Letters

More on Marins (letter)

Peter Finlayson

Contents - Sep 2001 - Buy a copy now Editorial: A letter from the Publisher - Peter Westmore Archbishop Hart's reception at St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne - Homily - Archbishop Denis Hart News: The Church Around the World The John Paul II Cultural Centre opens in Washington DC - Alex Sidhu Successful Thomas More Centre Winter School in Brisbane - Sidney Rofe Ballarat Thomas More Centre Winter School report Feminism's broad agenda within the Catholic Church - Donna Steichen Commission for Australian Catholic Women: Executive members' feminist views - Richard Egan Why today's secular culture is anti-Catholic - James Hitchcock Kenneth Bruce Dowding, Australian Catholic hero: his brother's tribute - Rev Keith Dowding Letters: Celibacy (letter) - Mrs A.M. Tilburg Letters: More on Marins (letter) - Peter Finlayson Letters: BECs (letter) - Marie Kennedy Letters: Charter (letter) - Rev A.T. Fitzpatrick Letters: Adelaide protest (letter) - Pauline Pascoe Letters: Feminists (letter) - Margaret Jones Letters: Formidable mind (letter) - Mrs V. Mulligan Letters: Aquinas (letter) - Michael Casanova Letters: Fatima Family Apostolate (letter) - Margaret Grace Letters: Church teachings (letter) - Gerry Keane Letters: Mind of the Church (letter) - Mrs Carol V. Phillips Letters: God's word (letter) - Vic Hall Books: 'The Book of Marriage', edited by Dana Mack and David Blankenhorn - Bill Muehlenberg (reviewer) Books: 'The Holocaust, Never To Be Forgotten', Avery Dulles SJ, Rabbi Leon Klenicki - Anthony Cappello (reviewer) Books: 'Padre Pio: In My Own Words', ed. Anthony F. Chiffolo - Mary-Jane Donnellan (reviewer) Books: 'Teens and Relationships', 'Teen Life and Christ', by Jerry Shepherd - Mary-Jane Donnellan (reviewer) Books: 'Lamentations Of The Father', by Ian Frazier - Mary-Jane Donnellan (reviewer) Reflection: Saint Catherine of Siena: how to receive the Eucharist more worthily - Sr Mary Jeremiah OP

I regret that my Marins article (July AD2000) was read as an "attack" (Denis O'Leary's letter, August) as I tried to be objective. While it may not echo everything that Denis would like to hear about the Marins model of Church, it was cautiously supportive provided the model is applied within an orthodox framework.

My main point was captured and confirmed by Dr White (letters, August): that as (apparently) in Adelaide, so also in Ballarat Diocese there appears to exist a vocal and influential group of Catholics, mainly female, including religious, which supports the Marins model as a convenient vehicle for imposing a non-hierarchical, lay-led Church structure on our diocesan communities. That the disloyalty to Papal authority implicit in this stance is tolerated is another issue.

Whether Fr Marins' team intended this (distorted) application of his model is unclear, and I am reluctant to blame him for how it is subsequently applied by workshop participants. However, I am critical that his workshop method allowed too much for individual interpretation which, clearly, is of variable quality when measured against orthodoxy.

An obvious question arising from the articles and correspondence on this issue so far is: do we really need this model of Church to apply Canon 211 about the obligation of the laity to undertake out-reaching missionary activities as a normal part of their day-to-day lives? Are not the existing organisations such as Legion of Mary, Focolare and the pastoral committees of parish pastoral councils, inter alia, adequate for this task? Perhaps they just need to be properly set up to increase their "street-walking" missionary focus.

Another issue is the extent of our missionary obligation. Clearly, lapsed Catholics are a priority target, along with the disadvantaged and marginalised in our communities, and spreading our evangelical net to the wider society.

Our missionary effort can have even greater impact on society in general if strategically targeted to the various levels of government, by lobbying the decision-makers in favour of legislation based on traditional Christian moral values. Again, the appropriate lay vehicles for this politically-oriented activity are available.

Another concern is that the factionalisation of the Church between the orthodox and 'liberal' elements is sapping our evangelical energy and effort at a time when society slides ever deeper into the anti-Christian morass. If the Church is serious about promoting missionary activity in its widest application, a fundamental need is unequivocal and clear direction and empowerment of its laity by a coherent and cohesive leadership.

In effect, if not by intention, the Marins model is "muddying the water" even more.

PETER FINLAYSON
Creswick, Vic

Reprinted from AD2000 Vol 14 No 8 (September 2001), p. 13