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Today in Victoria: It’s a hard time to be an archbishop, just
By John Ferguson
It’s a hard time to be an archbishop. Denis Hart, who runs the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne, knows this dynamic better than anyone in Australia. The Archbishop succeeded George Pell when the now cardinal went to run Sydney and ever since has erred on the side of well mannered community debate when selling the Catholic story. But there are a few non-negotiables in the church leadership. Euthanasia, abortion and same-sex marriage being chief among them. As chairman of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, the archbishop takes a leadership role on major issues, notionally the country’s most senior church figure, although Cardinal Pell technically holds higher office. Denis Hart’s default position has been to campaign from within, so it came as a bit of a surprise to read a weekend paper on August 20, which splashed with the screaming headline: “Church’s threat to gay couples’’. The story went on to claim that the church was threatening to fire teachers, teachers nurses “and other employees’’ who marry their same-sex partner if gay marriage is introduced. There was nothing that Today in Victoria could see in the copy that backed up the yarn but the paper was convinced it was big enough to lead with. What followed was some deeply vigorous social media from church detractors that bounded into the sphere of bigotry. So it was this week that Archbishop Hart sought to set the record straight this week from his perspective, telling 3AW that the church’s position on homosexuality was much more nuanced than reported in the past 10 days. As The Australian’s Tessa Akerman reported yesterday, Archbishop Hart said he had no difficulty with doctors and nurses in a legalised same-sex marriage working in Catholic hospitals but there would be problems if teachers were unwilling to teach Catholic beliefs in their schools. This makes sense. “People don’t have to work for the Catholic Church, they can make their own choice but that being said we exist to teach certain things and the people in our employ need to be able to do that,” he said. Archbishop Hart said when people came to receive communion he didn’t ask their sexual orientation. “Our policy of course is unless a person’s situation is so public and so known to the community that it would be an affront to our beliefs to give the person communion, we don’t enquire,” he said. “We accept people at their face value.” He said if a person whose sexual orientation was very public came for communion, while he wouldn’t refuse on the spot, he would seek to have a discussion about whether it was appropriate for that person to be there, Akerman reported. “I have been a priest for 50 years now and I have dealt with lots of people,” he said. “Some of my friends are in same-sex relationships and I respect who they are even though that’s not the choice that I would make and I think that in my discussions with people I would try to do it the same way.” Archbishop Hart said he was not opposed to same-sex marriage in the sense that people can make choices contrary to the church’s teachings. “But I would be very positively saying that ‘hey, everyone of us is from a man and a woman and I believe that the male and female component in their upbringing and education are very important for children’,” he said. “That’s not to say that if people are in a same sex union, they don’t love their children or anything like that.” It’s a very different message than that delivered elsewhere. Sure, there might be some nuancing of the archbishop’s messaging but the 3AW words marry with Today in Victoria’s experience with the church, its schools and hospitals. Strangely, the church and its institutions can be remarkably accepting. As it and the schools and churches should be. Part of this is the old Irish Catholic culture most of us grew up in. What’s more, even if the church wanted to sack all newly married gay people, it couldn’t and it can’t. There are laws against it. So the idea that it is circling to fire people according to their sexuality is more than a little bit silly. DAN’S SPRING IN THE STEP The Andrews government has more than a little of the whirling dervish in it. It’s been marked by pretty frenetic activity combined with some pretty clumsy politics. Yet for the first time in a couple of years it is showing signs of regaining its political mojo. Modern voters can be cruel but it’s quite possible that the government has quietly recalibrated and is now heading on a path to retaining office. There will be a lot of issues that will play into next year’s poll result, chief of which will be community perceptions about crime. It’s hard to see voters dismissing the government as a do nothing outfit because there is an enormous amount happening in public transport and roads. Labor also will have the advantage of its more youthful campaigning resources on the ground in marginal seats. The Liberal Party, meanwhile, has been as divided as Today in Victoria can remember. GIVE RUSSELL A BREAK. The mental health distress faced by former Nationals MP Russell Northe is deeply unfortunate. The Latrobe Valley MP, who holds the seat of Morwell, deserves some space. But at the same time, while he holds a seat in the parliament as an independent, he can’t avoid scrutiny. It’s a difficult situation for media but not nearly as difficult as it is for Northe. Today in Victoria’s default position is to give the bloke some space. The rest can look after itself when his health improves.
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