A Time for Reform...
Friday, 29th September 2006

Dear friends,

Our lite relief for Friday is a joke about which professions population Hell. I honestly don't know what the demographics of the population of Hell are likely to be but what I do know is that probably one of the most difficult positions to occupy on earth at the moment must be that of Bishop. I've worked closely enough with a few of them to know it is not a role I would relish taking on. I do appreciate the enormous burden of responsibility they carry on their shoulders. They don't have the sorts of freedoms that the rest of us have to say what they like. Just take the case of the Pope in recent weeks.

More than probably he thought he was making a nostalgic return to one of his old universities and he'd be having a pleasant chat with a few of his former academic colleagues. Of all the words he uttered during his return to Bavaria though one relatively insignificant statement in the introduction to his address at Regensberg almost ignited World War III — and has in fact led to the murder of one nun, and the bombings of many Catholic churches.

All people in positions of authority have to be careful in how they use words. Bishops though carry an added responsibility. They have responsibility for an institution that is two thousand years old. The accountability is not just to some electorate, or some shareholders, there is a Divine accountability. My gut sense is that it is not primarily going to be an accountability for what they did, or didn't do with the real estate. Or how neatly the chairs, desks and pews were all lined up in the classrooms and worship spaces of their dioceses. Nor how well the financial accounts "balanced" at the end of their term. The prime accountability will be in terms of "how productive were you in 'spreading the Good News'?"

Bishop Pat Power is often cited as Australia's most progressive bishop. He's the one willing to challenge the accepted mindset within which Bishops do their thinking. In the past month or so his face has appeared on advertisements running in the Catholic media promoting the Australian Reforming Catholics Annual Conference which he'll be addressing in a few week's time. We have pleasure today in republishing an article he sent in to us which provides an insight into his thinking as to why some reform in the institutional Church is necessary.

Enjoy his offering today.

Finally a technical note: In conjunction with the launch of our special series this coming week I'll be making a number of significant changes to our website. I previously telegraphed these changes in a note in the members' forum. I'll be implementing these changes early on Monday morning somewhere between midnight and 6.00 am Sydney time. There may be a couple of brief outages of around ten minutes duration when the discussion forum will not be available during that window.

A Time for Reform... Today we have pleasure in presenting an article that Bishop Pat Power sent in to us. It was actually written as on op-ed piece for the Melbourne Age in 2002 but is particularly relevant at this time as Bishop Power will be one of the keynote speakers at the forthcoming Australian Reforming Catholics Annual Conference on 13-14 October. In this article he articulates some of the areas in which he believes reform is necessary and he seeks to outline some of the characteristics he sees the institutional Church needing to embrace if it is to surmount the challenges it is presently facing. [more]

On which professions populate Hell... A little light relief for the end of another working week. Well it is for some. I wonder if the population of Hell ever get time off. Thanks also to "Country Cousin" for sending this joke in. [more]

Tomorrow Ian continues his series searching for the historical Jesus. His focus tomorrow is on the questions "What did Jesus teach?" and "What did Jesus do?". Cindy is also back this week having a spiritual experience at the ballet. Kate will no doubt stir the possum again on Sunday and then on Monday we begin our special week-long series focussing on the Seven Deadlies...

Best wishes for a great day wherever you happen to be ... in life, and in our world.

Brian Coyne
Editor and Publisher
Catholica Australia