In Defence of The Archbishop And The Archdiocese

Columnist John-Paul Romano Writes A Response To Another Opinion Piece Attacking Archbishop Christopher Prowse And His Archdiocese...

Laudetur Iesus Christus.

WITHIN this publication (The Canberra Times), in recent days, other writers have expressed opinions, which for the majority of faithful, Church-going Catholics, are fundamentally untrue. Many Canberrans, and more so hundreds of thousands of Catholics, were outraged at the ACT Government's decision to forcibly seize Calvary Hospital. At that time, there could not have been a more pressing issue for the local Church and it's leader Archbishop Christopher Prowse.

To preface this article and those of other writers, one must have at least an elementary understanding of how the Church is comprised and furthermore operates. These structures are in no way secretive and have been put in place over the two thousand years of the Church's continual operation.

The Roman Catholic (Universal) Church comprises thousands of Archdioceses, Dioceses and other ecclesiastical jurisdictions across the world in essentially every country. Every Archdiocese or Diocese has a Bishop appointed personally by the Pope. These Bishops and Dioceses are all in communion with Rome; accordingly, the Bishop of Rome is the Pope. Every Diocesan Bishop has the ultimate responsibility to care for his own jurisdiction, to be a leader to his people, to be a doctor of souls, to evangelise, and most importantly, to convert and save souls. Within any situation, a Diocesan Bishop, who has supreme authority within his jurisdiction, must consider ramifications in both Church law and State law. A Diocesan Bishop is not answerable to any elected body, committee, or council but only to the Pope himself. A brief look at many other Church and religious organisations shows that those with complex democratic structures tend to get tied up in quarrels, red tape and stuck in committees and debates leading to far worse outcomes for the faithful.

An obsession of some of the so-called 'Confused' Catholics is their unfounded concern about 'Clericalism'; this is despite the fact that many faithful Catholics have never experienced clericalism or seen it in practice here.

Perhaps, some misconstrue unchangeable Church doctrine about who can administer the sacraments and who can take on certain roles within the Church as clericalism, but this will never change and nor should it; for example, lay people will never be able to celebrate the Mass or administer the sacrament of penance, nor will there ever be a Catholic Church with female priests, this is not my opinion but the teaching of the Church, Pope Saint John-Paul II wrote in the apostolic letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, "that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church's faithful."

Furthermore, a priest who decides to wear his Roman collar or cassock is by no means a clericalist but simply wearing the uniform of his position; for example, imagine a world where a police officer never wore a uniform to work. Likewise, donning fine vestments threaded with gold, building grand churches of stone, and using vessels made from gold and precious jewels to worship God is by no means clericalist. As Catholics, we truly believe that God is present in His flesh and blood in the Mass and the Eucharist; as such, we should worship with the finest objects that we can afford. If the King was popping into your house for dinner, would you not use your best dinnerware, crystal glasses and cutlery?

What is the solution to the shortage of priests? Perhaps as a young Catholic man in his twenties, I can provide some guidance on this matter. The shortage of priests and young men entering seminaries has nothing to do with what the individuals of a certain generation who have expressed their views believe. Society is somewhat of a revolving door, a pendulum. To place it squarely, the kumbaya hymns, the hijacked reforms of the 1960s, and those of a certain generation who seek to suggest that there is no such thing as sin, hell or evil and their legacy, are solely to blame for the shortage of priests. I am certain that if the Church had stood firm on the pretences of the Second Vatican Council; focusing on the evangelisation and saving of souls, keeping Latin as the primary language of the Church and its services, keeping beautiful artwork, beautiful churches and classical music and chants at the forefront of worship, and remaining firm on all aspects of Church doctrine and dogma, especially within Catholic schools and universities, that many more young men would be in the seminary studying to become priests.

It is essential to emphasise that while the Church is very much a collaborative community, it is by no means a democracy, and by no means should it be. Some in the pews, especially those of a certain generation, would like to see the Catholic Church become more like the Uniting Church or the Anglican Church, both of which are seeing rates of decline that far outmatch any decline of the Catholic Church in Australia.

Whilst consultation with the faithful is important, several mechanisms are already in place for this to happen. Archbishop Prowse has already committed to an Archdiocesan Pastoral Council, which would be an advisory body with no decision-making authority. That body would need to represent both the small minority who want to reform the Church as well as those who want a return to traditionalism and everyone in between. It most certainly would not be some type of governing body for the Archdiocese, as these confused Catholics seem to desire.

Arguably, and contrary to the opinion of others in this publication, Archbishop Christopher Prowse is not just a good man; he is a great man, a true leader, with the best desires of his flock at the forefront of his mind. I have known him for close to ten years, and in that time, I have known him to be nothing but a man of action, of concern for the poor and the needy, someone who is not afraid to get their hands dirty and understand the plight of those on the margins, as an excellent teacher, and administrator as well as most importantly as a true man of God. In line with the teachings of Pope Francis, I have seen his true passion and concern for people experiencing poverty, people experiencing homelessness, refugees, migrants, and those in prison, as well as his ability to understand the concerns of all members of his flock. He is a man who is incredibly welcoming, ecumenical and does not seek to exclude anyone, often seeking to console those in need with the love of a father or brother. He is certainly a man of integrity, and a man of true fidelity to his Church, to the Pope and to his flock.

Finally, the fact that other writers have suggested that the Archbishop should have supported the recent push to legalise euthanasia in the ACT is simply ludicrous; in fact, it is plainly heretical. It was already clear that if the Federal Parliament repealed legislation preventing the Territories from legislating on euthanasia that the ACT Legislative Assembly would, without doubt, pass a bill to legalise assisted suicide. It is the role, and indeed the expectation, that a Diocesan Bishop do everything in their power to ensure that his Church is unassailable, sacrosanct, and that doctrine is enforced and upheld. We must not forget that we owe many of our laws and practices to Judaeo-Christian teaching, and without their morals, ethics, and laws, our society would be a far worse place.

Now, in a post-Calvary-seizure world, where the delicate two-way street that is the Church-State relationship has been seriously infringed, we wait to see where the next attack on the Church will come. I know this much; the Church has fought many battles in the past 2000 years, both from inside and outside its flock, and I am certain the Church will be ready for any challenge or battle, and, most importantly, will be around to outlive even our most distant descendants.

John-Paul Romano (@johnpauldromano) is a commentator of society, politics, and religion. He is a Catholic who has been volunteering with the Church for more than a decade. The opinions he expresses in this article are his own and don’t represent any organisation he is involved in.

This article was originally published in print (print edit) and online (in full) by The Canberra Times on July 28 2023 (www.canberratimes.com.au) and is available for republication with credit.