catholicweekly.com.au Monica Doumit Monica Doumit, the Director of Public Affairs and Engagement for the Archdiocese of Sydney, is on top of all the political, legal and ethical issues Catholics and Australians need to know about. Direct, devastating and, above all, charming. Simcha Fisher Simcha Fisher is, well ... different. The author of The Sinner’s Guide to Natural Family Planning with a global reputation for talking about faith in the midst of the challenges of daily life and, when necessary, calling a spade a spade. James Parker British-born James Parker lives in Western Australia and is a Catholic convert. As an abuse survivor and former gay rights activist, he is passionate about the godly restoration of men and women. James speaks to men and women of our time in language they understand – and won’t hear from anyone else. Kevin Donnelly Dr Kevin Donnelly is a senior research fellow at the Australian Catholic University whose forensic dissections of political correctness and cancel culture make him one of the most important writers and thinkers in Australia today. Paul Catalanotto Paul Catalanotto delivers the goods fromWA, where he is researching St John Paul II and Benedict XVI at UNDA. He has slept out under the stars while walking the Pyrenees. He met an Aussie Catholic girl and married her so now he’s an American abroad. His humour and his faith make him a must-read. George Weigel His two-volume biography of St John Paul II is considered the definitive study of this remarkable modern pope. George Weigel’s weekly survey of the most important issues in the Catholic Church around the world is vital. Fr John Flader Got a question about the Catholic faith or the Church? Ask Fr Flader. A former director of the Catholic Adult Education Centre in Sydney, Fr Flader has written Question Time for The CatholicWeekly since 2005. His column is so popular it has become a best-selling series of books, the fifth volume of which was launched last month. Anna Krohn Anna Krohn is an educator and educational writer who has worked for the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family and the Australian Catholic University in Melbourne. Her beat is culture, history, the arts, church life, theology and the baptismal vocation - and everything else. Dr Philippa Martyr Some people love her, others can’t stand her views. Dr Philippa Martyr’s trenchant humour and readiness to talk frankly about the elephants in the room – and how they got there – makes her one of The CatholicWeekly’s most popular columnists. Mark Shea Mark Shea is an American author, blogger and all-round Catholic savant whose writings have sometimes gotten him into trouble, but for all the right reasons. He blogs at Catholic and Enjoying It. Mr Conventional ... he isn’t. The Catholic Weekly isn’t about niceness or fitting in or being the same as everyone else. In a world where everything has changed radically and many people wonder where everything is headed, we don’t see our role as being to pretend that serious things aren’t happening or that the Christian faith is about not much more than parish morning teas. Instead, we aim to offer Catholic clarity for complex times. We don’t believe that Jesus and the Catholic Church are irrelevant to people’s lives and the future of our times, something lost in the past. We believe the opposite: that in a world increasingly full of uncertainty, where people are more and more searching for answers to the questions of their lives they can find what they most need in the Catholic Church, in Jesus. That’s why – whatever the issue – our contributors deliver the truth in charity, offering perspectives about the Church and contemporary life that stand out in a landscape dominated by a mediocre media busy chasing business and popularity. Sometimes that means we’re unfashionable. But it always means searching for the truth. SAMENESS We’re probably not the paper for you If what you’re looking for is catholicweekly.com.au 22 NEWS 23, May, 2021 way, if the tea is bad, you can at least enjoy a beautiful- ly designed box that you can inconspicuously place on a bookshelf somewhere to sig- nal to others your sophisti- cation. The Steep How long do you steep tea? Thirty seconds, 1 minute, 2 minutes, hours? No one real- ly knows – some cruel joke by Sir Thomas Lipton no doubt. So, steep, oh steeper of steep- ing things until you feel like the tea has steeped enough. While your tea is steeping, go do something. Time is money, and you’re not paid to watch tea steep. Work on a spreadsheet, dance a little jig, finish those TPS rep orts. Be sure, and this is the cru- cial part, to forget about your steeping tea and return to it Dear Aussies, discover a real drink A s an American living in Australia, my only experience with hot tea came mostly fromUS history textbooks in secondary school. I half thought all the tea useful in preparation of hot tea in the United States lay at the bottom of the Boston har- bour, steeping under 30 me- ters of water. Since marrying a native Aussie, I have since learned how to make a cup of hot tea or as my wife says a “cuppa”, and this is how to do it. Heat the water A stovetop kettle would be keeping with tradition, and one cannot discount the nos- talgia of a whistling kettle, but an electric kettle is the pre- ferred option. But who has time to go mucking around with kettles? Time is money, and you’re not getting paid to heat water. Instead, fill your mug with water, pop it in the microwave and hit start until the contents look like it’s 79 AD and Mount Vesuvius is ex- ploding in your cup. The Tea A nice tea is preferable. However, since I don’t know the difference between a nice tea, bad tea, or herbal tea that smells like fermented lawn clippings, I recommend grab- bing t he brand whose market- ing te am spent too much time designing the box -- prefera- bly an overpriced tea. That only after it has turned into a cold, bitter cup of brown sad- ness. Stare into your mug of malaise for an uncomfortable amount of time, long enough for a co-worker to ask if you’re doing alright. Milk and Sugar The best way to stomach tea is to add milk and sugar, the real substance and rea- sons anyone drinks tea. Tea is like mustard. No one out- right eats spoons of mus- tard straight from the jar. You need a sandwich or burger on which to put said mustard. Likewise with tea. So, be lib- eral with the milk and sugar you add. Don’t be self-con- scious, if your tea has a dis- proport ionate ra tio of milk to tea -- it ’s a free country. You can make your tea any way you want -- even without tea, that’s alright. Lastly Dump the tea down the nearest drain or into a nearby potted plant and make a cup of coffee instead. You’ll thank me later. Paul Catalanotto writes from WA, where he is researching St John Paul II and Benedict X VI at UNDA. Glitz, glam and Holy Communion S o there I was, scroll- ing through Amazon to find a dress suitable for my daughter to re- ceive the body and blood of Christ in. Because ofTheThingWe Are All Tired of Talking About, her First Communion was de- layed a year, and I suddenly re- alised the lovely, very suitable dress all her older sisters had worn won’t fit her. With little time to spare, we started on- line shopping. “Let’s see if we can find something a little bit old fashioned, you knowwhat I mean?” I suggested gently. I have seen some of themon- strosities out there: First com- munion dresses that look like slinky club wear; first com- munion dresses that look like not even wedding dresses, but wedding cakes, bristling with ruffles and petticoats and little sprays and fountains of fab- ric. I wantedmy child to wear something pretty and special, but also tasteful andmaybe even demure. Something that would signal to her that it was a significant occasion, but not something that wouldmake her the center of attention, be- cause that honor ought to be- long to Jesus. Forty minutes later, I said, “LOOK, THIS ONE HAS A DETACHABLE CAPEWITH RHINESTONES ANDBUT- TERFLIES ON IT AND IT’S IN YOUR SIZE, OKAY?!” Struggling with the expectations that surround a special milestone? There’s an important life lesson in there somewhere – and a good one too. PHOTO: 123RF, ASPHOTO777 There’s nothing like a good cup of tea. Or is there? PHOTO: UNSPLASH Try finding a First Communion dress for your daughter, Try it. Just try it. I dare you Australia is proud of its ‘cuppa.’ But why? We didn’t buy that one. We did buy one with butterflies and sequins on it, though. It’s not demure or tasteful, but she loves it to death, and as long as the Chinese factory doesn’t screw up the order, it should arrive on time. And that’s that. This is what happens, more andmore. I still have stan- dards, but I give themup so easily. I let go of the things that once seemed tomatter somuch, and it barely makes a ripple inmy conscience. It’s not just the strain of trying to shop with one particular kid; it’s the cumulative strain, the decades-long piling-up of ag- gravation and compromise and defeat and loss that wears you down, until suddenly you realize that the things you were super hung up on are only as important as somany rhine- stone butterflies fluttering on the cape on a 9-year-old’s shoulders, and the only thing you should truly be pursuing is the sweet, sweet relief of being done with a task so you can get back to the things that really matter, such as going to bed. Is this wisdom, or is it giv- ing up? I truly do not know. If you wanted to illustratemy mid-40’s, you’d just have to draw a fist letting go, over and over and over again. Somany things being let go, if not forc- ibly removed frommy grasp: Trivial things, and heavy things, silly things, precious things. Things that felt vital and irreplaceable for decades, only to reveal themselves as disposable, and not worth re- placing. I hope I’mnot the first one to break this to you, but life is very fleeting and full of loss, and if you deal with its fleet- ness by grabbing on and trying to hold it back, you’ll just end up hurting yourself. Better to relax into the speed. Oh, you can take it too far, just like you can take anything too far. Whenmy father died suddenly, I dealt with the on- slaught of loss by sitting inmy living room, drinking gin and ruthlessly deleting hundreds and hundreds of family pho- tos. It made sense at the time, but I wish I hadn’t done it. Still, it didn’t kill me. And it defi- nitely hasn’t killedme to let go of somany other mementos and souvenirs, and also hopes, and theories, and standards, and wishes, and goals, for my- self, for my kids, for my life. It hasn’t killedme to give up hoping for certain things from other people. Just let it go. I know it sounds dire. But sometimes it’s just a relief. And sometimes, it’s more. Some- times, when you let your fist unclench, it doesn’t stay emp- ty. Instead, loss makes you ready to receive something good, something better, some- thing you weren’t capable of receiving or even recognizing as good, before. Sometimes that thing is just peace, and that’s nothing to sneeze at. But sometimes it’s something you never would have even thought to hope for. It’s what gave themartyrs the vision tomarch forward to- ward their deaths: The knowl- edge that loss isn’t always the end. Sometimes it’s the be- ginning, especially when you recognise the loss for what it is, but consciously turn it over to Christ. All of it: The difficulty, the regret, the relief, the hope, the whole thing. A relation- ship. A theory of how to raise children. An idea of what kind of person you are. An idea of what kind of communion dress is appropriate. All of it. Let it go. Or at least try. What kind of dress is appro- priate to receive Jesus in? Any dress. No dress. All dresses. Any dress, as long as you are learning how to open your fist and receive. Sometimes Jesus restores, sometimes hemakes some- thing totally new. He is never static, I know that. He is never at a loss. You could do worse than to relax into that speed. Simcha Fisher is the author of The Sinner’s Guide to Natural Family Planning Paul Catalanotto Columnist Simcha Fisher Columnist COMMENT catholicweekly.com.au 22 16, May, 2021 COMMENT intervening at regular inter- vals, wouldn’t they? Perhaps. But, then again, most peo- ple think that they would no- tice a large man in a gorilla suit crossing their field of vi- sion, if that were to occur. Yet it has been empirically demonstrated that a very large proportion of people do not discern exactly that. A few years ago, two aca- demic psychologists working in the field of cognitive science conducted a series of experi- ments to determine how truly aware we are of our surround- ings. The subjects of the exper- iment were asked to watch a group of people pass a bas- ketball amongst themselves, while moving. The subject was asked to ke p count of the number of times certain individuals touched the ball. So far, so clear. At some point in the st eamed footage of the much-handled basketball, a man w lks through the group of mock sporting enthusiasts. Always be ready to answer the questions of an angel T he Story of Hagar the slave girl is not one that regularly occurs in the excerpts from scripture proclaimed during Mass. (Genesis 16) And perhaps some people are inclined to think that the tale of a mistreated servant fleeing her vengeful mistress somewhere in the Levant is not terribly relevant to our lives today. But they would be mistak- en. When Hagar is huddled next to a desert spring, con- templating the sand togeth- er with the misfortune that has befallen her, the angel of the Lord appears and asks a seemingly simple question: “Where have you come from, and where are you go- ing?” Hagar’s response, con- sumed as she is with the bur- den of her present plight, is rather pointed: “I’m running away frommy mistress, Sarai.” (Genesis 16:8) Which is, of course, true. Nevertheless, I’mnot con- vinced that those words were the reply the angel was seek- ing to elicit. Because Hagar’s answer to the question could well have been that which we are all able to give, should we be similar- ly interrogated by an equally provocative angel. We have come fromGod and we shall – eventually, one way or another – return to God. But it is often the pressing and sometimes distressing cir- cumstances of our lives that blind us to that fact, and cause us to focus exclusively on the painful present, missing the rather more grand and infinite arc of our existences. I have heard people say that they do not think God is at work in their lives; that grace seems to have fl d from them almost as evidently as their youth and good-looks. After all, th y’d notice if God were proper ly active and He is wearing a gorilla suit. He jumps up and down and waves his arms as he mean- ders along. Once the experiment is “over” subjects are asked whether they noticed any- thing out of the ordinary at any stage. Fifty percent of those exam- ined do not report seeing the gorilla. It turns out, what we per- ceive depends largely on what we are looking for. If we wish to notice some- thing, we have to be actively attuned to the possibility that it could occur. In order to recognise the ac- tion of God and grace in our lives, and respond appropri- ately, we might actually have to start paying more attention; broadening our field of per- ception. Because, like Hagar hud- dled inmisery, we human be- ings have a tendency towards tunnel-vision. We forget out true origin and ultimate destiny. In various passages of the Old and New Testaments peo- ple are castigated for their “hardness of heart.” (Psalm 95:8-9; Zechariah 7:12; Mat- thew 19:8; Ephesians 4:18) It is a poetic turn-of-phrase that implies the individual has become, not only unre- sponsive to the promptings of grace, but unreceptive. Like a dung beetle with a particularly hard carapace, such individuals have hard- ened their views and locked themselves into a certain way of seeing the world. Hagar was fortunate in having an angel visit her and broaden her perspective, but it’s not necessarily a fail-safe reminder notification that will be granted to all of us. So, it might be an idea to occasionally lift our eyes from the desert sands that con- sume much of our time and focus, and remind ourselves of where we come from and where we are heading. Hopefully we are then drawn to recognise the sparks of grace that pervade our lives and we will begin to notice the angelic gorillas wander- ing in our midst, and have the courage to return to our divine calling, as Hagar was asked to do. There is plenty there to see, if only we choose to look. Sebastian Condon writes from Sydney Scomo persecution’s illogicality A s argued by Arch- bishop Fisher, “ab- solutist secularism” is an ever-present danger to Australian society as those hostile to the Catholic Church seek to banish Chris- tianity from the public square and enforce a godless view of society. Examples include Tony Ab- bott when healthminister be- ing attacked as the madmonk for questioning the increas- ing prevalence of abortion and Kevin Andrews the feder- al member for Menzies being vilified as a Christian for stop- ping the legislation to allow euthanasia in the Australian Capital Territory and Northern Territory in 1996. The most recent example of prejudice and dislike directed at any politician brave enough to make public their religious convictions involves Prime Minister Scott Morrison who, at a recent national Christian Churches conference, made public examples of his faith. The Prime Minister, while agreeing social media has it’s “virtues and values”, argued it was also a weapon that could “be used by the evil one and we need to call that out”. One only needs to note the way so- cial networking sites are used to dehumanise, exploit and Prime Minister Scott Morrison. PHOTO: AAP, MICK TSIKAS Hagar and the Angel, by Cecco Bravo PHOTO:WIKIPEDIA A Prime Minister not afraid to be known as a Christian is outrageous, but radical activism’s fine? manipulate people to realise the truth of such a statement. Scott Morrison also told those attending the confer- ence that when he met peo- ple who had suffered because of natural disasters he often prayed to alleviate their suffer- ing and admitted in embrac- ing victims he was also “laying hands on people”. For admitting his faith and sharing his religious convic- tions it should not surprise, like Israel Folau andMargaret Court for opposing homosex- uality and same-sex marriage, the Prime Mini ter has also been criticised and attacked. The Sydney social commen- tator and author Jane Caro’s response o her Twitter ac- count reads “Theocracies are very dang rous, particularly for women, the LBGTQI com- munity and anyone who does not ccept th dominant re- ligion”. For expre sing such a view Caro adds sh will most likely “be visited by the witch finder any day n w”. While not as extreme, the leader of the federal opposi- tion Anthony Albanese also criticises the Prime Minister for expressing his religious be- liefs. Albanese suggests “the idea that God is on any politi- cian’s side is no more respect- ful than the idea that when somebody’s sporting team wins it’s because of divine in- tervention”. The Australian Labor Party leader also states “the separa- tion between Church and state are (sic) important”, implying religion, in this case Christi- anity, is a strictly private af- fair that has no place or role inWestern, liberal democra- cies like Australia. The ABC commentator Stan Grant puts a si ilar case when arguing “we are not the United States” where it’s expected Presidents are religious. Contrary to what Caro ar- gues the reality is Australia never has been and, in all like- lihood never will be despite the PM’s religious faith, a the- ocracy like Islamic Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Under the Aus- tralian Constitution there is a clear division between Church and state and holding a reli- gious office is not a prerequi- site for being a member of par- liament. While such is the case, and to that extent we are a secular society, it is also wrong to ar- gue Christianity is insignificant and that it has no role to play in the nation’s political and legal systems. As argued by the Perth academic Augusto Zimmerman inThe Christian Foundations of the Common Law religion underpins and in- forms the nation’s parliaments and courts. Zimmerman writes “When considered alongside the de- velopment of colonial laws, the adoption of the English com- mon-law tradition and Amer- ican system of federation, it is evident that the foundations of the Australian nation, and its laws, have discernible Chris- tian-philosophical roots”. Concepts like the inherent dignity of the person, the right to liberty and freedom and the need to commit to social jus- tice and the common good, as detailed in Inventing the Indi- vidual The Origins of Western Liberalism by Larry Siedentop, have their origins in Christ’s teaching detailed in the New Testament. Those arguing there is no place for Christianity in public life, especially politics and gov- ernment, also ignore the re- ality that whether individuals are aware of it or not every de- cision they make is informed and influenced by a particular philosophy or belief system. Cultural-left activists com- mitted to banishing religion from the public square are of- tenmotivated by neo-Marx- ist ideology; one where Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels are the prophets, the Commu- nist Manifesto is the bible and those committed to the faith are promised a socialist utopia on this earth. As such it is hypocritical and illogical to argue social- ist ALPmembers of parlia- ment and Green politicians worshipping the Gaia have the right to decide public policy according to their beliefs while denying Christians the same right. Dr Kevin Donnelly is a senior research fellow at the Austra- lian Catholic University and editor of Cancel Culture and the Left’s Long Ma rch (kevin- donnelly.com.au) . Sebastian Condon Columnist Kevin Donnelly Columnist 22 9, May, 2021 C omment catholicweekly.com.au extra non-ritual rituals – com- mentary, children’s liturgy, special offertories - and talks and reminders and priestly Dad jok s. The s nctuary is sudden- ly very clutt red with people. In all, the whole thing can be very nerve-wracking. I wondered if I was just get- ting old, or if this was a hang- over from the COVID-19 days of tiny Mass attendances and minimal fuss. But I don’ think it’s either. I really d think that inside many parishes, there’s two p ishes existing side-by-side, a d the poor parish priest has t deal with both. During the week, he does it the peaceful and minimal- ist way. I also suspect that he’s enjoying himself more than on Sunda ys – he certainly Tired of gritting your teeth on Sunday mornings? I ’ve been chatting with a friend interstate, and she comm nted on how dif- ferent her weekday Mass was from her Sunday Mass. She goes to the same church for both. It’s just that there’s a completely different vibe on weekdays from Sun- days. I was very excited by this happy coincidence, because I was thinking exactly the same thing last Sunday. Ideally, Sunday Mass should be different from weekday Mas . Sunday Mass- es are meant to be more spe- cial and s lemn. But what my friend and I have fou d is the opposite. We both prefer the weekday Masses to the Sunday ones. During the week, we go to Masses that are quiet and rev- erent. Th priest does his job (offering the Holy Sacrifice). The laity do their job (partici- pating in this from the pews). There’ no singing. There’s quiet prayer. There’s a sense of order and peace that helps us remember why we’re there – to worship God. On Sundays, it’s the oppo- site. Th re’s not always many more people - but there’s much mor ois . There’s bustling parish per- sonalities, org nising every- one everywher . The choir is tuning up the saxophone and slide guitars. There’s constant chatter in the pews. There’s seems more recollected. On Sundays, he surrenders to a more vocal minority who like to make Sunday Mass all about th community. So there’s lots and lots of noise and c atter. The parish priest tends to look flustered and henpecked, and much less recollected. Scattered through the pews are the weekday people, gritting their teeth and do- ing their best. Sometimes we make eye co tact. The liturgical reforms of the 1960s wer meant to make the Mass simpler and more ac- cessible to the people. The old Mass was thought to be clut- tered with unnecessary oddi- ties and bolt- ns that had ac- cumulated over time. Sometimes I look at Sun- day Mass and I yearn for a liturgic l reform that would return Sunday Mass to the quietness and recollection that I experience during the week. Alternatively, I wish that all the extra fun and games could happen during weekday Masses, and then I could have peace and quiet on Sundays. But I’m increasingly find- ing that the best option for me is a Sunday Mass some- where where peace and quiet is guaranteed. The old Mass provides this, and it doesn’t seem cluttered at all. You should try it some time. Dr Philippa Martyr is a Perth-based historian, lecturer and researcher. She can be contacted at: Phi lip-
[email protected] Peace and quiet can be found much more at weekday masses or that masterpiece of prayer and spirituality, the old Mass. PHOTO: CNS MUHAMMAD HAMED, REUTERS H ere in the US, gun violence has now reached such a pitch that there is not just a gun massacre a day, there is (statistically speak- ing) slightly more than one gun massacre, 24/7/365. There is literally no day left on the calendar when somebody in America is not remembering the mo- ment when a mass slaugh- ter changed their life forev- er, blowing apart the life of a precious husband, wife, son, daughter, or child. All that is left to America now is the terrible anticipation of which day this coming year or de- cade e will see the massa- cre t at will kill and maim the most people in American history. Such is the diseased state of American Christianity that with our distinctive love of slaughter by gun goes the in- sane form of p ety that has become a stench n the nos- tril of God and human be- ings known as “thoughts and prayers”. “Thoughts an prayers” used to be an expression that meant something. In some mouths, it still does. But in the mouths of Christian Gun Cultists and th ir pet conser- vative politicians, “thoughts and prayers” is now a blas- Dear Aussies, be grateful you’re not awash with guns Armed emonstrators take part in a pro-gun rally in Richmond, Virginia, on 21 November 2020. PHOTO: CNS, HANNAH MCKAY, REUTERS phem us code that means, “Accep our empty piety in place of any intention of mak- ing sure our gun slaughter rate n ver does anything but climb. Because the gold of the arms industry means more to us tha million butch- ered children at Sandy Hook Elementary School and ev- ery oth r killing zone across America.” The use of piety as a pro- phylactic against, rather than a preparation for, obedience to God is a problem as ld as the Old Testament: “Your new moons and your appoint- ed f asts/my soul hates;/ they have become a burden to me,/I amweary of bearing them./When you spread forth our hands,/I will hide my ey s from you;/even though you make many prayers,/I will not listen;/your hands are full of blood./Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;/re- move the evil of your doings/ from before my eyes;/cease to do evil,/learn to do good;/ seek justice,/correct oppres- sion;/defend the fatherless,/ plead for the wi ow.” (Isaiah 1:14-17) Likewise, Jesus warns us, “Not every one wh says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not proph- esy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And the n will I de- cl are to them, ‘I never knew you; depart fromme, you evil- doers.’” (Matthew 7:21-23). There are two chief reasons the use of piety as a prophy- lactic against obedience to God is so evil. The first is, of course, that when we say one thing and do the opposite, non-believers are watching and conclude from our hy- pocrisy that if we don’t be- lieve in Jesus enough to both- er obeying him, why should they? The second and even greater reason is that when we make clear that we know what God wills by our words, but then deliberately disobey him, we harden and sear our consciences, leading to a loss of the life of grace in the soul. In short, we work to damn ourselves through the perver- sion of our own will and put ourselves beyond the reach of grace, a truly terrible choice that means nothing less than hell itself for all eternity if we persist. In contrast, the real pur- pose of prayer and piety is to be a prologue to obedience. We imitate the steps of Jesus in the liturgy by obeying him there so that we can contin- ue to obey him in the wide world after we leave Mass. As Pope Francis put it, “You pray for the hungry. Then you feed them. This is how prayer works.” All of this is simply the In- carnation at work: the Word becoming made flesh in our lives as he was made flesh at Bethlehem. It is not a ques- tion of faith or works but of faith in Christ expressing itself in works of love. As Paul puts it, “Work out your own salva- tion with fear and trembling; for God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Php 2:12–13). Mark Shea is a convert and widely published author on the Catholic faith. Mark Shea Columnist Philippa Martyr Columnist 25 4, April, 2021 catholicweekly.com.au COMMENT happening shatters the bound- a ies of experience and strains emotion’s limits to the break- ing point. Reality itself seems to be detonating around us. We wonder: Can this be real?Then our friend shows himse f to us again and again, whole and renewed. He explains th gs as he used to do, eats with us, challenges us to be great- er thanwe typically think we can be. He now seems to live in another dimension f xis- t nce – thoroughly human, but radiantlymore so. By placing Abuse victim became a great Saint All cha g s in an explosion of light L et me adapt to re- cent circumstances a thought-experiment theologia Hans Urs v n Balthasar proposed dec- ad s ag : I agine that a friend contracts a severe c se of COVID-19 andmedicine can do nomore for him.The doc- tors informhis widowedmoth- er nd us, sowe gather with her for the final scene in the drama of this life.Th ventila- tor is removed; theman grows weaker from lack of breath and whispers his final farewells. We hear the death-rattle.Then he expires and takes on the p llor of death. Themortician prepar s the body for burial. With appro- priate prayers, we consign our friend to the earth and, taking a cue fromour Jewish friends, toss a clod of earth onto his coffin as it lies deep in the open grave.The grave is then closed andwe leave for our homes, saddened, perhaps a bit disoriented, remembering our friend’s past and unsure about our own future . Then two days later, our friend suddenly stands before us, like one just returned from a brief but important journey. He reets us by name. Physical barriers like doors nowmea nothing to him. What would happe to us? We would be stunned, inca- pable of knowing the appro- priate reaction: shock, fear, overwhelming joy?What is ourselves imag i at vely in that situation t oday, we begin to get some idea of what the friends of Jesus experi nced on Easter Sunday and in the p riod be- tween that explosive day and his leave-taking, 40 days later. But there ismore. For slow- ly and haltingly, those who met the RisenOn , and those who believedwhat his closest friends said about him, came to understand that the now transfigured Rabbi Jesus f Nazareth “truly was the son of God” (Mark 15:39). Aman had returned from a journey to the realmof the dead. Death, relentless in its finality, no longer had the last word about the human con- dition. What God had inmind for humanity “in the begin- ning” (Genesis 1:1) had been reclaimed by the Son of God for all who believed in himand bound themselves to his cause. So history now seemed quite different to those first believers. History was no lon- ger an arena of ltimate per- sonal defeat. History, and our personal stories, they came to und rstand, played to a divine melody: everlasting commu- nionwith the Creator, dis- closed in t e Resurrection. What happ ned on Easter Sunday was th most explosive experience in h man history, shattering all previous expecta- tions of human destiny. Before Easter, some f the philosoph- ically inclined imagined an immortal human soul; certain Jews expectedwhat they called the resurrection of the dead at the end of history. But no one expected this. For the Risen One was not a disembodied spirit (“…handleme and see, for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see I have” (Luke 23:39), and the RisenOne was alive in history, such that histo- ry continued in a transformed key. The first witnesses to the Resurrectionwere all Jew- ish and the dramatic ways in which these early Christians changed bear eloquent witness to the explosive nature of their experience of the RisenOne. The Sabbath had been sacro- sanct; now there was a new “Lord’s Day,” the Day of Res- urrection.They once expect- ed that the “end times” would ring down the curtain on his- tory and the Kingdomof God would begin; now, they under- stoodwhat Jesus hadmeant when he taught them that “the Kingdomof God is in themidst of you” (Luke 17:21) – they could live Kingdom life, life in unionwithGod, here and now, through communionwith the Lord Jesus in the Eucharist. And their understanding of their responsibilities changed. What they had experienced de- manded to be proclaimed and shared, as they grasped the full implications of Jesus’s injunc- tion, “Freely you have received, freely youmust give” (Matthew 10:8).Theymust offer friend- shipwith the RisenOne “to all nations” (Matthew 28:19). The Easter explosion creat- ed a communion of disciples in mission. We are their heirs. We can bring light to a darkened world if we believe with the in- tensity they did. George Weigel is the Distin- guished Senior Fellow and William E. Simon Chair in Catholic Studies at the Ethics and Public Policy Centre in Washington W e have all known the ba- sic facts about St Maria Goret- ti – that she was killed at the age of 11 defending her purity – but a more thorough study reveals many fascinating de- tails, including what hap- pened to her killer in later life. Maria Teresa Goretti was born on 16 October 1890, the third of seven children of Luigi and Assunta Goretti, a farming family fromCorinal- do, in the Italian province of Ancona. When Maria was five, the family became so poor that they had to give up their farm and move away to work for other farmers. In 1896 they moved to Colle Giantur- co, some 80 kilometres out- side Rome, and in 1899 they moved again to Le Ferriere, near Latina in the province of Lazio. There they sh red a house ith the family of Giovanni Serenelli and their son Alessandro. When Maria was just nine, her father beca e si k with malaria and die . Wh le her mother and siblings worked in the fields, Maria would cook, sew, clean the house and look after her younger sister Teresa. On 5 July 1902, Maria was sitting on the outside steps of the house, sewing one of Ales- sandro’s shirts and watching Teresa, while Alessandro was threshing beans in the barn- yard. Knowing she was alone, Alessandro returned to the house and threatened to stab her with an awl if she did not give in t hi sexual desires. She would not give in, and told him that what he w nte to do was a mortal n and he would go to hell. When he at- tack d her she resisted brave- ly, scre ming “No, it is a sin! God does not want it!” Ales- sandro first choked her but when she insisted she would rather die than give in to him, h stabbed her 11 times. She tried t reach the door but he stopped her and stabbed her three more times before run- ning away. Teresa awoke with the com otion and started cry- ing, and when her mother and Giovanni Serenelli came to check on her they found Maria on the floor bleeding. She was taken to the hospital in Nettuno, where she under- went surgery without anaes- th sia, but her injuries were very severe. When she woke up halfway through the sur- gery, one of those in the the- atre said to her, “Maria, think of me in paradise.” She looked at him and said, “Well, who knows which of us is going to be there first?” “You, Maria”, he replied. “Then I will gladly think of you”, she said. In the presence of the Chief of Police, Maria told her mothe that Alessandro had harassed her before and had mad two attempts to violate her. S had been afraid to re- veal this earlier since he had threatened to kill her if she did. The following day, 6 July, after forgiving Alessandro and saying that she wanted to have himwith her in heaven, she died of her injuries. Alessandro was arrested shortly after the attack, and was later tried and sentenced to 30 years in prison. He remained unrepentant until he ha a dream in which Maria appeared to him and gave him some lilies, which burned in his hands. After that he was a changed man. After his release, Alessan- dro visited Assunta, Maria’s mother, and begged her for- giveness. Assunta forgave him and they attended Mass together the next day, receiving Holy Communion side by side. Alessandro reportedly prayed to Maria every day and called her “my little saint”. He attended Maria’s canonisation ceremony in S Peter’s Square in 1950, along with Assunta and he four remaining chil- dren. Some 500,000 people at- tended the ceremony. Alessandro later became a lay brother in the Order of Fri- ars Minor Capuchin, working as a receptionist and garden- er in the monastery until his death in 1970 at the age of 87. St Maria’s feast day is 6 July, the day of her death, and her body lies in the Passionist Ba- silica of Nostra Signora delle Grazie e Santa Maria Goretti in Nettuno, south of Rome. Three of Maria’s brothers reported that they had heard Maria speaking to them and giving themmessages. Particularly interesting is the account of Mariano, who heard Maria telling him to re- main in his trench when the rest of his unit charged the Germans in World War I. He was the only survivor of the charge and died in 1975 after raising a large family.
[email protected] Dear Father, Some time ago you wrote about several young saints. I have alw ays been interested in St Maria Goretti, who was also very yo ung, and would like to know more abo ut her. Is it true that her killer attended her ca onisation cerem ony? StM ria’s feast day is July 6, the day of her death, andher body lies in the Passionist Basilica of Nostra Signora delleGrazie e SantaMariaGoretti inNettuno.” Father Flader Columnist George Weigel Columnist 1300 554 552 www.girafferemovals.com.au •
[email protected] One of Sydney’s most trusted r movalist 50 YEARS OF REMOVAL Fast. Safe. Efficient. Country • Interstate • Long or Short Term St orage For over 50 years the Keoghan family have run an h nest, profess ional removals business. We service homes, units, offices, parishes, schools, colleges and g overnment departments. Women behold Jesus after the Resurrection . PHOTO: CADETGRAY/WIKIMEDIA COMMON S, CC BY-SA 3.0 18 25, April, 2021 catholicweekly.com.au COMMENT ties and apostolates to the la- ity, based on loc l n eds and loc l capacity. This is subsid- iarity in action, and small- er organisations re usually more flexible and can adapt more easily to rapidly chang- ing needs. So rathe r than the Church becoming more corporate (as suggested in The Light from the Southern Cross ), it would become much less corporate. The bishop can stop trying to be the CEO of a corporate body. Instead, his job would Small s beautiful for this particular age I ’v been reading a new online US Catholic news initiative called The Pil- lar, produced by veteran Catholic journalist E Con- don and J D Flynn. But I think your fi st place for Catholic news should be The Cath lic Weekly , so I’m go- ing to pick up n recent dis- cussion and share it with you in an Austr lian co text. Ed Condon writes that in th US, the era of big diocesan government is over There are currently 16 US di ceses with no bishops, because they’re awaiting appointment s. Many f these dioceses are s mall, poor, and rural. Centralised management s not always a good mod- el. There’s no doubt that it’s contributed to the corrup- tion, cronyism, and corporate blindness that’s damaged the Church in recent d cades. In Australia, our churchgo- ing Catholic population has shrunk drastically and moved around. Because of this, I’ve suggested that w need dioc- esan reform in Australia. The Instrumentum Laboris backs me up. Merging dioceses is a messy business which re- quires Roman involvement. But what if we could rethink wh t a diocese’s actual r - sponsibilities are, a d develop a n wmodel? Many dioceses r faci g financial difficulties and can’t sustain a institutional foot- print designed for the Catholic Church of yester year. So in- stead of pouring more mon- ey into trying to prop this up, Condon suggests rethinking the role of the diocese. It’s a simple model. Dio- ceses would start outsourcing their Catholic schools, chari- be to guarantee Catholic iden- tity and mission, and serve as teacher, priest, and governor. He would have more time to spend with his flock – and his priests. I’ve said before that bishops who are out ther in their dio- ceses knowmuch earlier when problems begin. Bishops who c n hear bad news from the grassroots are also well placed to tackle those problems. Ther are some obstacles to this reform in Australia. No o e wants to touch the mas- sive and well-funded Catholic educatio n system. It employs around 90,000 people, even though only two-thirds of its students identify as Catholics. Dioceses would also have to shed employees. These would then be free to go and work in smaller, privatised Catholic lay-run organisa- tions, apostolates, and min- istries. These lay groups could certainly be given access to or leases of existing Church- owned buildings. Smaller or- ganisations need to be respon- sibl e for their own legal and adm inistrative costs. But this would also shift the insurance liability from the diocese. This is the best and most original idea I’ve come across yet for diocesan reform, and I’d love to see it discussed more fully in the Australian context. What do you think? Dr Philippa Martyr is a Perth-based historian, lecturer and researcher. She can be contacted at: Ph ilip-
[email protected] Preach Jesus, all will follow T he Australian Catho- lic Mass Attendance Report 2016 offered three conclusions on raising Mass attendance from the reported 11.8 per cen , and it is the credibility of these conclusions that will b on trial when the resul s of the 2021 Rep rt are finally presented. The first recom- mendation to remedy the declin ng Mass attendance, according to the 2016 Report, was t at “an ext aordinary event or events woul need to occur before we witness a reversal – or eve a plateau – of the declining attendance trends”. In other words, apart from the second coming, a miracu- lous event, or perhaps another world war, the declining trend would continue. The mpact of COVID, which undoubted- ly would fall into the catego- y of “extraordinary events” ironically, however, appe rs to have had a reverse effect on Mass attendance, even with Churches now reopening. The second solut on: “There would need to be a surge in younger p ople attending Mass.” In other words, this solution would require a para- digm shift in how our current contracepting cultur views families and children; yet this will take generations to rectify it if it is even possible at all. The final suggestion to bol- ster Mass attendance was to increase numbers through the “unanticipated a rival of large numbers of Catholics from The laity are vital to the renewal of the Church. But do they risk be ng verlooked? PHOTO: GIOVANNI PORTELLI Centralised management is not always a good model. PHOTO: CNS/ REMO CASILLI, REUTERS The way to fill churches with thriving, believing congregations is not via committee meetings overseas, to offset the advanc- ing age profile of a tenders.” Seeing what COVID has done t intern tional travel, this will not happen anytime soon. The final hope of increas- ing Mass attendance which the 2016 Report gives is a wait- and-see approach to deter- mine if the redoubled evan- gelisation efforts of various dioceses will increase Mass attendance. Having sat on evangelisa- tion boards and committees, I am sceptical. I can assure you; more evangelisation occurs when any of the w rks of mer- cy are exercised, when a priest celebrates a good and proper liturgy, or when a parishio- ner spends an hour before the Blessed Sacrament than the result of most evang lisation committees. Sadly, I suspect the 2021 Report will show a further de- cline inMass attendance, and a hold inMass attendance at 11.8 per cent is the best we can hope for. Fortunately, the la- ity doesn’t have to wait for the 2021 Report or a local plenary council to evangelise or invite others to Churc . The Church is loaded with social services, m ybe even overloaded. Can we say the same about its spir- itual services? Howmany of our Churches offer regular Eu- charistic Adoration or Bible Studies, for example? Currently, there is no eas- ily accessible pre-packaged rogram that will solve this problem, nor should there be. The real solution is multifacet- ed, and it won’t be easy. Like the cathedrals of old, genera- tions will pass without seeing the final fruits of their labours. Moreover, whatever changes that occur for the better will be subtle changes over decades, if not centuries, which seems like a long time from our per- spectiv . But to the Church, which thinks inmillennia and still considers the Rosary a mod- ern devotion, a century is not a long time. So, anyone prom- ising drastic results by just changing one or two things quickly and suddenly will un- doubtedly only leave the local Church frustrated. Furthermore, if you are waiting for a top-down solu- tion and approach, don’t hold your breath; please don’t, we need you at Sunday Mass and in the worldmaking a differ- ence more than you passed out on the floor at home. Still, I cannot help wondering from reading the 2007 Research Project on Catholics who have Stopped attending Mass and the 2016 Report if the Church will ignore her biggest asset in her endeavour to increase Mass attendance: the laity. The laity will be used inmany parishes, but only if they do not challenge the status quo of lukewarmCatholicism. God forbid that someone should comes in and overturn tables in the temple of God. When the Apostles went to evangelise, their goal was not to increase Mass attendance. They proclaimed the Resur- rected Christ as King. It was only through the proclama- tion of Jesus as Lord, and the works that give testimony to the preaching, that butts ap- peared on seats. If the 2021 Report recom- mends anything other than a vigorous preaching and proc- lamation of Jesus as Lord and King from the pulpit, in the home, in Catholic schools, in the streets in both word and deed, not only will Mass at- tendance continue to decline in Australia, the Church will become a remnant, which may not be a bad thing if that means scraping the lukewarm barnacles from the hull of our Holy Mother Church. Paul Catalanotto is currently researching human dignity in the writings of John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI at UNDA in Fremantle. P u Catalanotto Columnist Philippa Martyr Columnist I’ve sai before that bishops who are out there in their dioceses know much earlier when problems begin.” Dr Philippa Martyr 18 2, May, 2021 C omment catholicweekly.com.au es in the world where dioc- esan pr ests aren’t already collaborating willingly with lay people, and usually being complete y bossed around by th m. I just can’t think of any right now. If we can remember that Cat holic priests literal ly hold the C hurch together world- wide with the sacraments, then a lot of other things fall into place. They’ve made a lifelong commitment to serve us and be our fathers. Th so-called vocations shortage is nothing of the kind. There are plenty of sem- inaries with good enrolment numbers across the world, in both the West and in develop- ing countries. The dioceses who strongly encourage Adoration for voca- tions, who are not ashamed of a male-only presence on the altar every Sunday, and who have sound formation pro- grams, have no shortages. Priesthood meeting a golden opportunity I was putting rat baits in our ce ling on the morn- ng that I heard about the proposed February 2022 Vat can ymposium on t e p iesthood. As soon as I started read- ing the media reports, heard the same old Church rats start gnawing away at their same old pet cause s: celibacy and women. It’s tired clickbait from peo- ple who believe that their own diocese’s spiritual poverty sig- nals a Church-wide crisis that can only be solved by ordain- ing everyone in sight, imme- diately. And yet what a wonderful opportunity this theological symposium in Rome could be. It’s so clear that many priests don’t understand – or have forgotte – who they eal- ly are. Many lay people have also never lea ned what a priest re- ally is. (I’d love to tell you what a priest really is, but it w ul take the r t of my life, and I don’t think the editor could st nd it.) This theological sympo- sium is a chance to get back to basics – Priesthood 101. We despera ely need to rediscover and ref resh our understand- ing of th e Catholic priesthood. It’s a ment to shine the spotlight on both the ministe- rial pri sthood and the priest- h od of all believers. Plenty of Catholics don’t know the dif- ference between the two. Some resent it and focus on the evils of clericalism and the need to increase lay col- laboration. I am not sure what Church these people belong to. I dare say there are plac- If your diocese has an empty seminary, you already know w o’s responsible. That would be us. We didn’t kick up enough fuss when the sanctuaries were invaded by well-meaning ladies. We didn’t get hold of the local bishop after his Sunday Mass and speak sternly to him about bad priestly examples. We didn’t do Adoration for priests. We raised our (smaller) families with an unspoken belief that priests came from somewhere else – ove rseas, or other people’s families. Not our sons. We swallowed the line that the priesthood was about leadership, administration, and niceness –which women can do equally well. We forgot the awkward stuff about sac- rificial offerings, sanctity, and conversion of heart. The priesthood is a mys- tery, and a great and beautiful one. So let’s take this wonder- ful opportunity to dive deep into it, rather than being dis- tracted by the Church rats. Dr Philippa Martyr is a Perth-based historian, lecturer and researcher. She can be contacted at: Ph ilip-
[email protected] Stop it now – and get a life I n the age of global ews, I find it interesting how som names stick w il others fade away. People we otherwise never would hav heard of, from distant countries, in towns and cit- ies we may also never have heard about, but something happens and their names are burned into minds around the world. Their situation is elev t- ed in th e med ia and they be- come global figures, symbols of a fight or cause with reach right across the planet. Well, Maria de Valle Gon- zalez Lopez is name you probably haven’t heard of, but one you should definitely re- member. H r story won’t be covered by most media outlets be- cause it doesn’t fit their nar- rative. It won’t even get recog- nition from supporters of her own cause, they want it to go away quietly. You see, Maria was a young Argentinian woman, just 23-years-old, who tragic lly lost her life on 11 April i La Paz. If the suspected cause of death is true, Maria will be the Can it: the prolife argument will be won with reason and facts, wi h compassion and support, with integrity and respect - not cro ing over the tragedies. PHOTO: CNS PHOTO/TYLER ORSBUR Pope Fra cis greets Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, during Mass in St Peter’s Basilica in January 20 20. PHOTO: CNS, PAUL HARING The prolife movement doesn’t need supporters who approve the tragic deaths of our opponents first known Argentinian ca e of a mother losing her life as the result of an abortion pro- cedure since the country le- galised the practice on 30 De- cembe last year. Maria was also the leader of a left-wing group that pro- teste in support of legal sing aborti n. According to LifeSite News “she was a rising figure in the pro-abortion Union Civica Radical, a historic Argentinian left-wing party affiliated with the Socialist International, having been elected last year as presi ent of the Youth sec- tion of the Radicals in La Paz.” As I write this, local sourc s are attributing the death to an infection, likely caused by the abortion drug Misoprostol. Mis prostol is used to in- duce an abortion in early pregnancy by starving the un- born child of nutrients. Som of the drug’s potential side-ef- f cts include bleeding and “deadly” hypovolemic shock. It, nd th dilation and curet- tage procedure that follows, can also c use and contrib- ute to a number of deadly in- fections. Some pro-abortion advo- cates are trying to claim there wasmedical negligence in- volved in h r death. Perhaps there was. We’ll have towait for the autopsy results and see. Either way, it is a clear and tr gic example of just one of the possible side-effects of aborti n that pro-life advo- cates around the world have been warning of for decades. But this is not the reason I w nt you to remember her name. Anyone can see that this marks a clear “I told you so” o p rtunity for pro-lifers and indeed many individuals and organisations are doing just . “Had [abortion on de- mand] not been approved, perhaps “Mari” del Valle Gon- zalez Lopez would still have been alive today,” says the same LifeSite News article. Some so-called “pro-lifers” on social media are even cele- brating her death. “I guess bad things happen to bad people,” read one Face- book comment. “This was po- etic justice at its finest. Good,” said another. And of course the obvi- ous mocking, “She was just a clump of cells.” Thousands of comments cross hundreds of social media posts all mocking the death of a 23-year-old girl and, subsequently, her un- born child. Stop it. If you feel the urge to make a comment or joke on the matter, beat it down. If one comes out, go to confession and beg forgiveness. We can remember Ma- ria and warn of the dangers of abortion for mother and child. We can point to her completely unnecessary loss as a symbol of the lives we want to save. But contemptu- ous, disrespectful, mocking of the deceased is not what we do. We are not those people. I do want you to remember Maria’s name. I want you to let it live on as a reminder not only of tragic loss, but of who we are and what it means to be prolife. A reminder that no matter how low and pathetic and at times just plain evil our oppo- sition is willing to be, we will be better. We will win the arguments with reason and facts, with compassion and support, with integrity and respect. We will not win support – or hearts – by mocking the dead or celebrating every time something bad happens to one of our opponents. If you’re making those comments, if you are saying “I told you so”, if you are cele- brating in any way the death of Maria, you are not pro-life. Benjamin Conolly writes for The Catholic Weekly and the Archdiocesan Connect Newsletter. Benjamin Conolly Philippa Martyr Columnist catholicweekly.com.au 11 23, May, 2021 in The Weekend Australian . I normally appreciate the fine journalism found in The Aus- tralian , but this was an unfor- tunate exception. More than two dozen peo- ple were quoted or otherwise mentioned in the piece, but it was only the Catholics who were described by their reli- gious belief. The religious beliefs (or l ck of religious beliefs) of a y oth r person in the story were not deemed relevant to report. Wh y? Because just like the ab ortion movement before it, the euthanasia movement has set up the Catholic Church as its enemy. Identifying those who op- pose these lethal laws by th r Catholic faith implicitly in- vites people to dis miss their views because they are see to be part of “the Authority.” Watch as this debate un- folds in South Australia and Q eensland in the next cou- ple of months, and then in New South Wales later this year. Watch the insidious way in which euthanasia activists will make this not a campaign in favour of euthanasia, but against the Catholic Church. Watch them unashamedly use identity politics even when it comes to matters of life and death. Watch, but don’t back down. Don’t let their an- ti-Catholic rhetoric shame you into hiding your Catho- lic faith. I want the Catholic Church Those damn C atho lics who won’t shut up B ernard Nathanson was a US abortion- ist who performe about 5000 abor- tions, including the abortion of his own child, and presided over t ns of thousands more as an abo tion clinic director. On top of these, he was co-founder of the US associa- tion that successfully lobbied for e repeal of abortion laws across the United States, mak- ing him – at least indirectly – involved in the aborti n of millions of other babies who died as a result of those laws. In the late 1970s, he saw th error of his ways and be- came a pro-life advocate. In 1996, he became a Catholic, and fought and wrote against abortion until his death in 2011. Possibly his most famous work is his autobiographical book, The Hand of God . In it, he not only tells the story of his life, but also the story of the successful camp ign to libe alise abortion laws across the United States. Th re’s one part about that amp ign that stands out. In the book, Nath nson explained that for the cam- paign to work in the tsunami of anti-authoritarian s nti- ment that washed across the land during the sex ual revolu- tion, pro-a bortionists needed to identify an authority that would be seen as the enemy. He wrote: “…that Authority had to have a familiar form, a dis- cernible shape, a clear and preferably noxious identity, and if at all possible a shame- fully malevolent past to point to. “What better than the Ro- man Catholic Church? …we attacked at every opportu- nity. Our fa vourite tack was to blame the church for the death of every woman from a botched abortion.” It is 50 years since that abortion cam- paign, but the tactics of a - ti-lifers are still he same, and we can see it so clearly in the pro-euthanasia movement. The Catholic Church has onc again been set up as the enemy. Here is quot from An- drew Denton’s most recent podcast, r leased on Friday. Denton says: “If you were to name the single biggest obstacle to as- sisted dying legislation in Aus- tralia, i would be the Church, by which I mean chiefly the Catholic Church. While very major denomination stands i opposition to assisted dy- ing, it is they who, more than any other, work to influence this debate in Australia.” Denton then goes on to de- scribe the bishops, the parish- es and parish priests, Catholic politicians, academics and finally t e healthcare s ctor itself as the big, powerful, in- stitutional Catholic enemy t his euthanasia push. It’s not just the institutions, it’s the individuals as well. The only time the religious background of a person in- volved in this debate is me - tioned is w en they are Cath- olic. The basis of the worldview of any other person with an opinion or a vote in parlia- ment is not mentioned be- cause it is not considered rele- vant. It’s only the Catholics. Just one example of this oc- curred on the weekend, with a disappointing feature piece to be forever known as the en- emy of euthanasia and assist- ed suicide across this country. I want every pro-euthanasia campaigner t consider the opposition from the Catho- lic Church to be their biggest threat at the moment. And at a time in the future, when – like Nathanson – eutha- nasia doctors and lobbyists have repented and turned into pro-life advocates, and these euthanasia laws have been abolished by a civilised society that recognises them for the atrocity that they are, I want history to record that it was the Catholic Church that fought, and never backed down. Those uppety Catholics: Andrew Denton holds a poster at the launch of the voluntary euthanasia campaign in 2016. PHOTO: AAP, DAVID MARIUZ Australia’s poster boy for euthanasia, Andrew D nton, is quite clear about which Australians stand for the culture of life. That’s quite an endorsement T o The poinT with Monica Doumit Why I became Catholic? TELL US YOU R STORY! Maximum word length 750 words. Send your story to
[email protected] If you were to name the single biggest obstacle o assisted dying legislation in Australia, it would e the Church, by which I mean chiefly, the Catholic Church.” Andrew Denton