Pope Benedict’s recent accommodation of Anglicans in the apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus is a source of joy for some and consternation for others. Many will appreciate the Pope, through the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, reaching out to disaffected Anglicans to provide a means for them to come into communion with Rome. Others are concerned that this move permits an increase of non-celibate priests in the Western church (which many would advocate) but fails to reconcile with a large number of priests who have left active ministry because they do not feel called to celibacy. Also in the Australian context we have Catholic priests who have left the Catholic Church and joined the Anglicans to continue to minister as married men – some have even become bishops in the Anglican Church. The current negotiations with Archbishop Lefebvre’s followers will also be watched with interest.

I have just returned from a seminar in preparation for Advent conducted by the Jesuit Richard Leonard. Many priests across the country have appreciated Richard’s input to our professional development and his perspective on the church in Australia. His statistics and intriguing facts on Australian culture and lifestyle are very challenging for the mission of the church and our part as priests renewing the mission of Christ. As priests, some of our assumptions about Australian society are very wide of the mark and we have to be careful that our prejudices don’t obstruct the mission of Christ in our world and country. I have asked Richard to contribute some of his thoughts on this in a future edition of The Swag.

Plans continue for a bumper NCP biennial convention which will be held in the Diocese of Parramatta from the 12-16 July 2010. Our topic: The Risen Christ in the Changing Face of the Priesthood. Guest speakers include: Fr Donald Cozzens author of The Changing Face of the Priesthood, Freeing Celibacy and Faith That Dares to Speak and many other reflections; Rev Dr Richard Lennan, priest of the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle, now lecturing at Boston College – his specialty is ecclesiology and Dr. David Tacey associate professor at La Trobe University, teaching literature, spirituality and Jungian psychology, author of the book Edge of the Sacred and ReEnchantment: The New Australian Spirituality. Ms Geraldine Doogue, ABC commentator and presenter, has also agreed to participate.

A convention registration form is printed on the reverse of The Swag address fly sheet, or you can go to this page to download one. To take advantage of the early bird discounted rate you need to return your form to the NCP office by 31st January.

This convention is open to all priests – NCP members and non-members alike. It really is a time for us to join in camaraderie and solidarity. For those wishing to come to the convention, but may be reluctant for financial reasons, some subsidy may be arranged. Please contact Sally Heath at the NCP office.

May the season of Advent be a time of preparation and anticipation to welcome Christ afresh once again into our world and communities.

Ian McGinnity

Alone among the world’s faiths Christianity has as pivotal to its understanding of God’s revelation to humanity the historical fact of the birth of a baby in a stable in an outlying province of the Roman Empire.

While in the USA the greeting ‘Merry Christmas’ is replaced by ‘Happy Holidays’, Australia has, as yet, no inhibitions about promoting the nativity story.

This may be a mixed blessing. Overly sentimental depictions of a respectably dressed Mary and Joseph surrounded by sanitised creatures of the ovine and bovine species disguise the uncomfortable truth that Jesus was born of impoverished parents in a smelly ramshackle shed.

The much-vaunted aphorism that the Church is called to have a preferential option for the poor is a corollary of Bethlehem. In the past 2000 years this noble ideal has often been overshadowed by institutional pomp and pageantry.

The late Fr Ted Kennedy of Redfern was surely one who understood that the invitation of the shepherds, “Let us go to Bethlehem…” was a call to recognise the infant Saviour in the neglected babies of the world, the unborn, the refugees, the unemployed, emotionally disturbed young people and so on. In short, all those for whom there is ‘no room at the inn’.

Bishop Pat Power, Auxiliary Bishop of Canberra, has rightly criticised both major political parties for their insensitive language in speaking of those who seek to come to Australia as refugees. It is ironic that Christmas Island is the sanctuary from which some are barred.

We cannot honour the Infant unless we take seriously the crucified and risen Christ. The crib, the cross and the empty crypt are intrinsically linked.

The cave at Bethlehem is a caveat to all humanity that peace on earth will only be universally established when the cries of the starving and oppressed are heard, not just by those with political power, but every man and woman of goodwill.

What’s the problem, Father?

It is just forty years since the preliminary Coogee meeting of priests that led to the NCP. The church and priests still have problems. What’s new? Legend has it that Cardinal Gilroy on his way to Vatican ll, when asked by a reporter to name the biggest problem facing the church, answered, “Mortal sin”. Quite so.

We all see problems in the church, as in ourselves. The trouble is we see so many, far too many to think about and address. So, to stay sane and to be useful, we all have to simplify the complex. The easiest way to simplify situations is to personalise them — “It’s his (or her) fault” or, more satisfying, “It’s their fault”. Sadly, personalising complex public issues is usually futile and frustrating.

As well as providing space for priests to say how they feel about any matters, The Swag offers a platform for priests to share their special perspectives on the more pervasive, long-term and obscure dynamics of our church.

In this issue, Bruce Duncan gives expert information about Pope Benedict’s major encyclical on global justice (and about a controversy it stirred up).

Frank Moloney’s excellent article on the changing mentalities people bring to faith leaves us an editorial problem. Will we run it on our web site? Will we run it over two issues? Editing turns out to be not easy. Read on while we try to decide.

Invitation to Anglicans

The Apostolic Constitution, Anglicanorum Coetibus, issued by Pope Benedict XVI, allows for a canonical structure to be created in which Anglican communities who so wish, can seek corporate reunion with the Catholic Church.

For several decades, various Anglican dioceses have made overtures to Rome in this regard.

The sensational treatment given by the media to this papal decree has caused confusion among Catholics. The Traditional Anglican Communion, a body which has broken away from mainstream Anglicanism, has been at the forefront of those communicating positively on the apostolic constitution.

Their spokesman, Archbishop John Hepworth, bears the title of Primate of this body. He claims the TAC numbers 400,000 members across the world, although there are very few in Australia.

The London Tablet, of 14 November, notes that Archbishop Hepworth is Adelaide-based, and is a former Catholic priest who is divorced and remarried. (He was ordained to the Catholic priesthood in Adelaide in 1968; his resignation from the ministry was requested by Archbishop James Gleeson of Adelaide in 1974.) After a period as an Anglican priest, John Hepworth became a member of the TAC, and is now their world leader.

Such is the hype given to the Archbishop’s statements that, following an interview given by him on ABC Radio, one commentator even said that “this back-to-Rome movement” was being directed from Adelaide!

Cardinal Levada of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in an effort to clarify people’s concerns, has explained that an Anglican priest who becomes a Catholic will not automatically be accepted for the Catholic priesthood.

The reactions of mainline Anglican Bishops are cautious and varied.

Melborne Auxilliary Bishop, Peter Elliott, himself a former Anglican, says in the Sale diocesan paper, Catholic Life that, “in Australia, I do not envisage large numbers entering into communuion with us in the new structure”.

However the Bishop “was delighted when the news [of this new constitution] came from Rome”. The Bishop added that “to those who do seek unity with the Successor of St Peter, our sincere and simple message must be ‘welcome home’“.

Guest Editors: Robert Egar & Bob Wilkinson

In the prevailing paralysing fear which is so prevalent in the church today, stifling life and creativity, we salute the integrity and courage of Jeff to write the article proposing such questions and the editors of The Swag for printing it.

Peter Kennedy & Terry Fitzpatrick,
South Brisbane QLD

Dear Father Alistair,

I am writing on behalf of Scotland’s Union of Catholic Mothers to thank you for the great work you are doing. We are writing to all the priests especially in this year of the priest.

You have chosen to show your love for God and his people by giving your life to God and for the good of all people especially those in your own parish. It is easy for us to be complacent and let you and your fellow priests get on with it. You have to make sacrifices by getting involved, remaining faithful and serve with the same attitude Our Lord had when he knelt to wash the feet of the disciples.

Please be assured of our prayers for you and all priests, and all who are under your care.

Keep safe, Father. May God keep you and bless you always.

Marie Lavery, Secretary, St Conval’s UCM
Linwood Renfrewshire PA3 3JB

Alistair MacLellan, East Frankston VIC

I wonder if the promoters of the Mass in Latin have ever read the Decree of the Congregation for Divine Worship which states that by mandate of Pope Paul VI it “now promulgates and declares the new edition of the Roman Missal to be the Editio Tipica in accord with the decrees of Vatican Council II – all things to the contrary notwithstanding”. Obviously this document no longer has any status. Of course, since many people who ardently promote the Latin Mass seem to be Vatican II deniers this is not a worry to them.

I wonder if the people promoting the Latin Mass really believe that it will bring about some kind of renaissance in the Church, will return it to “the good old days”. In their dreams! That Church has gone forever. The need is for new pastoral strategies and initiatives, not a retreat into nostalgia. Cardinal Hume wrote that unless this kind of renewal is happening in the local church it is not going to happen at all. This was clearly the Spirit-inspired vision of Pope John XXIII who called us to engage with the world, not to retreat from it.

I guess priests of my generation on can be excused for feeling a sense of betrayal. After all that commitment to what we truly believed was the work of the Holy Spirit (how could 3000 bishops get it wrong?) in giving reality to the call to renewal by the Council, to find now so many in senior positions of governance in the Church trying to turn the clock back has become a real test of loyalty. As parish priests we have a duty of obedience and loyalty – but to whom do we direct that loyalty? As the pastors who have the most immediate contact with our parishioners surely we have a duty of loyalty to the people who have been entrusted to us and whom we led to the renewed vision of Church given to us by the Fathers of the Council.

The reality is that most of the people in our churches know no other Mass than the present mandated liturgy and most of those that do remember the Tridentine Mass don’t want a bar of it.

I sometimes wonder where the Holy Spirit is in this present anti-Vatican II push. Perhaps we became too smug in thinking we had implemented the vision of Vatican II and He is permitting this ecclesial vandalism as a wake-up call to tell us that there is still much work to be done, that the course is for stayers, not sprinters. I think there is a moral for us in the story of that French diocese which finally got round to implementing the Tridentine Mass during the first half of the twentieth century, four centuries after Trent.

L F Donnelly, Port Macquarie NSW

A note to say thanks for a wonderful Spring 2009 issue. The topics were varied and all were important – from us Religious to a Toowoomba bishop, and all presented with logic and graciousness. Thank you for it all.

Charles Rue SCC, Strathfield NSW

Cardinal William Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), told journalists at the Vatican that the new development was in response to “many requests” submitted by individual Anglicans and Anglican groups who were asking to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church. He said the Pope had decided to allow for the creation of “personal ordinariates” – newly-invented diocese-like entities similar to military ordinariates – which would oversee the groups in different parts of the world who are seeking this “corporate reunion” with the Roman Church. Concrete details were to be contained in an Apostolic Constitution that was not expected to be finalised for another “few weeks”.

Cardinal Levada refused to say which groups or how many people had requested reception into the Roman Church. Archbishop Augustine Di Noia – secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and a former undersecretary of the CDF that helped design the provision – told reporters there could be as many as 50 Anglican bishops. He also clarified that the groups were mainly from the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC), although the CDF was apparently not dealing with the TAC in its entirety.

Both the Cardinal and the Archbishop stressed that the establishment of the personal ordinariates was “consistent with the commitment to ecumenical dialogue, which continues to a be a priority for the Catholic Church”. Yet the new development marks a shift in the Vatican’s longstanding policy of discouraging the wholesale reception of breakaway groups from other denominations.

“This changes the context of ecumenism and is a new departure,” said the Rev Dr William Franklin, an Academic Fellow at the Anglican Centre in Rome. “We, as Anglicans, will be interested to hear how the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU) responds,” he said. Not a single PCPCU official – including Cardinal Walter Kasper, the president – was at the briefing.

“With this proposal the Church wants to respond to the legitimate aspirations of these Anglican groups for full and visible unity with the Bishop of Rome,” Cardinal Levada said.

He stressed that the Pope’s new document would provide “a reasonable and even necessary response to a worldwide phenomenon, by offering a single canonical model for the universal Church which is adaptable to various local situations”. It was not clear if these ordinariates, which could be headed by priests or unmarried bishops from the Anglican tradition, were to be established at the diocesan or national level. But it appeared that the ordinaries themselves would be appointed by the CDF and be members of the national episcopal conferences.

In the US, Cardinal Francis George, president of the US bishops’ conference, said the American bishops “[stood] ready to collaborate in the implementation of [the Pope’s] provision in our country”.

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone made this observation in the L’Osservatore Romano, in an interview that also explains how the Year for Priests became a reality.

“I remember that after the synod of bishops on the Word of God, at the Pope’s table there was talk of a proposal that had already come up in the past of convoking a year of prayer, which was very linked to the reflection on the Word of God,” the cardinal recounted.

“Nevertheless”, he said, “the 150th anniversary of the death of the Curé d’Ars and the situation of the problems that have affected so many priests brought Benedict XVI to declare a Year for Priests.”

With this initiative, Cardinal Bertone affirmed, the Holy Father wants to show “special attention to priests and to priestly vocations” and to promote “a movement within the whole people of God, of a growing affection and closeness to ordained ministers”.

“The Year for Priests is bringing about great enthusiasm in all of the local Churches and an extraordinary movement of prayer, of fraternity with and among priests, and of vocational ministry,” the cardinal added.

He continued, “Moreover, the sometimes weak fabric of dialogue between bishops and priests is being strengthened, and special attention is being given to those priests who have been put to the side in pastoral ministry.”

The year is also a “renewal of contact, fraternal help, and if it is possible, a reuniting with those priests who for various reasons have left behind their priestly ministry,” Cardinal Bertone stated.

Finally, he affirmed, “The holy priests who have been part of the history of the Church will not cease to protect and support this road to renewal that Benedict XVI has proposed.”

ZENIT.org News Agency

On the contrary, the German Pontiff has demonstrated his commitment to the Council during his more than four years as Pope, Cardinal Bertone told the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatiore Romano, in an interview published on August 27.

An Italian newspaper had reported that the Vatican’s worship congregation had given the Pope a document with proposed liturgical modifications, including a curb on the practice of receiving Communion in the hand. A Vatican spokesman later said that, at present, there were no institutional proposals for a modification of the liturgical books.

Cardinal Bertone pointed to several areas in which he said Pope Benedict had promoted the teaching of Vatican II with intelligence and depth of thought, including relations with Eastern and Orthodox churches and dialogue with Judaism and Islam. He said the Pope has also favoured an increasingly direct and fraternal relationship with the world’s bishops, as evidenced during their ad limina visits to the Vatican and in the freer discussions during synods of bishops.

Cardinal Bertone said the Pope does have a plan for “reform of the Church”, but it is one that focuses on personal holiness and fundamental questions of faith.

NZ Catholic

Alleged victims had filed 131 cases against the diocese. The bankruptcy means that all those cases will be put on hold, and the diocese hopes that it will help them reach an orderly settlement that it can afford.

Thomas S Neuberger, a lawyer representing many of the victims, called the filing “the diocese’s last, desperate effort to hide the truth from the public”.

Bishop W Francis Malooly said in a statement that the filing “is in no way intended to dodge responsibility for past criminal misconduct by clergy – or for mistakes made by diocesan authorities. Nor does the bankruptcy process enable the diocese to avoid or minimise its responsibility to victims of abuse.”

In court papers, the diocese estimated its assets at US$50 million to $100 million and its debts at US$100 million to $500 million. Wilmington is the seventh American diocese bankrupted by the abuse scandal, following Portland, San Diego, Tucson, Spokane, Davenport and Fairbanks.

The US Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from the Diocese of Bridgeport, paving the way for state courts to force the release of thousands of documents the diocese had fought to keep sealed. The documents include details of how the diocese knowingly returned abusive priests to ministry.