Catholic Secondary Principals Association 2018 Conference: Opening Session with Kristina Keneally

“Throwing the Hail Mary Pass”

Senator Keneally’s address is published on the CaSPA Website.

Some reflections on her address:

How can such a flawed institution transmit God’s love to the world? In other words, where is God in all of this.

Concept of a practicing Catholic is deceptive: focus on behaviours (practices) rather than faith.

“I am openly Catholic” – a witness to the faith, open to encounter with people of other faiths. Being Opening Catholic means forgiving not judgemental – not afraid of new things (Pope Francis).

Being open doesn’t require orthodoxy – indeed, being a Catholic means acknowledging the Apostles Creed and not ethical and devotional beliefs that have come afterwards. It has been men of similar background who have presented the teachings, and these have mostly tended to focus on the preservation of the institutions.

A good example is infallibility, which is intended to focus power on the person of the Pope

Doctrines like infallibility and later teachings are at odds with the duty to follow a fully-formed conscience. Attempts by JPII to suppress the role of conscience are typical of the patriarchy that dominates the church.

The patience of women with Pope Francis is wearing thin – JPII put women in their place, but Francis is a reformer who still excludes women. How deep must misogyny run if gays can get to heaven but women can’t priests. Whatever happened to Jesus’s post-resurrection apparitions to women?

Women need to be in the room when discussions are had, on their own merits as leaders, when all matters concerning women or anything else are conducted.

At the moment, women are being encouraged to control their fertility and denied the means to exercise that control.

Francis as regarding women theologians as the strawberries on the cake… but they need to be part of the cake.

Priests are supposed to stand in person Christi – but only men can be ordained, which means Christ’s saving incarnation is limited to men, and that doesn’t make sense. Christ came to redeem all of creation, so the metaphor is just wrong.

Francis and the introduction of the diaconate of women… much of the Vatican has already made up its mind, because the attitude is that deaconesses in the early church were not considered the same as ordained deacons.

Francis’ experience of women is limited and this narrows his understanding of women’s role even when he is inclusive and recognises the role of women in the church. For him, women’s true path to holiness is through motherhood. He also has an ongoing obsession with gossip – women’s gossip.

Currently, the Pope is not offering a solution to ecclesiastical exclusion, even when he notes the issues of clericalism. The abuse crisis is the best example of how clericalism poisons the church’s response to the world – rigid orthodoxy, secretive practices, exclusion of alternative views. Note Geoffrey Robinson’s critique of the Church at the Royal Commission, and how Bill Morrison was treated when Bishop of Toowoomba.

Pell’s response: the structure has come from God and so does not require changing.

Church leaders make a claim to holiness and grace, so how could the institution behave in such an appalling way? This is impacting on parish attendance and school enrolments.

The hope: the good conscience of ordinary Catholics have to come to the fore, and not just with the practicing Catholics. Francis does get it – not all discussions can be settled by the magisterium. The Church can guide, but it is the faithful who must make decisions in complex circumstances. …decisions should be made in individual cases.

“We are here to form consciences, not to dictate.” [On Love and the Family]

The individual conscience can save the institution from itself.

We are called to follow the example of Mary MacKillop (excommunicated for following her conscience) …

If it weren’t for Catholic schools in Australia, the Church would disappear, because children are not going to church to learn their faith.

As a leader, focus on a sense of purpose, inclusion, empowerment – don’t go for positional power. The best decisions are inclusive and draw people in. You only get so many days as a leader, so don’t waste them.

Kristina retold the story of her stillbirth and how that transformed her understanding of God – a mother who loses her Son.