The Catholic Church is going through a period of great turmoil. A time when much that we value has been challenged. People who have been placed in positions of power and authority but who have misused those trusted positions. It is this trust that we need to start and rebuild throughout the Church and in the public in general.
“For some it is a time of immense sadness and grief. This was not their experience, but they are now left to carry the burden of atoning for the wrongs of the past. And some Catholics, I suspect, just feel powerless and fragile: unsure what to do or say, wondering about what lessons can be learned and thinking about how this shameful past is going to inform the future.
And some mornings, after reading about the latest revelations, I wonder if the weight of this painful time is going to break the spirits of the people of God. Are there going to be too many lost and broken people? How will the people of God rebuild and recover and remain faithful? How will they hold the weight of these shameful memories and continue the work of proclaiming the good news? Because when we use the word ‘church’, we are talking about people – all the baptised in whatever role they may hold in this institution that began with a man who was one with God and whose every action sprang from this relationship.
But then I remember that we are not alone. The church is built upon the shoulders of the generations of God’s people who have gone before us. The prayers of their experience pave the way for ours.” Cathy Jenkins Director Plenary 2020 Melb.
While saying this I am still humbled by the way people are moving on and being so forgiving of what has happened. They know it is the individuals who have let the side down, the Church, which is Christ, is not to blame and cannot be if it is Christ’s body. There are rules etc to be looked at and changed where necessary.
The signs that people are still seeing the importance of church; couples still wanting their children baptised. One lovely young Mum has just called in as I write to pick up the information pack for baptism.
These couples can still see how important that link, that sense of belonging has been for them and they want it for their children.
Along with this is the number of parents who are sending their children to Catholic schools for their primary and secondary education. The numbers are not falling, in fact, they are growing. The Catholic Education System educates approximately 780,000 students in Australia. How many people are employed by the Catholic system as well?
So even though people have been affected, let down, shattered by the outcomes of the Royal Commission they still see great value in what Catholicism has to offer not only for themselves but their children.
I just read this morning that Bill Hayden the former governor-general at the age of 85 years has been baptised a Catholic in Ipswich in Queensland. He said “there has been a gnawing pain in my heart and soul about what is the meaning of life. What’s my role in it?” An interesting comment from someone who is 85 and a professed atheist in his day of politics. He hoped that his new found faith might encourage others as the Church passes through difficult times.
He attributes the change to the example of his mother who was a Catholic, the Ursuline Sisters who taught him in school and Sister Angela Mary Doyle who visited him in hospital. He saw her as a ‘holy woman’ who inspired him to revisit the core beliefs of the Church.
It will be the ‘good’ example of people like Sister Angela who will help to re-establish the Church to where it should be as a living witness as the body of Christ.
Fr Michael Morley
Parish Priest
