Bravo! We have progress...

Today might be the day marked by the sign of Beezelbub, but rather than being remembered for that reason it might be better remembered in the Australian Catholic Church for two significant news items...

In OnLine Catholics Fr Eric Hodgens takes off the gloves and speaks in candid, honest language for the vast majority of his fellow priests on how they see the Church in this wide brown land. Only the blind and deaf would not have been aware that what Eric Hodgens writes is probably a more honest appraisal of the attitudes of the vast majority of priests in Australia. What is news is that over the last year or so, and probably thanks in part to the emergence of a truly independent voice like OnLine Catholics – as frail and tendentious as its first footsteps have turned out to be, we have begun hearing more and more of the true feelings of our priesthood. The feelings that have been largely kept under wraps because of the thought police and the jack boots who have controlled the agenda in this country for so long with Rome's blessing. Today is a day to celebrate the re-emergence of truth and honesty in priestly and ministerial discourse.

The immediate trigger for Fr Eric Hodgens article is the imminent release of a further report from the Pastoral Projects Office (PPO) of the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference. This report has been investigating, objectively, why so many have been leaving the active practice of their faith in recent decades.

The PPO published a preliminary report last October of some of the initial feedback. It stated:

Although it is too early to discuss results in detail, people interviewed so far have talked about:

• Their identity as Catholics.
  
• Other commitments, such as caring for or spending time with family & friends, taking priority over attending Mass.
  
• A gradual decline in involvement after their children stopped attending Mass.
  
• A sense of exclusion from the Church community, either because of differences between Church teaching and personal beliefs, or as a result of being divorced.
  
• Issues of structure, transparency and accountability within the Church as an organisation.
  
• The impact of clergy sexual abuse on family members and others.
  
• Failure to find spiritual fulfilment in attending Mass.

You can read Fr Eric Hodgens column HERE.

You can read the interim report of the Pastoral Projects Office HERE:

The second reason for celebration is the news item carried in CathNews on the comments of Bishop Kevin Manning of Parramatta Diocese. Bishop Kevin stunned the Catholic school principals in his diocese a couple of weeks ago with a homily that has been a long time coming. Until his homily a few weeks ago Bishop Manning was perhaps best remembered in the eyes of his principals for a homily he gave some years ago where he berated them as a teacher might berate some kindergarten class for making too much noise in the chapel before Mass began.

Reportedly at the Mass a couple of weeks ago Principals were looking at one another smiling and wondering if they were hearing things. They seemed stunned at what they were hearing coming from His Lordship's mind. He was actually "speaking their language" – he was speaking a language that the principals themselves know is the sort of language that is the only language ultimately likely to get through to that vast cohort of Catholics today who have left the Church disillusioned because they have perceived, rightly or wrongly, that the Church no longer has much of spiritual worth to say to our world.

Here in the news today – and this truly is "Good News" – we have a relatively senior bishop in one of the reasonably important dioceses of Australia with the courage to come out very publicly and start challenging the shibboleths of the oligarchy that has brought Catholicism to the present sorry state that it is in - not only in Australia but throughout the Western world.

We desperately need in the Australian Church today to overturn this culture where everybody is afraid to speak in plain language for fear of upsetting Rome, or the thought police who are constantly trying to report to Rome. Bishop Manning and Fr Hodgens provide powerful witness to the clear and honest language with which our other priests and bishops need to speak in public. In the wake of Pentecost it is well to remember that the Holy Spirit speaks through the whole Church not just through the minds of some self-appointed elect, or remnant. Bishop Manning and Fr Hodgens help articulate what the whole Church is hearing from the Holy Spirit.

The CathNews report on Bishop Manning's comments can be found HERE, and that also provides a link to his original comments published in the Diocesan newspaper Outlook.

Blessings, Tom

Tom Scott is the pen name of the editor of Catholica, Brian Coyne.

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