Catholic Identity & Mission News

Religious freedom and ‘culture wars’ have been hot topics in the news over the past few weeks. The place of private faith in public life has been debated and for some, has been seen to be incompatible with the ability to hold high profile roles. It’s interesting as this all comes at a time when at St. Peter’s, we celebrated the centenary of our Cranbourne Chapel building and reflected on the thousands of people who have worshipped or prayed at this Church. Their faith and practice were diverse as naturally, there is no ‘one size fits all’ Catholic. Just as those who ascribe to a variety of Christian and non-Christian religions discussed when debating the Andrew Thorburn / Essendon Football Club saga, faith is often a deeply personal matter which is then manifested in the thoughts, words, and deeds of the individual and often, the faith community they participate in. 

St Peter’s is a faith community - a very diverse faith community! To understand and appreciate each other and the different views we hold, we encourage dialogue. Dialogue was the way of Jesus – he was radically inclusive and can been seen throughout the Gospels befriending, associating with, discussing, arguing, and including, people from all walks of life and stages of faith. He obviously had a firm point of view, but he listened, learned, and ‘tolerated’ all. Barney Zwartz, writing in The Age last week wrote that, ‘There is an irresolvable paradox in the call for tolerance, because tolerance means tolerating intolerance’! Catholic theology emphasises that God has given us many gifts including those of free will and conscience. We don’t believe in predetermination or a ‘puppet master’ God and as much as God loves us, our great freedom is that we are able to choose whether we return that love or not! Pope Francis has also emphasised this great risky gift from God. 

If only we could strive to listen, learn, and come to understand each other as our God does with us. I’m sure that many of the thousands who have passed through our Chapel building have gone on to live purposeful lives that have contributed to the common good of society. That is what we too hope for our graduating Year 12’s as they conclude their classes next week. At their campus assemblies, our opening prayer contains a blessing where we pray that they will be ‘guided by many of the teachings of their Catholic education: that they will love their God, their neighbour, and always endeavour to ‘Be Not Afraid’. At a time where faith, and its role in how we live and work in community is under scrutiny, we hope that our graduates will have the courage and conviction to pursue opportunities and leadership that will be enhanced by their personal faith, always tolerant of diversity, and willing to dialogue. May our loving God bless and inspire them always. 

Zwartz, Barney, ‘It seems that faith is not only unacceptable, but now must be cancelled’, The Age, October 9, 2022. 

Fiona McKenna

Deputy Principal - Catholic Identity & Mission