Church And Society

Press, Volume C, Issue 29566, 15 July 1961, Page 3

Church And Society

Catholics And The Free Society: An Australian Symposium. Edited by Henry Mayen. Cheshire. 218 pp. Index.

This interesting symposium, which is mainly the work of Australian - born university teachers, deals for the most part with sociological and political considerations. In this book those interested in such issues will find a store of information on Australian Roman Catholicism in relation to a rapidly developing and individual society. This society is in two senses at least hostile to the Faith: “most pf its members are professing Protestants and its values are secular.” This is the theme developed by Dr. Inglis, of Adelaide University, in his description of the Catholic community. He deals with many thorny questions, including social inferiority (“Catholics are still under-represented in the most esteemed suburbs and occupations”), education, birth control, and the relation of immigrant Catholics to their fellow-religionists in Australia.

It is interesting to learn that, as in Canada, where the French and the Irish preferred to worship separately, “culture often divides European from Australian Catholics more than religion unites them.” Nevertheless it seems likely that before long people of Irish descent will no longer form the majority of Roman Catholics. “In the Church as well as in ordinary life old Australians will have no right to hold out obstinately for their traditions against the overwhelming majority of New Australians.” .The whole of the central part of the book is concerned with the Church and politics. Dr. Sutton, of the Australian National University, sets the discussion on a sound theoretical basis. The social philosophy of the Church, he writes, “is laid down in the Book of Deuteronomy; analytical finesse and precision have been the work mainly of Thomas Aquinas and his commentators, notably Suarez S.J., and recent papal documents have made extensive use of this school.” Other writers debate concerning the Catholic vote, and the attitude towards communism; and B. A. Santamaria writes Exhaustively of the influential Catholic social studies’ movement, with which his name has been so closely linked.

Unfortunately those unfamiliar with Australian politics must lose the implications of some of the arguments put forward. The urgency of many issues is apparent from Dr. Knopfelmacher’s brief contribution, which has been written in a mood of considerable bitterness. “When one listens to some Australian Labour supporters discussing Catholicism, one never knows whether one is attending a Klan meeting or a tea-party of the Soviet Friendship Society.” The discussion is summed up by Henry Mayer in an article that abounds in good sense and good feeling. His method of separating principles from behaviour is drastic; but his general conclusion is that the Catholic Church in Australia is making a remarkable contribution to the free society.