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Book Review - Labour
History - 1/05/2002
Ted Kennedy, Who is Worthy? The role of conscience in
restoring hope to the church. Pluto Press, Sydney, 2000.
pp. 151. $27.95, paper.
One of the many stories in this
small book tells of an exchange between the author and
the Sydney Archdiocesan secretary in 1968. Kennedy had
failed to insist that the Protestant partner in a forthcoming
mixed marriage promise to raise any children from the
marriage as Catholic. This was less an act of defiance
than a response to the fact that the bridegroom was
75 and his new wife 67. But the Archdiocesan secretary,
with the unmild manner of a snappy Pomeranian', insisted
on a signature. When Kennedy relayed this, the Protestant
partner responded with 'admirable courtesy and tolerance',
assuring Kennedy that were he able to have a child he
would be delighted to have it baptised a Catholic. The
form remained unsigned. The secretary did not accept
it. Never before, Kennedy comments, had he forged a
signature.
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This story encapsulates what Ted Kennedy sees as the
deficit at the heart of the contemporary institutional
church and his own problematic place within it. Most
Sydney Catholics and most who are interested in Aboriginal
politics would know of Ted Kennedy. Since 1971 he has
been the parish priest at St Vincent's Catholic Church,
Redfern, an outspoken critic of the church, and a friend
and advocate of Aboriginal people. He is often referred
to as a prophet. One of the introductory 'Perspectives'
to this book by Tony Coady, Professorial Fellow in Philosophy
at the University of Melbourne, refers to his 'authentic,
singular voice of prophecy.' This short book vindicates
the claim. It was written in 1996 after a stroke left
Kennedy with the desire to live the rest of his life
as if he was 'already dead' and thus 'more inclined
to state things as they are, or as I see them, without
fear or compromise' (p. 27). The book was also triggered
by the refusal of Archbishop George Pell to give communion
to members of the Rainbow Sash movement and his later
comments in the Bulletin that the primacy of
conscience in Catholic tradition is a 'dangerous and
misleading myth.
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Its
main purpose is to demonstrate that Pell's denial of
conscience distorts Catholic theology and perpetuates
the sort of harsh, legalistic, masculinist and highly
clericalised church from which many in Australia have
recoiled. He demonstrates the centrality of conscience
in the writings of Catholic theologians, focusing in
particular on Cardinal Newman but also on Thomas Merton,
Reinhold Stecher and the second Vatican Council. More
broadly, he traces what he sees as the mismanagement
and misdirection of the church for the last 1,600 years:
after the conversion of Constantine the church became
'seduced by Empire' and lost its clear focus on the
humanity of Christ. In this new false conception 'Christ
ruled from heaven as an absentee landlord, leaving the
male magisterium of the Church to govern on his behalf.'
(p. 43) God became a God of anger not consolation, and
the priesthood elevated to an 'absurdly discarnate position
of divine power.'
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He
argues that there have been two 'grotesque excrescences'
on the life of the church: the emergence of the prince-bishop
and the theological concept of excommunication. Contemporary
judgements of worthiness for communion encourage an
unholy, strutting self-righteousness. Kennedy tells
us that St Paul counted as unworthy only the rich who
excluded the poor from their table. The poorest of the
poor in Australia, the Australian Aborigines, have been
excluded from the table of Australian Catholic leaders
over 200 years. Kennedy traces a short history of Catholic
attitudes to Aborigines from Columbus Fitzpatrick to
George Pell who, when asked for his views on Aborigines
in Melbourne in 1990, said we don t have a big number
of Aborigines in this state'.
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But
the book does not aim to be a sustained argument. Arranged
in shortish sections Kennedy juxtaposes theology, poetry,
history and anecdote to make an impassioned plea for
radical change. There is much here of interest to students
of labour history. His understanding and critique of
the male driven church is highly relevant, given the
number of labour politicians born to Catholic families
who learned their first lessons in politics in this
milieu. His short discussion of his 25 years at Redfern
is also a valuable document. In the early days up to
100 people would bed down at St Vincent's on 'cold wet
nights.' The book shows implicitly why he has stayed
within the church. It is replete with a rich love of
the best in the writing, poetry, painting and activism
to have come out of Catholic culture. And he distinguishes
the bureaucratic church—which he finally left after
the incident with the 'snappy Pomeranian'—from the church's
'deeper reality'.
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A
longer and more sustained account of his own life would
now be of great value to those interested in the nuances
of Australian cultural history. His description of his
parents' loosely detached presence in the church I found
tantalising. They were 'most prayerful' but 'shrank
from pretty well all of the parish activities usually
seen as indices of holiness'. The institutional church
has been marked by the outwardly pious, and most historical
sources record their activities. The large numbers who
have stood back may be more telling of a characteristic
Australian spirituality. A full autobiography from Kennedy
could tell their story as well as many others. |
©2002
Australian Society for the Study of Labour History
Content
in the History Cooperative database is intended for personal,
noncommercial use only. You may not reproduce, publish,
distribute, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale
of, modify, create derivative works from, display, or in
any way exploit the History Cooperative database in whole
or in part without the written permission of the copyright
holder
by Anne O'Brien, University
of New South Wales
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