Catholics must regain their confidence in the church’s social and political doctrine, if they are to be a voice of moderation in a polarising world, the CEO of Catholic Schools NSW Dallas McInerney said in the lead-up to a major forum on Catholic Social Teaching and Australian Politics tonight.
“The Australian church needs to regain more of the confidence it once had,” McInerney told The Catholic Weekly.
“Perhaps we self-censor. We’d surprise ourselves on the upside if we were to have a bigger voice in the public square on key issues.”
McInerney will speak at tonight’s forum, co-hosted by ACU’s La Salle Academy and Catholic Schools NSW, alongside NSW Parliamentarians Susan Carter (Liberal) and Julia Finn (Labor), ACU academics Br David Hall and Dr Sandie Cornish, and Kathleen Burrow Research Institute research fellow Dr Damien Freeman.
Drawing from ACU Professor Greg Craven’s 2021 PM Glynn Institute monograph, Shadow of the Cross, the six speakers will discuss the foundational principles of CST—solidarity, human dignity, subsidiarity, and the common good.
They will introduce educators, leaders and other interested Catholics to a more robust interpretation of the church’s teaching, capable of traversing what McInerney describes as “the most fractious, contested public square we’ve ever had.”
CST’s emphasis on the common good is an antidote to a public discourse that constantly emphasises difference such as school “Harmony Days,” to the rise of faith-based and single-issue political parties.
“Harmony Day: its whole raison d’etre is about how we are different. How we look different, think differently. They never get past the difference. Yes, we’re different; but what binds us?” McInerney said.
“The prime minister said the other day he would not want to see faith-based political parties in Australia, and that’s absolutely right. How can they in a mature way turn their minds to serious matters?” he added.
“It’s similar to single-issue parties. When you get into parliament, you’ve got one day on your issue and 364 on everything else. Single-issue parties are, by definition, inadequate to the challenges of modern life.
“[Faith-based parties] are another form of grievance politics, with a faith dimension to it. That doesn’t help anyone.”
Social media, alongside a range of other “intermediating” influences on children and communities—plus a media that “monsters” Australians who profess faith publicly—means that teachers and other leaders need to be intentionally identified and supported, McInerney said.
“There are so many good, faithful teachers throughout our schools. Sometimes they lack the confidence to stand up and profess a faith, and teach it,” he said.
“We’ve got to nurture that, we’ve got to encourage that, we’ve got to call and identify them.”
And in the public square, he wants to see “more Greg Cravens, more Anthony Fishers, more Frank Brennans” emerge as a result of a deeper engagement with CST.
“We’ve got the intellectual formation to take the field. Who do you want to cede it to? For Catholics to vacate the field of public discourse is to surrender.
While the influence of the church’s teaching on Australian political life is perhaps weaker than it was a century ago, McInerney points to the Howard-era WorkChoices industrial relations reforms as a recent example where CST could have delivered a different outcome.
When WorkChoices was taken to cabinet in 2007, the proposal included abolishing the no-disadvantage test, which ensured a proposed award wouldn’t leave workers worse-off in respect of their conditions of employment.
“Folklore has it that two Catholic cabinet ministers said, ‘No way, that’s too far.’ Tony Abbott and Kevin Andrews,” McInerney said—the test was abolished despite their protests.
“Guess what was the tool of choice for [Labor’s] WorkChoices campaign in 2007?
“Wasn’t there a protective floor there? If we’re Rerum Novarum people, that’s a good piece of legislation: it puts a floor under where the market can be rapacious.”
With secular alternatives to CST increasingly shown to be unsuccessful, a hostile media less influential than it once was, and new media and educational tools available to savvy Catholics, the opportunity for a new generation of leaders to emerge is real.
Even the child sexual abuse crisis, which did real damage to Australians’ apprehension of the church, does not disqualify Catholics from revitalising their public profession of faith, McInerney said.
“In some respects the Australian church will never escape its shadow. In some respects it shouldn’t, and we should be forever penitent,” he said.
“But there are critics of the church who really wouldn’t care about the victims, but weaponise it against us, and put a ceiling on the level of participation we should have.
“There is a path back to having a fuller voice in the public square. We should always remember it, be informed by it, never forget it. But it shouldn’t be a negative influence to guide future activity.”
Catholic Social Teaching and Australian Politics will be held at ACU’s North Sydney campus this evening.