudence more and more manifestly unitive as well as ing and necessary adventure for the world, the adventure of effectively accessible to all who exercise justice, in order to showing, of making present, the fulness of life to which we all ensure its uniform application in all Church tribunals. aspire. The value of interventions of the Ecclesiastical Magisterium “It is a very demanding adventure; and it could not be other- on matrimonial and juridical issues, including the Roman wise, since the priest is called to imitate Jesus, who ‘came not Pontiff’s Discourses to the Roman Rota, should also be to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for seen in this realistic perspective. They are a ready guide for many’ (Mt 20:28). the work of all Church tribunals, since they authoritatively ... “Dear Seminarians, follow the Seminary curriculum with teach the essential aspects of the reality of marriage. In his your minds open to truth, transparency and dialogue with last Address to the Rota, my venerable Predecessor John those who guide you. This will enable you to respond in a Paul II put people on guard against the positivistic men- very simple and humble way to the One who calls you, freeing tality in the understanding of law, which tends to make a yourselves from the risk of creating a strictly personal project.” distinction between laws and jurisprudential approaches and the Church’s doctrine. He affirmed: “In fact, the authentic (May these selected words find resonance for our ACCC Associates and for our Seminarian Associates! (Ed.)) interpretation of God’s Word, exercised by the Magiste- rium of the Church, has juridical value to the extent that it Source: L’Osservatore Romano, 13 February 2008, page 3.

23 The Priest Rural Pastoring

Father Paul-Anthony McGavin

Introduction Only in mature years of ministry did I undertake a rural pas- torate. It took me some time to identify the differences from urban ministry, and the purpose of this article is to share my perceptions of some of these differences in the hope that this will help others who approach rural ministry. Before I get to applications, it is necessary to treat observations of a kind that might be labelled “sociological” and/or “psychological” in Between the Cross that is erected for Holy Week and Easter Week to mark the entry into the village and the Taralga advertisement an eclectic way, but my end purpose is pastoral. board, the outlines of the Catholic Church of Christ the King can be seen – a church that dominates the village and has NSW State Differences Heritage Significance listing for its exemplary architecture and Ministry in a market economy setting typically means urban interior intactness (see photo, page 33). This has been the Editor’s ministry, as most people live in urban environments and church for approaching 7 years, and the accompanying article church life and the pastoral life of priests reflects this setting. captures something of his learnings about rural pastoring across that period. A shorter version has previously been published in Rural ministry is the exception rather than the rule, and calls “The Pastoral Review” (March/April 2007). (Ed.) in certain respects for different perceptions. Of course these differences can be exaggerated and a “cult of the cultural” can arise, with priests being conformed to their culture rather than terms with which they are familiar from their pervasive expe- “turning ‘the world’ up-side-down” (Acts 17:6). Sometimes rience of large organisations. Urban parishioners typically these differences can be sharp and differences even of racial expect in dealing with church personnel to operate in a frame- physiognomy be observed; other times they may not be so work that is set by the organisation (an organisational “code of obvious, and it may be some time before the differences are conduct”, a professional association “code of conduct”, etc.), quite identified. Perhaps the first difference is the “sense of and they generally take these as “given” and as constructed community”. in a wider setting. This “given-ness” sits uneasily with small- scale and local rural communities. There is an implicit hostil- Sense of community ity to “bureaucracy” and to “head office” protocols, and rural In most urban ministry, part of the pastor’s work is to build people often experience difficulty in dealing with the codes community where there is weak sense of personal relatedness. of conduct that come from the world of large-scale society In rural ministry, the priest typically comes into a community and large organisations. The behavioural protocols will often that has a strong sense of its own identity with strong and not be shared, and often there will be a poor understanding of long-standing interpersonal links, often bound up with kin- their practice and rationale. Their very apparent “objectivity” ship. Whereas in urban settings the sense of identity among a may be found to be quite confronting. congregation may mainly be an ecclesial identity (with weak Objectivity versus subjectivity neighbourhood, workplace, and personal relationships), in rural settings the congregation’s sense of identity will have Larger societies tend to treat people “individually” and the strong strands of having grown-up together, of families protocols for conduct reflect this. For example, dispute reso- being inter-related, of shared work (maybe involving in-kind lution will be confined to the parties directly involved and transfers of mutual farm help), a strong sense of place and of those not directly involved may not “buy into” the dispute (for sharing that place identity with other local people who are example, a dispute may be treated as “staff-in-confidence”). not part of the worship community. In a much stronger way Larger societies tend to treat an “issue” as an “issue” and to than occurs in urban settings, the priest enters his ministry confine actions between persons to the “issue” at hand, with as an outsider, and often as an outsider who is tolerated in a much less “personalisation” of the dealings. Thus a disagree- transient way – something that is even more marked where ment tends to be more focused on the points of dispute, and the priest is not instituted as pastor or who serves several not upon the persons engaged in the dispute. (Note, “tends local communities but is not a member of any. What most more to be focused”, not “is simply focused” on the point or defines such communities is that they are “small scale” and points at issue.) In brief, in large-scale urban settings there “local”. is rather less “personalisation” of encounters and points of difference tend more to be treated in terms of the “issue” and Small scale and local thus to be less “personalised”. Moreover, articulated “codes of In Australia, most of the population lives in the six state capital conduct” are more likely to be used as reference points, and cities and so large-scale and market economy social patterns the articulated protocol is more likely to be followed both in particularly prevail. Urban parishioners mostly bring this terms of procedures and in terms of deciding outcomes. It is socialisation pattern to their church encounters. When they not so in small-scale societies. It is generally more difficult deal with their pastor, they tend to think of him as a “profes- to stick to the “issue”; the tendency is to “personalisation”. sional” and to adopt the culture of professional relationship as This gives rise to attending not to “what is said” but to “who it occurs in urban society; when they, for example, deal with is saying”. And the “who is saying” speaks and acts (both the principal of the parish school, they deal with someone in Continued at page 26

May 2008 24 Solemn Pontifical Mass in thanksgiving for Summorum Pontificum

Father Michael McCaffrey, FSSP

On Saturday, 3rd November, 2007 His Eminence Cardinal Rev. Michael McCaffrey is a Pell celebrated Solemn Pontifical Mass at the throne in the member of the Priestly Fraternity Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite in St Mary’s Cathe- of St Peter, working in the dioceses of Sydney and Parramatta. He was dral, Sydney. The Cardinal celebrated Mass at the invitation Assistant Priest to Cardinal Pell at of the Oriens Foundation, and in thanksgiving for the Motu the Pontifical Mass of 3 November proprio Summorum Pontificum. It was the first time that 2007 at which the Editor was “in Pontifical Mass according to the Missal of Blessed John choir”, and contributes this brief article at the invitation of the Editor. XXIII had been celebrated at St Mary’s for over 30 years.* The photograph is taken from a It was also the first (and to the best of the author’s knowledge group picture of the schola at the remains the only) time that a Cardinal anywhere in the world 2007 ACCC Annual Conference. has celebrated the Extraordinary Form in his own cathedral since the promulgation of the Motu proprio. prayers at the foot of the altar and then the altar was incensed. Next the Cardinal, his attendant clergy (Rev. Fathers Rich- To mark the occasion a new 17-piece set of white silk pon- ardson and Deeter) and his Assistant Priest moved to the tifical mass vestments was commissioned and donated by throne for the remainder of the Mass of catechumens. After a benefactor to St Mary’s. The Mass was that of Our Lady the Gospel was sung, the indulgence was proclaimed and on Saturday, Salva sancta Parens, and singers drawn from then the Cardinal preached in honour of Our Lady from the around Australia sang the ordinary of the Mass to the chant pulpit. The Cardinal then returned to the high altar for the Missa cum jubilo, with the enthusiastic participation of the Mass of the faithful. At Communion, the clergy received large congregation. In addition to the Gregorian chant the at the footpace, and then Communion was distributed to the choir also sang a number of polyphonic pieces, accompanied Faithful at the altar rails, with the two lines of communicants by organ with tympani and brass. The deacon of the Mass reaching to the back of the nave. was Rev. Fr Terence Naughtin, OFM Conv., and the sub- deacon was the newly-ordained deacon for the Archdiocese After the blessing and the Last Gospel, the recessional hymn, of Sydney, Rev. Mr James McCarthy. Help of Christians Guard This Land, resounded through the Cathedral as the procession made its way down the nave and The ceremony began with the arrival of the Cardinal at the returned to the sacristy. The congregation mingled outside door of the sacristy looking particularly resplendent in his on the cathedral steps after the Mass in bright sunshine and cardinalatial scarlet choir dress and shoes. The vesting took the Cardinal joined invited guests for a lunch at a nearby place in the Cardinal’s chapel while the psalms were recited restaurant to conclude the days celebrations. in Latin by the Cardinal and the accompanying clergy. The procession, formed by the servers, clergy in choir, ministers It was both a very prayerful and very joyous occasion. and sacred ministers, then entered the cathedral packed with Thank you to all who assisted in any way and in particular worshippers gathered from around Australia for this historic Thank You to His Eminence. occasion. Mass at the high altar (the reredos of which had been dressed in flowers white and gold) commenced with the * But see the article on Father Fox, CM, in the November 2007 issue of The Priest. (Ed.)

The pictures left and above show the congregation gathered for the celebration of the Roman Rite in its earlier form (“Extraordinary Form”) and the Cardinal Archbishop of Sydney approaching the altar in his Cathedral Church on 3 November 2007.(Ed.) (Photos: Catholic Weekly)

25 The Priest into old age. Those who make a transition from rural life to Continuing McGavin article from page 24, above urban life learn different values and different socialisation with respect to process and to outcome) from a personal patterns; those who remain may show a resistance to outside perspective; that is, issues are personalised. And this “per- social patterns and values and even close-in and reinforce the sonalisation” increases the element of “subjectivity”, where values of their local societies. (I speak here of rural small- “codes of conduct” and protocols come less to the fore, and scale societies, but the observations also apply to small-scale personal values that may be more “felt” than articulated (and urban societies usually called “ghettos”). This “selection” certainly not written down) tend more to prevail. process has a corollary in the way that personalities develop and the profile of personalities encountered. Values versus principles Personality profiles, menfolk It took a long time for it to “click” for me that “principles” can be “values”, but “values” are not necessarily “principles”. Anyone who observes small children will notice differences I use the term “principles” in the sense of something that in personality: one child happily plays by himself, another evokes rational assent (for example, “an eye for an eye, and child quickly gets bored and seeks company; one child a tooth for a tooth” (Ex 21:24)). The motive for revenge is tolerates a measure of annoyance, another child shows little not usually tempered by the more rational consideration of tolerance of annoyance. These are examples of “introversion” “justice” and proportionality, and is more driven by “values” compared with “extroversion”, and of “openness” compared that are more subjective and less cognitive. Sometimes “emo- with “closure”. Rural societies in market economies are gen- tions” may simply take over, and so the revenge becomes erally contracting, and out-migration is the norm. Retirees out-of-control re-action. Sometimes one may encounter emo- may come to the “bush” (as we would say in Australia), but tions (say when a mother defends her child), but it may be most “bush” children migrate to the cities and have done so “values” that really drive the action (“You offend my values for more than a generation. There is thus a stronger element of because you criticise my child”, as compared with principles, selection in those who remain, and this impacts to reduce the “I find what you say difficult to handle, but I recognise the personality diversity in rural settings: those who remain have principles”). In brief, “principles” tend to be more cognitive, greater congruence with remaining. In terms of the menfolk, to have greater generality of application in different circum- they tend to be men who prefer not to confront change, and stances, and to be more articulated. Small-scale societies tend who thus have a disposition to “judgement” or “closure” (as less to call upon “principles” because they have more shared compared with remaining open to whatever and continuing “values”. They better understand the “who says what” (with to “perceive”). They also are men who mostly deal with what the emphasis on the who, rather than on the what), and they they can get their hands on, with a very sensory world that rely less on what is “said” and more on “what” is implicit. It’s treats the concreteness of the senses. Our Lord of course dealt a bit like “in a family” as compared with “outside a family”, with people who lived in such a world, and all the social set- there is a great deal more shared and implicit understanding tings that are encapsulated in the gospels are small-scale and and considerably more implicit understanding of “values” with an absence of marked boundaries between the rural and and implicit assent to “values” (and without these necessar- the urban. On one articulation or “reading” of the teaching ily being thought through and talked about or articulated, of Our Lord Jesus Christ, his parables are “that they may and especially usually without these taking written codified see and not see; may hear and not hear” (Mt 13:13). But form). And these values are more embedded in small-scale largely, the record in the gospels of Our Lord’s teaching is societies. This means that rural pastors need to be alert to that “seeing you may see” and “hearing you may hear” (eg, identifying the driving values in his community, and to be Mt 11:20-24, Lk 10:23-24); that is, they are mostly strongly clear where these ill fit his values, particularly where his “sensory”. That said, however, the “dividing points” in the values are principles that have been articulated and integrated sacred texts tend not to be “sensory”, but “conceptual”. St in his ministerial formation. Paul tends to be conceptual, and preaching St Paul is often difficult (for example, “He who knew no sin for our sakes Embeddedness became sin” (2Cor 5:21) would be hard to preach in a church Many of the “values” and/or “principles” of modern organisa- that did not have the visual proxy of a large crucifix!). Our tions are weakly socially “embedded” and they require overt Lord largely runs with “see and hear” (for example, “Go and policing, and are often left behind outside the organisational tell John that the dead are raised ….” (Mt 11:4)), but the sharp context (for example, codes of conduct against “sexist” points often are not sensory (for example, “Thomas, how behaviour may be strongly policed and enforced within much longer must I bear with you! He who has seen me has an organisation, but without this much impacting upon the seen the Father!” (Jn 14:7); “… and their eyes were opened, way that people elsewise conduct their lives). In small-scale and they recognised him in the ‘breaking of the bread’” (Lk societies, there is much less segmentation of domains (for 24:31).) As strong “sensors”, rural men are often not adept in example, greater overlapping of work and domestic lives), the intuitive world of concepts. Talking about concepts often and values may be more deeply embedded and impact more disconcerts them, and may make them feel “at sea” and left extensively. For example, values worked out in common out, or may just simply not connect for them: they often do school experience, common neighbourhood experience, not see the point. This of course is prevalently so with both common work and sporting experiences, etc., may be deeply men and women generally, whether rural and urban people; embedded socially. Periodic eruptions may occur (a bit like but there is added emphasis with rural people, and the empha- when a new rooster makes his presence felt in the henyard), sis is greatest with the menfolk. This necessarily requires that but the continuity may be remarkable and implicit behav- in preaching and in practical pastoring the rural priest enflesh ioural standards laid in shared boyhood and girlhood may his concepts in his manner of speaking and acting – with an prevail unchallenged and unexamined into adult life, even emphasis on “praxis” more than on “principle”.

May 2008 26 Personality profiles, womenfolk Under-represented human skills in rural men Women tend mostly to be “sensors”, but mostly not as strongly Just as certain aptitudes tend to certain physical development as men, and it’s a bit like the “three Marys and the one John” (for example, large and strong hands in manual workers, at the Cross. In all likelihood there were a complex of reasons development of hand dexterity skills in those with instrumen- for the 3 to 1 sex ratio of disciples at the foot of the Cross (Jn tal music aptitudes), so also certain psychological aptitudes 19:25), but part of it is that the women were more attune to tend to be more developed where these are consonant with “what was going on” beyond what was open to inspection. personal dispositions. The corollary of this is that other And it is not just a matter of “intuition” (an ability to deal with psychological aptitudes tend to be less developed; indeed, concepts; in this case, the “work of salvation”). It has also to be undeveloped or under-developed. In circumstances to deal with the tendency of women to show greater aptitude where persons call strongly upon these undeveloped or in “inter-relational” domains. Women are more likely than under-developed aspects of personality, they may be said men to be assessing what is going on in terms of a complex to be operating in their “inferior” (that is, in the aspect of of relationships and in terms of impacts upon persons. This their personality in which they have least competence). The is true also of urban women. But urban women mostly have aspects of personality where people have least competence extensive work experience in modern organisations that do are the obverse of the aspects in which they are strongest. not operate in this manner, and although less strongly than So, for example, “sensors” tend be strong on observation of urban men, they also mostly retain workplace attachments hands-on things, but quite cumbersome in intuitive things in complex organisations. Not so for rural women. Rural (for example, they may be quite oblivious to “what is going women often have more experience of modern complex on” in a conceptual approach to the world in which they market organisations than their husbands, because typically operate). If they are “sensors” who like to deal with hands- they come to the “bush” or come back to the “bush” upon on data and experience and “thinkers” who like to process marriage, whereas their husbands typically have never left the data cognitively in a step-by-step thought-through way the bush and have more limited organisational workplace (as is very common among men engaged in rural occupa- experience (or even no such experience). And so, paradoxi- tions, because these skills are strongly used in most rural cally, it is the women (not the men) in rural communities who occupations), the least-developed human skill is likely to tend better to understand “policy and procedures”, “domain be the inter-personal or “feeling” judgement skills. When distinctions”, “professional protocol”, etc. Nevertheless, they are under stress this will be manifest in extrovert types rural women much more than urban women invest their lives in a lack of control and discrimination in expressing their in their families (and they have larger families, and larger inner emotional states. Their outbursts of feeling will often extended families), and they necessarily are far more practised be barbaric, absolute, and destructive. Their fear of having in dealing with what they may “intuit” (rather than “sense”, in others witness such irrationality strongly motivates them to the “sensory” sense of sense). And with added emphasis, they stay in control, and to express their states in terms of other much more invest their lives in inter-personal and relational surrogate things (what they blurt-out may back-onto the issue living. In this respect, I want to use the term “feeling”, by that is troubling them, rather than be the principal issue), or which I do not mean “touching” in a handling sense; nor do non-public actings-out in the home. Where they “lose it” in I mean “feeling” in an emotional sense (although often the public (including in church settings), the outbursts will be first point of contact seems like encounter with emotions). By expressed in terms of hyper-sensitivity to others’ comments, “feeling” I refer to inter-personal sensibility and to judgement and to mis-interpretation of comments of others as personal exercised in inter-personal terms. This contrasts in my usage criticism, of being excluded from important roles, and “black with “thinking”, which refers to thought that is not principally or white” and “all or nothing” accusations. The loss of face engaging the inter-personal, but which is principally engag- involved in such behaviour then provokes highly destruc- ing the rational and “objective” and being distanced from tive behaviour directed at self-justification and/or revenge. the “subjective”. Menfolk generally mostly prefer to operate The disposition to closure (the “judgement” trait) makes it with the “objective”. This is more so for men who remain in very hard for such persons to find a way back, because the rural settings (and who do not migrate to urban life with its simple path of repentance goes so “against the grain”. They greater job specialisation and job diversity and less manual thus tend to seek to be alone and by others to be “left alone” kinds of work), and their thinking especially concentrates on and to become “outsiders”; albeit, “outsiders” who engage the “objective” – for example, running a farm or a workshop in destructive or “terrorist” activity against the persons or the focuses on hands-on data and upon cognitively processing that group who are perceived as having been responsible for their data for purposes of hands-on action (when to dip the sheep, state. Rural pastors need to be aware of this male dynamic spread the fertiliser, service the machinery, time the sale, before it runs its course, and try to act pre-emptively. etc.). This gives an “up-side” (rural women especially evoke respect as mothers; rural men especially evoke respect as hard Under-represented human skills in rural women manual workers), but it also gives a “down-side”, because it It is not unusual for men on this described path of acting-out means that certain personality traits are less present and/or their “inferior” to be close to female influence (usually a wife) less developed. The consequence is that the distribution of who exacerbates his state. Since it is often the case that “she personality type is less dispersed (there is less diversity) than makes the bullets, he fires them”, the male inferior behaviour in the wider human society, and certain personality strengths often may be observed before the female inferior behaviour are less present, and deficiencies in personal aptitudes may is identified. Women who have strongly invested in being be more focused and certain human skills less present. Rural wives and mothers will tend to have developed inter-per- pastors need to be aware of these deficiencies (and strengths) sonal judgement aptitudes (even though these may at times in personal aptitudes, and how they differ between women be rather focused on their own interest or reference group, and men.

27 The Priest their “insiders”). Such women tend to have weakly developed In these circumstances there will be a search for “symbolic aptitudes in rational judgement processes or “thinking”, guilt”, that makes scapegoats of those who are responsible especially where they are “sensors” who prefer to deal with for the “real crime” of the disruption of the local social matter-of-fact, here-and-now matters (the kinds, for example, order. This is a common scenario for the priest to “go soft” that one may notice in those who choose to be much involved on “justice” values that are more objective and disinterested. in and to run school fund-raising activities). Personalities of On this reading, the death of Our Lord was in answer to this kind are disposed when “put out” to engage in vigorous “social balance” values, and in violation of “justice” values. “dumping” on others, slamming doors, yelling and making But usually people do not “die” for their social disruptions; biting remarks, with physical tenseness and gritting of teeth. more usually they are brought into conformity, including But often people of this kind have strong public emotional priestly conformity. The biblical norms were not worked control. What often gets manifest is an imperviousness to out in urban societies that allow greater individuation of logical or feeling arguments: they just will not allow them- the person; they were worked out in small-scale societies selves to see “where others are coming from”, and the “whole with social traits such as may readily be observed in much thing” becomes “personal” or ad hominem. In these states, contemporary rural church life. Thus, the rural pastor needs there will be no consideration of “the issues”. Whoever does to recognise the prevalence of underlying social morés not agree with them will be regarded as uncooperative and designed to promote consensus and social balance that is undermining – as “the enemy”. “Loyalty” will be adjudged networked to kinship groups and not to “principles”. This is in ever-narrowing terms, and it will be only the welfare of a big challenge to priestly fidelity to what fashionably are the “in group” that matters. Where “thinking” does come called “gospel values”. out, it will usually be only with the “in group”, and show little intuitive insight and tending to be infantile, archaic, Networked “values”, not “literary” values negative, and deprecatory. Husbands often will be a target Most people think of “text” in linear terms (like the lines for this kind of inferior thinking (the “she makes the bullets, on which text is arranged). Those who think of text in more he fires them” part of the dynamic). It may be very difficult “symbolic” terms tend to think more intuitively. I recall a to deal with this inferior behaviour because with women it case where I said to a rather “sensory” parishioner, “What tends to be more concealed, and any intrusion will be treated my note was really saying was such and such …”, only with resentment. What has been described is a pretty lethal to hear the reply, “I read what was written, Father.” This combination. It is a combination that can be encountered sensory inclination may be noticed in rural and provincial in any setting, but is more likely to emerge in rural settings centre newspapers, which are like the urban “tabloid” papers because the values of small-scale societies tend to be ones and almost devoid of literary and interpretative material, that more promote “social balance” than “justice” – to be and dominated by data reportage and photographic content “feeling values” rather than “rational values”. Rural pastors – local people photographic content. Where assimilation of need to identify the “inferior” aspects of the personalities of data requires interpretation, this can rarely occur by literary women parishioners and try to act early before a full-blown means. A compressed church bulletin notice that interprets episode occurs – but also sometimes simply to recognise, a community dispute according to principles will rarely “This is going to happen, and there’s not much I can do about resolve a dispute. Interpretative acts tend to be community it.” And then to work for the re-building/reconstruction. acts, and the “process” tends to gossip. Thus, a dispute will be talked about discursively within the reference group. This “Social balance” values, rather than “justice” values “dis-entangling” exercise is prone to further “entanglement”, The sharp points in biblical morality are “justice” values: it because the talkers (gossipers) are often more interested in is in “justice” terms that Nathan the prophet confronts David “social balance” (and attendant “blaming”) than in reaching the King (2Sam 12:7-9); it is in “justice” terms that Our Lord objective conclusions. An acceptance of discursiveness and portrays his identification of his followers (“Whatever you of re-iteration may assist communication of the objective did unto one of the least of these my brethren, you did unto issues, and an acceptance that these are going to be talked me”, Mt 25:40). “Justice” values that operate in a rational, through (not simply “read” through) is necessary. Once cognitive manner often conflict with the “social balance” everyone has had his (her) “say”, a readiness to accept a values that prevail in small-scale societies. In small-scale version of events may settle and an aversion to further elabo- societies, there is a stronger instinct against disclosing the ration of events (gossip) may emerge. But this will often be harmful behaviour of persons in ways that bring personal a slow process, and the final “settlement” may leave much accountability and that call for change in behaviour and even entanglement and lasting – though not talked-about – discord. for recompense. This instinct arises because social relations In this the acceptability of a “solution” usually takes prece- (“social balance”) tend to matter more than “principles”. dence over accepting responsibilities for the initial breach. The application of principles may disrupt the status quo of This is hard on rural pastors who seek “reconciliation” and “social balance”, the existing status of relationships in the who see each parishioner as a “sheep of the Lord’s flock”. community (including who exercises the “upper hand” in But recognition by the pastor of his limitations in the face of the community, who has the “ear” of the priest, even who “networked values” may be necessary, and oftentimes prayer implicitly tells the priest how the church operates and who may necessarily be the firstand last resort. “operates” the local church). Where “social balance” values prevail, this drives small-scale and rural societies to focus Local authority, not external authority dispute resolution on the re-creation and re-affirmation of The suspicion of rural societies for bureaucratic processes “proper” relationships in the local society. The aim becomes and bureaucratic decision can extend to church authority. to construct a version of events that enable existing status Disregard for canon law is not peculiar to small-scale soci- relationships to be re-asserted and consensus to be achieved.

May 2008 28 eties, although in urban contexts it tends to arise from the “Shame”, not “guilt” implicit challenge of canonical norms to “private” norms, “Guilt” has to do with the attribution of “right” and “wrong”, rather than the implicit challenge to group norms as occurs and particularly with “wrong”, especially as it is internalised in small-scale rural societies. A rural pastor should not be to the person. “Shame” treats not “right” and “wrong”, but surprised to hear, “I don’t care what canon law says!”, and “face”, and is particularly social in its aspect, since shame the visit of the bishop may more be an occasion for him more impacts not only upon the person but on those who to hear “us” than for “us” to understand how and why the share the person’s identity. The desire of small-scale groups bishop came to a decision, or the education office came to to avoid shame is another aspect of the avoidance of a “right”/ a decision. The preference for “local authority” (rather than “wrong” and principled approach to conflict issues, because “external authority”) is embraced because the dominance the avoidance of shame takes priority over the promotion of local “network values” means that it is factional balance of justice. One can observe in shame cultures an enhanced that has been disrupted, and it is the restoration of factional impulse to regulate behaviour to avoid shame and to monitor balance that is sought. Issues of principles and of justice the behaviour of others who may bring shame upon others. are not the driving issues. They may be useful for rhetoric, This means that the avoidance of wrong in behaviour (and but they are not determinative in the typical instincts of the pursuit of right in behaviour) may be less potent than the small-scale rural communities. External authorities tend to avoidance of shame. This can be seen in rural contexts where introduce extraneous criteria that does not meld with local the threat of shame acts as a greater restraining influence “social balance” values. Rural pastors need to be aware of than the appeal to principles. Where, however, “face” has the strength of “social balance” forces, and to recognise been disrupted, this may be entrenched in wider group loss that only God’s strength is stronger – otherwise they will be of face that gives rise to extended social disharmony. One broken, and, with them, the effective exercise of the sacred can see the dynamic of “face” behaviour where behaviour office will be broken. becomes shy, meek, and inarticulate in environments where roles and statuses are unknown. Sometimes, the slowness “High context”, not “low context” encounters in calling forth dialogue in public meetings with outsiders “Low context” encounters are governed by generalised and present can be understood in “face” terms. One can often explicit rules of engagement, while communication in “high see this addressed by the person chairing a meeting speak- context” cultures serves to maintain relative statuses or to ing first not to the principles at issue or the agenda, but first establish appropriate relations between parties. The manner speaking to the audience in a “buttering up” way. Well-liked of proceeding of urban “low context” cultures can seem to pastors may often rival “civil celebrants” in their ability to rural “high context” cultures as inflexible and untrustworthy “butter up” people on occasions like marriages and funerals, because they are unwilling to establish personal relationships and somewhat anomalous situations take on an air of accept- and prefer formal contracts to social sanctions. Whereas, the ability, respectability, and even of self-congratulation. This, manner of proceeding of rural “high context” cultures can of course, is not a “rural” proclivity, but the wider frame of be seen by urban “low context” cultures as indecisive and social standing in rural settings may serve to enhance “face” untrustworthy because they are reluctant to make and wish considerations in church matters. to change formal agreements. For rural groups, an urban manner of proceeding may seem impersonal and obtrusive; “High power” distance and “low power” distance while for urban groups, a rural manner of proceeding may In an aristocratic/tenant rural setting there is a “high power” seem ineffectual and obstructing. Pastors in rural settings distance between the landowning squire and the landworking need to be aware of these differences. labourer. In rural settings where farmer-operators prevail or where farmer-owners do not have a readily tractable labour “Short term” focus, not “long term” focus source, the “low power” distance may be more prevalent The tendency for rural groups to prefer to deal with concrete than in contemporary urban settings where most people are issues, rather than generalities also manifests itself in an employees of large organisations. In “low power” distance unreadiness to take a longer view. An aggravated “sensor” settings, a participative and horizontal decision-making will get more aggravated when an “intuitive” wants to talk style tends to be preferred. Subordinates expect superiors to about the principles that he sees being worked out in a par- consult them regarding decision-making and to explain their ticular case and to apply these principles to the particular decisions. The egalitarian and informal priest is more likely case. This is anger-making for a sensor, who wants addressed to be appreciated in such contexts, and one who reasons in concrete terms a concrete and present issue. The preference from external values or who appeals to external authority for dealing with the “here and now” is an instance of this tends to be less appreciated. “He’s a good bloke” is more discord between “sensor” and “intuitive” values. It requires likely to be used as a word of approbation than, “He’s a some imaginative leap to deal with a prospective scenario good priest”. Much of the conflict in the Catholic Church and all the contingencies involved therein, while the pres- over recent decades has been about “power distance”. Rural ent scenario (the aggravating present scenario) presses with settings tend to have more conservative values than urban far greater immediacy and without contingency. Whether settings (and thus tend to have less discord with unchanging in matters practical (like whether the rural area will or will Church teaching). Priests in rural settings do not as much not have a windfarm for harvesting natural energy) or in encounter attempts to reduce “power distance” in matters “spiritual” matters, those who want a “forward looking” such as the pressure in urban settings for women to be in the perspective that calls for a long time horizon are likely to sanctuary and to assume ministerial roles. Yet the pressure encounter more difficulty in rural settings, because there is to reduce “power distance” is typically pervasive and strong a stronger tendency to a short-term focus in small-scale and in rural settings. In Australia, priests are more likely to have segmented societies. discarded clerical dress and clerical styling in rural areas than

29 The Priest in urban areas, and to assume the “good bloke”/“nice guy” damaging ways, and, unless the pastor has a good memory persona. This “informality” is also a signal of many of the for the kinship map of his parish, a misplaced word may be cultural traits canvassed in this paper. Unless these dynamics voiced to a kinsman or to someone who when alliances shift are understood, rural pastors may more readily compromise will be ready to use it mischievously: “Be wise as a serpent their ministerial authority in the community. …” (Mt 10:16).

Summing-up and applications Social balance. Nearly all the “hard sayings” of Our Lord in the gospels deal in “justice” terms, and not in “social balance” Understanding rural ministry is helped by a variety of terms (it is Who did the father’s will? rather than Who has perspectives drawn from psychology, social psychology, such and such a relationship with the father that networks social anthropology, sociology, and politics. The chosen to such and such relations with the local community? (cf, set of perspectives is somewhat eclectic, and includes the Mt 21:31)). This perspective often conflicts with rural local following: values, where the pressure is to go soft on justice if this too disrupts local social balance, and diminishes someone of Power distance. There will often be a conflict between “being standing in the community. A priest anywhere who defends liked” and “being faithful”, and ministry that is faithful to the rights of the downtrodden as a group or a particular Christ and his Church may be perceived as promoting a downtrodden person tends to be unpopular. In rural settings, “power distance” between priest and people in rural setting priests need to recognise the particular prevalence of social where power distances are low. It is hard to portray the nature balance, because the building of appreciation of and com- of “authority” where people think in terms of “power”, but mitment to justice values is a big pastoral challenge. that is the challenge. Women acting in their “inferior”. When people act in the Shame. Loss of face may have ramified effects in rural areas of their personalities that are least strong or least devel- settings. In urban settings, people usually have other social oped (their “inferior”), they are more likely to act poorly. A alternatives. In rural settings there may be nowhere else to priest who wants to take a decision that is going to be very go, and loss of face may have wider damaging impacts for challenging to the womenfolk in his parish needs to take rural ministry. The distinction between objective offence and a great deal of care to explain his reasoning and to foster loss of social standing is not easily cultivated, and people networks that interpret his reasoning in women’s groups in probably won’t want to hear about “guilt”, but the more it is the community. appreciated the less the significance of “face”. Men acting in their “inferior”. When people act in the areas Short term focus. Taking a “forward looking” perspective of their personalities that are least strong or least developed involves adopting long-term goals that will not appeal to (their “inferior”), they are more likely to act poorly. Men people whose outlook is “short term”. This requires great can be a particular menace when operating in their relatively optimism on the part of the pastor, and perseverance in the undeveloped “feeling” personalities, and the displays of bad cultivation of optimism among his people. temper can be shocking and uncontrolled. A priest who wants High context cultures. People who live in “high context” to take a decision that is going to be very challenging to the cultures bring a lot of implicit understanding of one another menfolk in his parish needs to take a great deal of care to and of shared expectations. People who do not share their avoid “personalisation” of the discussion, and to foster men’s implicit understanding and expectations tend to make overt networks that reduce the emotional heat of men who may their expectations, and start introducing and talking about take the decision badly. This involves much use of factual “protocols” that may range over such things as the use of reality to help such men to retain or to regain their inner state. inclusive language or the way to conduct a meeting. This Priests have relentlessly to “stick to the issues”, the objective often does not go down well in rural settings, and it is well issues in trying to bring around such people. for a pastor to try to learn what are the implicit values that “Feeling” personalities. People with “feeling” personalities are generally found in “high context” rural cultures, and to tend to make their judgements more subjectively according use this understanding to work toward implementing “gospel to personal and inter-personal values. Women are often more values”. adept at making judgements of this kind, and women will Local autonomy. Rural people tend more to emphasise local often more help the pastor where they appreciate what he is decision making, and this gives rise to a suspicion of external doing in “feeling” terms. Where what he is doing sits ill with authority. Reference, for example, to what canon law has to “feeling values”, the task is harder with feeling personalities say on some local issue is likely to be taken as an arbitrary who can simply dig in their heels to either logical or feeling intrusion of external authority. Priests who tend to refer to arguments. A priest is best to keep going a string of practical external authority in adjudging matters will often have a projects that can involve such people in doing constructive larger apologetic task in rural communities. things. This can be hard where the “take over” dispositions again assert themselves (for example, in one set of women Network values. Rural people tend to assimilate informa- who run the school canteen or who run the catering for church tion and values through local social networks rather than by functions). There are no easy remedies where particular formal media. This easily degenerates to “gossip”. Yet rural personality types are disposed to particular difficulties and priests especially have to build networks that allow “talk- where commonality or reduced variety of personality type ing through” of what they want to get across, and the values exaggerates the difficulty. Sometimes the only option will and perspectives that they wish to promote. This however be for the priest to foster a new group in a new variation of calls for great discretion, as a misplaced word can be used in practical activities (regrouping, rather than reform).

May 2008 30 “Thinking” personalities. People with “thinking” per- Personalisation and subjectivity. In rural societies where sonalities tend to make their judgements more objectively people tend more to be more known, the tendency to according to rational cognitive processes. Men are often “personalisation” of decisions is greater and the attendant more adept at making judgements of this kind, and men will tendency to subjectivity in decision making is heightened. often more help the pastor where they appreciate what he is Making decisions that are even or non-discriminatory doing in “thinking” terms. Where what he is doing sits ill between persons is more difficult in such settings, and priests with their “thinking values”, the task is harder with thinking will require more robustness and perseverance to uphold personalities. (For example, “a sower went out to sow” (Mt objective values. But faithfulness to Christ and his Church 13:3) is not likely to make sense to a “thinking” personality, allow no alternative, and the Holy Spirit is given to “those because no “thinking” person – at least, no sensory “think- who ask” (Lk 11:13). ing” person – would sow seed on infertile ground. It requires some intuition to appreciate why one might so sow!) Further, Conclusions in identifying “thinking” personalities, it is important not to confuse thinking ability (or “firepower”) with the thinking In my experience there are differences between urban and disposition. People who think slowly or even poorly may rural ministry. I have surveyed a number of these differences. nevertheless have a strong preference for making cognitive The big one that stands out for me in rural ministry is that rational decisions, and just require a simpler decision model one is more dealing with a community that has complex and longer time to make a decision, and maybe even longer interpersonal relations of conflict and of loyalty, and where time to re-make a decision. Priests have to recognise the dif- there are more shared but implicit values. The other big one ferent dispositions of different people for making decisions, is that in some respects rural people have more diverse skills and to appeal to these different dispositions in order to bring because there is less specialisation in occupations than for people to support priestly leadership (a kind of application urban people, but there is less diversity in broad-group skills of St Paul’s dictum, “I make myself all things to all men …” categories and less diversity in personality characteristics. (1Cor 9:22)). This is true in any settings. In rural settings, the Particularly lacking may be the human skills that arise from way that people group or segment and the gender issues in working in complex organisations. grouping and in segmentation may more sharply divide the While different personalities show different preferences differences in personality disposition that a priest faces. The and aptitudes in the conduct of life, the challenge for the rural pastor needs to be keenly aware of the configuration of pastor is to foster personal development that rounds out the kinds of personalities in his community as he leads people personality and tempers strength and strengthens weakness in directions that are positive and forward-looking. (“presenting people mature in Christ”, Col 1:28). For a Embeddedness. Often the progress of the gospel involves Catholic pastor in a rural setting, this necessarily entails the displacing of other values, and this will be more difficult building/re-building a community where everyone is a where it more comes into conflict with socially embedded “son” or “daughter” of God the Father and a “brother” or values. The social embeddedness of values will usually be “sister” of Christ and his People. The rural pastor may have more marked in rural than in urban societies, and so draw- more to work with because there may be a stronger local ing people to build new values may in one aspect be more and ecclesial community and there may be more adherence difficult. In another aspect it may be less difficult, because to common human decencies. But human strengths are a whole community may be so drawn, rather than simply also human weaknesses, and St Paul argues that when we individual people. (This is the story of “community conver- are weak then are we strong (2Cor 12:10), and building sations” in small-scale societies in the past.) community that is truly subject to Christ takes particular challenges in rural settings. Values. Catholic faith is a rather rational religion that makes great demands upon adherence to principle and principles. Where Catholic faith conflicts with values of a less-exam- Rev. Dr P A McGavin is Parish Priest of ined kind, it can be hard to construct an integrated faith. Taralga, New South Wales, in the Arch- Unexamined values (such as lead to a hostility toward out- diocese of Canberra and Goulburn. Prior siders), can then be left year after year sitting uneasily with to full-time rural ministry, he combined the teachings and practice of Catholic faith. It can be very urban ministry with being a Professor in isolating for people who make the journey from unexamined the School of Business of the University values to objective values that are governed by principles, New South Wales campus in the national and in rural communities the sense of loneliness can be capital, Canberra, at the Australian sharper because values may be more shared. Those who do Defence Force Academy. He holds a not share the prevalent values (and/or the prevalent group Master of Theology (Honours) degree of personality type) may simply not be noticed, or even ignored. Melbourne College of Divinity (Catholic Building inclusive values anywhere is always a difficult task Theological College), Melbourne, and a for priests, and not least in rural settings. Including people Doctor of Philosophy of the University of who are on the “outside” and un-noticed is difficult in any Melbourne, Australia. setting, but may be more marked in rural settings. Because people generally are not intellectual, the building of better The author in procession, St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney, during Cardinal’s Mass values has to focus on praxis – on the doing of better values (see article page 25). and the homiletic applications of responding to the Gospel (photo: Editor, Catholic Weekly) and to the teaching of the Church.

31 The Priest The Real Ratzinger Revealed

John L. Allen

At the point of finalising this issue, the “third birthday” of “Ratzinger” as Pope Benedict XVI was at hand. This article, now a year old, by a perceptive reporter, seems apposite as commemorations and as a perception that seems to be enduring. (Ed.)

Benedict XVI turns 80 on Monday, and on Thursday celebrates the second anniversary of his election. To date, expectations of a “Catholic fundamentalist” papacy have been confounded. As cardinal, he was the man who said “No” for 20 years. Now he seems to want to express a John L Allen was for a number of years the Rome reporter for deeper “Yes”. the USA publication “National Catholic Reporter”, and this article was drawn from his site at www.ncrcafe.org. (Ed.) Reporters on the Vatican “beat” generally seek out the (photo: courtesy of the author) bishops who come to Rome for their ad limina visits, a mandatory five-yearly meeting with the Pope. During their collegial figure than his earlier public image would have visits the bishops also make the rounds of Vatican offices, suggested. so debriefing them provides a sense of what’s on the “radar screen”, so to speak, of the various dicasteries. To be sure, Benedict is capable of drawing lines in the sand, as he did by approving a November 2005 Vatican For a number of years, a few reporters had a standing bet edict barring “gay” seminarians. He has also reminded that if one of us ever found a bishop who did not say that the world that diplomacy is not always his strong suit. In his best meeting was with Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the September 2006, he triggered a firestorm in the Muslim legendary prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of world with an incendiary fourteenth-century quotation on the Faith, the rest of the group would buy that person dinner. Muhammad during a lecture in Regensburg. More recently, In the end, no one ever claimed the prize. he disappointed whatever friends the Vatican has left in the EU by accusing Europe of “apostasy” less than 24 Normally, bishops would tell us that many ad limina hours after the President of the European Parliament, the encounters with the heads of Vatican offices were practising Catholic Hans-Gert Pöttering, extended a hard- unsatisfying. The cardinal-prefect would enter the room, won invitation to the Pope to address the Parliament. In that read a lengthy statement, and leave little time for real context, Benedict’s broadside struck many as ill-tempered; conversation. Cardinal Ratzinger, they reported, was one Catholic who works for the EU said the remark has different. While he brought careful notes, he allowed the become “the Regensburg of Europe”. bishops to speak their minds. Almost universally, they found him thoughtful, gracious, and open. Furthermore, Benedict’s listening skills did not stop the Vatican from issuing a critical notification on Jesuit Fr Jon Such impressions framed the great disjunction between Sobrino, a famed liberation theologian, just two months the public image of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, and private ahead of the Fifth General Conference of CELAM, the perceptions of the man. In public, Ratzinger was the Darth council of bishops’ conferences of Latin America and the Vader of Roman Catholicism; he was seen as draconian, Caribbean. Senior Latin American clergy had asked the inquisitorial and imperious. Those stereotypes shaped the Vatican to delay the notification until after the CELAM early line in the media on his election as Pope Benedict XVI. meeting in Brazil in May, which Benedict XVI will attend, To take one typical example, an Italian editorial cartoon but to no avail. the day after Cardinal Ratzinger’s election, in a play on the famous scene of John XXIII telling a moonlit crowd in St Yet, on the whole, expectations that Benedict XVI would be Peter’s Square in 1962 to give their children a kiss from the a bruiser-pope have proven off the mark. Two vignettes make Pope, showed the new Pope instructing a similar crowd to the point. First, in July 2006 the Pope visited Valencia, Spain, give their children not a kiss but a firm spanking. for the World Congress of Families. He met Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, whose Socialist Government In private, however, Cardinal Ratzinger had a different has pursued a liberal agenda bitterly opposed by the Spanish profile. Co-workers and brother bishops saw him as Church, including full gay marriage and adoption rights. Yet strikingly humble and collegial. The conviction of the 115 when Benedict arrived, there was none of the finger-wagging cardinals who elected him Pope was that they were elevating and apocalyptic language one might have expected. Instead, this “real” Ratzinger. the Pope struck a consistently positive tone, never even directly engaging gay marriage or other matters of sexual On 16 April 2007, Pope Benedict XVI turns 80, and on morality. His main concern was to offer a positive Christian 19 April 2007 he marks two years in office. As he passes vision of the family. Later, a German television reporter those milestones, perhaps the most notable storyline about asked Benedict why he didn’t call down fire and brimstone his pontificate is the way the private Ratzinger has, to a in Spain. His response is revealing: considerable extent, become the public Pope. To date, Allen, continued at page 21. Benedict XVI has proved a more gradual, centrist and May 2008 32 Pictured above are the three 2008 seminary entrants for the Archdioceseof Canberra and Goulburn with the Most Rev. Mark Coleridge. At his first ordination as Archbishop of Canberra and Goulburn, Dr Coleridge preached strongly on the vocation to celebate priesthood, and the picture illustrates the fruits of this forthright attitude toward to priestly vocation. From left to right: Trenton Van Reesch, Jorge Nulley, and Duc Mac (also mentioned in the story at page 34 is Paul Nulley (cousin to George, who entered along with Bernie Drum in 2007)). (Ed.) Photo credit: Catholic Voice.

Holy Mass in Christ the King Catholic Church, Taralga, NSW

The above photograph (from page 2 of the November 2007 issue of this journal) is here reproduced to illustrate the “ideological” approach reproduced in the new GIRM (see article, pages 4 to 8 of this issue). According to the new GIRM for Australia, what is popularly called the “high altar”, but in the “museum” language of the new GIRM is termed the “old altar”, should not be used, and should not be decorated (#303) (as it has continuously been decorated in this church each Sunday outside of Lent (#305), whether it is used for celebration or not – although actually the flowers are on the reredos, not the altar mensa). Incidentally, the number of candles – reflecting the festiveness of the occasion (1975 GIRM #269, 2008 GIRM #307) – number 10 on the altar plus 6 on the reredos, whereas the GIRM restricts the number to six (1975 GIRM #79, 2008 GIRM #117). See at page 4 of this issue the Editor’s remarks on “Which way do we face?” (Ed.)

33 The Priest Saying “Yes” – following Christ in the way of Mary Michelle Vass, Peter Hawes, and Brother Greg McDonald

When I learned that the three 2008 entrants, as well as During their time at Marist College, the students took up one of the two 2007 entrants, to seminary studies for my a range of faith formation opportunities. They all regularly Archdiocese came from the same school, Marist College attended the College’s Friday Morning Mass. Two of the in Woden Valley, Canberra, I approached the Head of four participated in a specialist Year 9 Liturgy Class, where Ministry in the College with an invitation to reflect on what they were introduced to the various aspects of liturgy and is distinctive in this school that may have contributed to this took part in liturgical celebrations for major feast days. In happy outcome. I add two observations to what the Ministry their senior years, they were trained and commissioned as Team has presented: our new Archbishop is leading a altar servers and Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist. review for increased doctrinal clarity in religious education In these roles, they served the school community at weekly curricula for schools in the Archdiocese; and Marist Mass, House Masses and at major College feast days College is unusual in still having a vital school presence and celebrations including the Commencement Mass, St of Religious Brothers who are active in their teaching, and Marcellin Champagnat’s Feast Day Mass, the Assumption the Brothers’ religious habit is customarily seen around the and Graduation Masses. In addition, they made themselves school. This kind of “identity marker” was also seen when available for various archdiocesan liturgies as the need the three young men presented for the Chrism Mass 2008, arose. all wearing white shirts and black trousers. I should note also that the school is one of only two boys-only schools in Of particular note is they way in which each young man the Archdiocese (see the article by Andrew Mullins in this put his faith into action through involvement in service issue on single-sex schooling). (Ed.) activities in the college. Some were members of the Marist Justice and Solidarity Group which raises awareness of Over the past couple of years, four students from Marist local, national and global justice issues; St Vincent de Paul College Canberra have discerned the testing of a vocation and the Night Patrol van which serves the local community; to the priesthood and taken up studies at the Good Shepherd the Human Rights Action Group which is involved in Seminary in Homebush. In response to this, it is perhaps awareness-raising of international human rights issues. Two worth reflecting on the environment in which the four young of the four participated in a 2-week overseas immersion men have to date developed their sense of vocation. Apart program to the Solomon Islands during Year 11. Along from attending the same school, these young men all come with the preparation for this trip, a considerable amount from supportive families and are also from the same parish, of de-briefing and reflection for these students both on the Corpus Christi Parish in the Tuggeranong Valley in south trip and later on return, contributed to their growing sense Canberra. It would seem that the combination of family, of social justice. parish and school has had a cumulative affect on their faith In terms of Religious Education, the students undertook development. formation in Scripture and spirituality through the College’s Undoubtedly there are many aspects that impact on the lives Religious Education program. This is based on the Canberra- of young men as they choose a future direction in life. From Goulburn Archdiocesan Religious Education program the perspective of our school Marist College Canberra, the Treasures New and Old. They also had the opportunity to following is a brief outline of some areas of school life that take part in school-based retreats during Years 11 and 12. could be seen to contribute to a growing sense of vocation. It would seem, at least from the school perspective, that As a Marist school, our aim in responding to the gospel offering a variety of faith formation opportunities that message is to make Jesus Christ known and loved, following emphasise service and generosity of spirit can play an the inspiration of our founder St Marcellin Champagnat. We important part in the lives of young men. They have been seek to do this through the joyful witness of our motto, Servo part of a healthy Catholic culture where the relationships Fidem, by keeping the faith and passing it on to others. In between family, parish and school have been nurtured particular, we strive to remain faithful to the gospel call to and encouraged. Within this environment, they have been love our neighbour, especially the most neglected, and accept exposed to the question about vocations in all its contexts. As the challenge of living this out through the witness of faithful teachers in a Marist school, it is our hope that our students, Christian service. This is what underpins our teaching and through a range of experiences, will begin to glimpse a all that we offer our students in terms of education and faith picture of the wider Church that exists in the world. Then, formation. in the way of Mary, we trust that they can say “Yes” to the invitation that God gives them in their lives. For our recent Each of the students entered fully into the life and worship seminarians, our prayers remain with them as they take-up of the Church while being formed in his family, school and their vocation to become more deeply followers of Christ parish. It is worth noting that the College enjoys a very close as Priest. working relationship with the parish of Corpus Christi. This parish has a vibrant and growing youth ministry which the Michelle Vass is Assistant Head of School – Ministry; Peter students have been involved in both during their school years Hawes is Director, Religious Education; and Brother Greg and subsequently. McDonald is Youth Minister at Marist College, Canberra.

May 2008 34 Fly Away to Heaven Project Father John Fowles, CCS

Introduction The only way I can explain “Fly-Away-to-Heaven” is to outline how the Highway to Heaven came about, that is, to go back to the need for a church to be built in Thurgoona. As a newly ordained priest, I recall standing on the virgin soil where only gum trees and native scrub flourished and with Bishop Brennan’s words ringing in my ears, “There you are; now build your Church.” It was a rather daunting task, perhaps I was feeling a little like David facing Goliath. But sitting there looking at it was not getting the job done. Together, the religious community of the Confraternity Two religious priests, Father Joel Wallace and Father John of Christ the Priest and the Parishioners undertook a risk Fowles of the Confraternity of Christ the Priest are pictured bigger than Texas, known as the “Highway to Heaven above with “Angel Wings” aircraft. Truck Raffle”. These priests much impressed 2006 Conference participants The “Highway to Heaven” covered all parts of Australia, the with their hospitality in the “church that looks and feels like a priests and people took to the highways. It is through the church” that with their community they constructed at Thur- generosity of many good people that the foundations of the goona in Albury, NSW (see “The Priest”, May 2007, pages Church were laid. The inspiration behind the “fly-a-thon” 19-20). Now these CCS priests again impress with their new project (see article). came from the desire to hand on this blessing gratefully received. An unexpected visitor came to the Parish, and spoke of the plight of the people of East Timor. Listening The Fly Away to Heaven will commence a national fly-a-thon to this man I felt the need to respond with a personal com- on 1st May 2008. It is a flight of goodwill that has the potential mitment to help in some way, although I had no idea how. to inspire generosity among Australians allowing them to go beyond themselves by way of service. It was from this that the “Fly Away to Heaven” initiative emerged. In some way, it is like the “rich man” of the Gospel The Fly-a-thon Flight Plan has twelve legs. Pilots and flying and the Timorese people like the poor Lazarus. East Timor, friends are invited to join all legs or as many as they choose. being the poorest and neediest nation in the world today, we There is a stipulated time frame for this flight and all partici- decided to centre our project a round their needs. We live pants are required to cover their flight costs and carry the logo in a materialistic world in which we can lose ourselves and of their sponsor. Sponsorship of $1,000 is needed to join our forget the need to give and help others that struggle for the flight and must raise this by 20th April, 2008. So with a ‘Lets basic necessities in life. go’ attitude, go get your wings and come fly with me.

A fly-a-thon? That is what we can do! Angel Wings Takes to the Sky Being a priest and pilot, and having an interest in building, After three and a half years of being locked up in the Parish the thought struck me of a “fly-a thon”. But how this was “Hanger” this little Angel was about to take to the skies. With to come about, I had no idea? My license to fly had long the words of our motto “On the Wing of a Prayer” in my mind expired and more to the point there was no plane! Yet I found I started up the engine and headed down the runway on our myself pricing plane kits. God was going to have to work a maiden flight. miracle for this Project to get it on the runway! With this mission of “the gift of giving” little Angel Wings God’s Hand did come into play. In less than a week a gave it all she had. Winging our way north amongst the clouds friend simply asked, how much did I need for the kit. I said Angel Wings was returning to the nest, the home of the Jabiru, $70,000, he said, “Ok go ahead and order it”. This is how Bundaberg, Southern Queensland. Departing from the winter “Angel Wings” became a reality. weather of Wangaratta, we soon found ourselves in clearer A Jabiru J400, build it yourself kit plane, became my skies tracking north for arrival finally at Bundaberg’s, Wide Monday hobby for the next three and half years. It is unusual Bay Airshow. It seemed every pilot with his wings was lining for any parish to operate an aircraft, but with thanks to the up for a landing. I was soon ushered into a circuit pattern that generosity of a local benefactor, we have two aeroplanes included the “Roulettes” along with a variety of every other in our parish hangar. The generosity that the project has form of flying machine. Everything with wings was there. engendered confirms our opinion that Australians across the Was this a “welcome mat” being put out?.. or was this a “war country want to identify with the people of East Timor in zone”? Weaving in and out, finally, Angel Wings got through their struggle for independence and self reliance. the traffic and was cleared to land. Then with the thunder of aircraft all around, Angel Wings touched the ground. The Initiative The next two days Angel Wings was proudly on display. At People find it hard to comprehend a priest building a plane, the Air Show many people showed interest in the Fly Away to driving a truck around the country, and now flying a plane, Heaven Project while our theme song “Earth Angel’s Care” but the message is clear. It is time to recognise the poorest touched their hearts. How encouraging it was to see people nation in the world and our closest neighbour, East Timor.

35 The Priest respond with surprise and joy when they discovered what our Fair Dinkum Mate! “Going Outback! good will flight for the people of East Timor was about. People from all over the world come to visit the Australian When the noise began to settle and the last of the crowd was Outback. It is the red heart of our Country where people find drifting out the gate, we taxied into the service bay where the “True Aussie” with the generous heart. The Fly Away to an adjustment or two had to be made. Then again, “Angel Heaven Project appeals to this heart by seeking sponsorship Wings” was put to the test. That was fine with me, until the from “the Outback”. pilot started to do “roll-overs” and manoeuvres I knew noth- We are inviting everyone to come on board this wonderful ing about. The Pilot said, “She’s right Father, just hang on! Project in aid of the people of East Timor through purchasing … hasn’t she got Angel Wings?” Well, it was time to head for our “Earth Angels Care” theme song. This CD gives voice to home having spent time among the big flyers, maybe not by our commitment to raise money to distribute towards the basic choice, but Angel Wings certainly proved a winner among our essential human needs like food, water and hygiene, health many new friends in the Sunshine State. supplies, and shelter. Fly Away To Heaven Goes To Henty Field Days “Earth Angels Care” with all its sales is bringing ten young With only a brief respite, Angel Wings’ next flight was the people from East Timor to World Youth Day in Sydney 2008. Henty Field Day, following in the path of the Highway to To these people of East Timor attending such an event would Heaven Trucks where she met the people of the Riverina. A only be a dream, but our Project is making this a reality. As lot of good people showed great interest in the “Fly Away to our theme song reminds us, “miracles can happen when earth Heaven” Project. Having the aircraft “Angel Wings” on dis- angels care”. play gave people the opportunity to take photographs of their Another aspect of the Fly Away to Heaven Project is aimed at children with little Angel Wings while coming to appreciate all you pilots! We are “Calling All Pilots”, to go get your wings the concept of the “Fly-away-to-Heaven”. and join our mission, a mission that will take you around Aus- Comments made by adults were very different to the children. tralia in a fun loving flight in aid of the people of East Timor. “You wouldn’t get me in that Father”, but the children were There is no beating about the bush with this one, mate! The Fly very keen to become instant pilots, “Start her up Father” they Away to Heaven project is calling every “fair dinkum Aussie” asked, “Let’s fly on Angel Wings”. At the Henty Field Day, to help us keep the “billy boiling” in this worthy cause. So, if people gather year in and year out. The Farmers and their your dare, come fly with us.” Let’s take “Angel Wings” across families come from near and far to celebrate three days of the Outback. fun and festival. Taking a break from the drought stricken Baguia Orphanage farmland, the farmers enjoyed “Angel Wings” and sang along with the Song of “Earth Angels Care”. The purpose of the Fly-a-thon is aimed to raise funds for projects to assist the orphans in remote villages like Baguia. There are Fly Away to Heaven goes to America an incredible number of orphan children in East Timor, like this “On the Wing of a Prayer” Angel Wings has been out and about one situated high up on the side of Mt. Matebain in Baguia. making known this message of good will, but in our next flight From Larga, it is a four hour drive in an open truck, standing our little Angel was to be left safely at home. With short notice holding on to overhead frame, sharing the floor space with pigs, I found myself heading off to America, on a flight from Albury chickens, bags of rice, building materials, with at least thirty to Alabama, USA. This flight was very different to Bundaberg people crammed together. When we eventually arrive at the in Angel Wings. On this flight I found myself in the hands of orphanage in Baguia, we find there over fifty children living in God! What was He conspiring to bring about next? How could the poorest of poor conditions. Homes are mostly built from this retreat benefit the “Fly Away to Heaven” I thought? Then bamboo having a thatched roof. Rice is the main food and while flying across the Pacific the obvious became apparent. grown in the lower areas, while higher up the mountain corn Birmingham, Alabama is the home of EWTN (Eternal Word and beans are grown. People in Baguia have no vehicles only a Television Network), which of course was why I was really few motor bikes. The children walk to school or market places going! This was to give us world wide television coverage. on foot. Transport to Dili can take up to 7 hours because the tracks are so rough. Naturally enough this was to give me the golden opportunity to talk about the “Fly Away to Heaven” in connection with “Baguia” Orphanage has around 50 boys and girls ranging from World Youth Day 2008 with an interview on “Life On The 6-16 years old. These children are housed into two dormitories Rock”. With keen interest the interviewer asked me how was approximately 4 by 4 meters. The small windows and doors Australia preparing for World Youth Day? He was surprised do not let in much fresh air or natural light, so it can get very to hear all about the “Fly Away to Heaven” Project with its hot and stuffy inside. Having no window fly screens, makes aims and goals of bringing out young people from East Timor these dormitories a high risk for Malaria, Tuberculosis and to join with other youths to share the joy of WYD08. other tropical diseases. The sparse dining room, with one line of tables down the centre and chairs around the walls are where A visit with the Nuns at Our Lady of the Angels Monastery the children after grace, happily eat their meals with their plates where I met with Mother Angelica, a Franciscan Nun, whose upon their knees. The menu is as follows: extraordinary work of establishing an international Television Breakfast: Plain boiled rice with bean soup on top, plus small Network that beams the Catholic faith into homes through the piece of bread. world is probably one of the great achievements of our age. Lunch: As above, minus the bread. What a great pleasure it was to be in the presence of such a Dinner: As above. (Meat is added to dinner about once a month: saintly nun, who greeted me warmly. God certainly did unfold usually boiled chicken or pork.) his plan!

May 2008 36 In the kitchen children chop wood and build an open fire for the cooking of rice and beans in two huge saucepans. Serving from the saucepan, the children place the food onto small plates for eating in the dining room. Their water supply is gravity fed through a pipe from a spring higher up the mountain that leads into an open tank in the kitchen. This water is bailed out in Children of Baguia an old saucepan and used for all purposes. Electricity from the Orphanage in Timor town generator (when working) is from 7pm to 11pm. Com- Leste (East Timor) munications is non existent. Transport is via open truck and whom Father Fowles operates twice daily, six days a week. The Pre-natal clinic is CCS is assisting with open daily to accommodate the mothers to be. Other medical his “Fly Away to and Dental services are extremely limited. Heaven” Project.

All work in and around the orphanage is carried out by the another bike in for the children with no cost. On returning to children. Care and supervision are in the hands of two girls the Orphanage, the children were delighted, there were screams aged 18 years and 21years. These two girls are paid a very low of joy and tears of happiness. Not one bike, not two but three! wage approximately $5.00 per week. The cost per child per The children’s joy was overwhelming but nothing to compare day is approximately $US$1. with the joy in Jacque’s heart. Is it any wonder why Jacque’s How can we help? heart is with these children so full of joy in East Timor. Like Jacque, we too, can have this same joy when we come together 1. Assist with the bread program ($35 will employee five women and in our one off ‘goodwill’ flight for the poor and needy. children to bake bread for eight days breakfast for fifty children living in Baguia’s orphanage.) Contributions to “Fly Away To Heaven” Project can be made to: 2. Renovations to rooms and kitchen facility at the Orphanage. PO Box 110, Lavington NSW 2641 3. Sporting goods such as volleyballs, soccer and basketballs are Visit our Website: www.flyawaytoheaven.org.au needed. The challenge of joining our good will flight of outreach to the 4. Educational items, blackboards, desks, writing materials etc. many generous Australians, will be one that through this gift 5. Children’s clothes are another basic need along with cleaning. of giving you will receive back a hundredfold! So down with Projects your pens, hang up your overalls, it is time for you to join our flight and have some fun. The Fly Away to Heaven Project intends to support the Orphan- age of Baguia. Fly Away to Heaven Prayer Crusade 1. Renovations to the run down damp buildings of the Orphanage will It is impossible to think that a Project undertaken without prayer be the first Project of the Fly Away to Heaven. is going to be successful. The Fly Away to Heaven Project 2. Bread for Orphanage Breakfast program in support of food and knows only too well the necessity of prayer to keep this flight nutrition. in aid of the people of East Timor on course. To be successful (FATH is already assisting the program.) and achieve a generous response to the gift of giving a Prayer 3. Education Program. Crusade for God’s blessings has been given top priority for the 4. Health and Hygiene. Fly Away to Heaven Project. Despite the difficulties that face of people of Baguia are very The Fly Away to Heaven Project has instigated a Prayer Cru- warm and friendly and have a great respect for both their local sade throughout the Dioceses of Australia. In doing so, the and Timorese identity. The Fly Away to Heaven Commit- Project has opened up an opportunity for people throughout tee thanks you for your time and invites you to support our Australia to unite together by way of placing their signatures cause. with their prayer commitment in a beautiful book. This book will be presented to our Holy Father Pope Benedict at World The Gift of Giving Youth Day. Jacque Garnier, a Fly Away to Heaven team member, shares a Our “Goodwill” flight will inspire others to take up the chal- story of his own experience in Baguia. The children plead with lenge for the poor and needy, while at the same time, it will Fr Marcos to go home for Christmas. But Fr Marcos knows revitalise our own commitment to the Christian way of life. that this Orphanage is their home. By way of consolation they By taking part in our Prayer Crusade, we believe many will go were given the opportunity to visit a large town which gave further in their efforts to express goodness and generosity, ideals them great excitement. Jacque was going to buy them a pres- which we believe all people aspire too. The Prayer Crusade ent for Christmas. seeking God’s protection for World Youth Day 2008 and the They all climbed aboard the ute and set off to buy the present safety of all international pilgrims travelling to Australia is a Jacque promised. After hours of rough roads and many pit stops way that we can spiritually become one, uniting us together to the children arrived at Dili. The children gathered together and celebrate this wonderful event. a young boy smiling behind his hand asked for a bike. The I thank you all for your time and trust that you will assist us on our young lad was told to go and pick out a bike. He came back flight to ease the burden of poverty put on the people of East Timor. with a bike to suit a 14 year old. “What about us little kids?” We would like the opportunity to present our project at your Parish. asked a tiny child? So, Jacque decided to buy another bike with To make these arrangements please contact us on flyawaytoheaven@ training wheels for the younger children. The shopkeeper was hotmail.com or Phone: 02 6043 2222. Fax 02 6043 2224. so impressed with Jacque’s generosity that he decided to throw

37 The Priest Proposed changes to the Constitution of the Australian Confraternity of Catholic Clergy The Executive intends to put the following proposed changes to the ACCC Constitution at the AGM during the 2008 Annual Conference. In order to satisfy the requirements for constitutional change, notice of the proposed changes is presented to clerical members as follows. The left-hand column shows Statute VIII of the present constitution, and the right-hand column presents the proposed changes appear. If these changes are adopted, it is my intention then to publish the revised Constitution of ACCC in this journal. (Editor)

Statute VIII. The National Executive, Councillors, and Branches Proposed changes to Statute VIII 1. The governing body of the ACCC shall be its National (Proposed changes are underlined) Executive, consisting of its Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer, Publicity Officer, and Editor of the Newsletter, plus no more 1. The governing body of the ACCC shall be its National than seven Councilors. Executive, consisting of its Chairman, Deputy Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer, Publicity Officer, and Editor of the 2. The only authorised spokesman for the ACCC shall be its Journal, plus no more than seven Councillors representing five chief National Executive Officers. the ecclesiastical Provinces. 3. The election of the National Executive shall be at the AGM. Nominations may be made in advance by post or at the AGM 2. The only authorised spokesman for the ACCC shall be itself. Nominations must be seconded. Those nominated and its National Chairman or any of its other five chief National those nominating and seconding them must be financial mem- Executive Officers in matters pertaining to their office and bers. The election shall be at the AGM by secret ballot of those in consultation with the National Chairman. financial members present. Postal votes for candidates known 3. The election of the National Executive shall be at the in advance are also acceptable. AGM in even years and is for a period of two years. Nomi- 4. The AGM shall normally be held between January and May nations must be made in writing, either in advance by post of each year. to the secretariat or in person to the secretary no less than 5. The AGM may be arranged to coincide with a major con- two hours before commencement of the AGM. Nomina- vention of the ACCC at which the principal speaker shall be tions must be seconded. Those nominated and those nomi- a cleric or lay person of acknowledged eminence and loyalty nating and seconding them must be financial members. to the Magisterium. The election shall be at the AGM by a show of hands of those financial members present. Postal votes for candi- 6. The ACCC, besides the National Executive, shall have a dates received in advance are also acceptable. Councilor in each ecclesiastical Province where there are enough members to form at least one Branch. A Councilor (Old paragraph 4 has been removed) shall act only in the name of members of his own Province. A 4. The AGM shall normally be arranged to coincide with Councilor shall be elected at a meeting of the financial members a major convention of the ACCC at which the principal of the Province or, if such a meeting is considered inconvenient speaker shall be a cleric or lay person of acknowledged for those entitled to attend, by a postal vote organised by the eminence and loyalty to the Magisterium. National Executive, with new elections held by the end of each AGM. 5. A Councillor shall act only in the name of members 7. The ACCC shall have Branches in each Province, usually of his own Province. A Councillor shall be elected for a several in each Diocese consisting of no less than three (3) period of two years at a meeting of the financial members members each, from whom a Chairman, Secretary, and Trea- of the Province normally to take place during the AGM in surer shall be elected. The Officers of a Branch shall act only odd years. Nominations must be made in writing, either in in the name of the Branch members. A Branch must meet at advance by post to the secretariat or in person to the secre- least annually. tary no less than two hours before commencement of the AGM. Nominations must be seconded. Those nominated 8. Any group of three (3) clerics, whether Bishops, Priests or and those nominating and seconding them must be finan- Deacons may set up a Branch of the ACCC provided that:- cial members belonging to that province. Postal votes for (a) There are at least three (3) clerics ready and willing to fulfill candidates known in advance are also acceptable. the membership requirements set out in Statute VII; and (Numbers seven through ten remain unchanged, though (b) The National Executive gives its consent. receive a new numbering from six through to nine.) 9. Both office and membership in the ACCC can be terminated by the next higher body of its structure, in accord with Canon 308: “No one who as lawfully admitted to be dismissed from Have you considered remembering the ACCC in your an association except for a just reason, in accordance with the will? A sample form of bequest is as follows: law and the statutes”. I bequeath the sum of $______to the Australian Confraternity of Catholic Clergy, 10. If a Branch lapses its goods are to be transferred to the National Executive. ABN 30 270 616 942, the receipted acknowledgement of the Treasurer satisfying this provision.

It is possible to make provision for anniversary Masses to be offered for some years after your death, by incorporating a gift of stipends for this purpose in your bequest. You may also consider bequeathing church valuables such as sacred vessels, vestments, liturgical books, and scholarly books, etc for gifting to young priests. Please contribute to the renewal of the Church in Australia by supporting the ACCC. May God bless you!

May 2008 38 POSTAGE THE PRIEST PAID Australian Confraternity of Catholic Clergy AUSTRALIA

PP 243571/00004 ABN 30 270 616 942 ISSN 0818 9005

If undelivered return to:

ACCC Secretariat PO Box 8004 nORTH rOAD lpo BRIGHTON EAST VIC 3187

In this issue: As the pictorial record shows (for those who watch little tel- evision!), there has been an acceleration in the re-focusing of the liturgy of the Roman rite in directions that are more “clas- sical”, and a number of articles in this issue explore the impli- cations and application of this “enrichment” process. (Ed.) photo: thenewliturgicalmovement