[Marxism] faith of our fathers part 2

["gary.maclennan@xxxxxxxxx" <gary.maclennan@xxxxxxxxx>]

Part 2 The faith of the intellectuals…

*The strength of religions, and of the Catholic Church in  particular, has
lain, and still lies, in the fact that they feel very strongly the need for
the doctrinal unity of the whole mass of the faithful and strive to ensure
that the higher intellectual stratum does not get separated from the lower.
The Roman church has always been the most vigorous in the struggle to
prevent the "official" formation of two religions, one for the
"intellectuals" and the other for the "simple souls"* … *That the Church has
to face up to a problem of the "simple"* *means precisely that there has
been a split in the community of the faithful.  This split cannot be healed
by raising the simple to the level of the intellectuals (the Church does not
even envisage such a task, which is both ideologically and economically
beyond its present capacities), but only by imposing an iron discipline on
the intellectuals so that they do not exceed certain limits of
differentiation and so render the split catastrophic and irreparable. *
(Gramsci)

The world of religion here in Oz has just been galvanized by the dispute
between the Church community of St Mary's South Brisbane and the Arch Bishop
of Brisbane John Battersby.  In brief, the Bishop wrote to the parish priest
Ted Kennedy threatening to close down the church if the priest and
congregation did not return to a more orthodox version of the faith.  This
is the second occasion on which the bishop had chastised Kennedy and his
errant flock.  A similar missive was sent four years ago.  Battersby
drew  special
attention in his latest letter to the fact that there was a statue of the
Buddha displayed in the church.

So what is going on here?  Well the answer lies partly in the nature of the
St Mary's community and the faith they are practicing. This is an inner city
church that at times fills to overflowing with over 500 worshippers.  The
parish priest is a classic liberal intellectual who has championed a wide
range of good causes – indigenous rights, gay rights, women's rights etc,
etc.  The liturgy also has evolved to include an active role for women
including women preaching.  They also sing a range of ultra modern hymns and
give out communion to all and sundry.

If I sound slightly scandalized, one must be charitable and bear in mind my
status as that of a collapsed Catholic, burning with a bright hatred for the
Church of my childhood.  A small, and hopefully a decreasing,  part of me
does not want the church to evolve into something more reasonable.  I am
tempted to wish it to remain as it was in my childhood.  It is almost as if
I want it to continue to feed my hatred. In truth it is as if Ratzinger and
I wanted the same thing.

But not for nothing am I a student of Roy Bhaskar's philosophy of
meta-reality. I have studied the master and I am beginning to learn to let
go, shed the past and move on. Bhaskar is fond of quoting the young Marx's

the world has long dreamed of possessing something of which it has only to
be conscious in order to possess it in reality… In order to secure remission
of its sins, mankind has only to declare them for what they actually are.

For Bhaskar the heteronomous world of domination and exploitation, that the
likes of Ratzinger and Pell when pressed will always defend, is a
parasitical growth on the human ground state of love and creativity. One has
only to recognize and to realize that fact to move on beyond fear, hatred,
exploitation and domination.

It is in that spirit then that I wish to think of Fr Kennedy the pastor at
St Mary's.  However one must first acknowledge that one critique of him and
his flock is that they are classic left liberal – left liberalism being the
default setting for dissidence in Australia.

When confronted by left-liberals I am often tempted to think of them in
terms of Sartre's great critique of "democrats" and liberals in his
*Anti-Semite
and Jew*.  There Sartre discusses how liberals mount a weak defense of Jews
because they are uncomfortable with anyone forsaking the abstract
universalism that the democrats cling too.  Sartre also describes how during
the war liberals would make a point of raising their hats to those forced to
wear the Star of David. Sartre explains how this became a source of
resentment for the Jew because he knew he was an object of pity.  For the
liberal the Jew represented an occasion to issue a manifesto, to make a
gesture. In a similar fashion some argue that for the faithful at St Mary's
the Aborigine, the Gay and the poor are all occasions.

A more charitable view of the folk at St Mary's , and one that I personally
favour,  is that Kennedy and the congregation are  belong to the church of
the intellectuals.  Within this scenario Kennedy  is actively trying to
fashion a faith which will transcend the complexities of modernity. He wants
to confront capitalist modernity with norms that have been taken from the
Sermon on the Mount – Blessed are the destitute… for they shall see God.  In
Kennedy's faith Jesus is the outsider, the revolutionary, who opposes Empire
and suffers a horrible death because of that. But for Kennedy Christ's
sacrifice calls on all of us to make a similar commitment in our search for
the Kingdom  of God on earth.

The church of the intellectuals is of course the church that the clerical
core fears the most.  This is the church-within that contains the seeds of
an alternative church.  What Kennedy and his community are doing whether
they realize it or not is struggling to ensure the survival of a church that
is dying in front of our very eyes. Only through the ordination of women,  the
abolition of celibacy  and the adaption of a sincere  "option for the poor"
can the Church hope to survive. But they will consider none of these things.


A suggestive parallel here is the situation in Soviet Russia after Stalin's
death. Reform was critically needed, but there was no one to bring in the
reforms.  The reformers had all been murdered long ago. The CPSU made
something of an effort under Kruschev but then gave up the attempt to reform
because that would have meant putting themselves out of business.  They were
the problem and could never be part of the solution.

 Similarly at Vatican 2 the Church of Rome made a half hearted effort at
reform and then abandoned it totally under John Paul 2.  The latter will
prove to be the Brezhnev of the Catholic Church. History will show that
brilliant showman as he was he nevertheless in his refusal to reform
prepared the way for the great disaster towards which the church is
inexorably sliding.

So the little drama taking place in South Brisbane speaks to the heart of
the crisis within the church. The core church  - the clergy- has lost all
moral authority.  Even worse from their point of view their caste is not
renewing itself.  Internal church gossip has it that vocations are it seems
largely confined to gays.  There is a savage irony here.  The most
homophobic of organizations is almost totally dependent on gays for
candidates for the priesthood.

So given the crisis that confronts  the clergy it is probably true to say
that Battersby does not want this fight with Kennedy and his flock.  But in
all likelihood he is being pushed by the far right of the church.  My best
guess would be that an Opus Dei cell is at work.  The head of the Australian
Catholic Church, Cardinal Pell, is known to be sympathetic to Opus Dei.  He
overturned a ban on Opus Dei entering the Sydney diocese and during his
recent visit here Ratzinger stayed with the Opus Dei community.  This was a
clear message to the liberals within the Church where Ratzinger stood.  Though
why they would ever have any illusions or hopes in Ratzinger is beyond me.
In any case that section of the church that Ratzinger represents is  determined
to get rid of its liberal wing and to impose once more discipline on the
Church of the intellectuals.

This is of course sheer craziness.  Why would one want to shut down one of
the few full churches in Brisbane?  But those who the gods wish to destroy
they first make made, and the clerical heart of the Roman Catholic Church in
Australia is approaching the psychotic. Trapped by an irreversible loss of
prestige, they have reverted to type.  Instead of embracing the church of
the intellectuals as their best and last hope, they seem determined to
destroy it.    As I have confessed, a small part of me wishes them well in
that task. But we have to resist  the sectarian reflex and unequivocally
support the church of the intellectuals against the likes of Battersby and
Pell.

This series of posts on the Church will conclude with a response to Harry
Browne's *Hammered by the Irish*.
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