Catholicism from the inside

Disciples eager to call the shots behind the scenes
Sydney Morning Herald - September 13, 2005
Uncompromising religious convictions inspire members of the Catholic organisation Opus Dei, writes Kate Mannix.

Miranda Devine last week claimed Opus Dei is a "mainstream" Catholic movement. So why is it so secretive? David Clarke, MLC, admits he is a member of Opus Dei. He says it "informs" his views and decisions in the NSW Parliament.

The deputy director of public prosecutions, Greg Smith, SC, is also a member of Opus Dei. He's a former president of the NSW Right to Life Association. His son, Nat Smith, is now on the association's board.

I don't know whether John McCarthy, QC, is a member of Opus Dei, but his son, Anthony, is. McCarthy snr is a close friend of Cardinal George Pell and an equally close friend of the former NSW premier Bob Carr. He is also a mentor to Malcolm Turnbull, MP, a Catholic convert who regularly speaks at Opus Dei's Warrane College at the University of NSW.

John McCarthy is also a member of the senate at Sydney University. Anthony McCarthy is a chaplain there, and also an organiser for the Opus Dei event called Carnivale Christi.

It is not unreasonable that the Smiths and McCarthys will, like Clarke, be "informed" by their religious associations.

What is unreasonable is the lack of candour shown by those with such associations. This crosses denominational boundaries in "holy alliances". Their memberships, connections and intentions are rarely discussed. Their "values" are repackaged and stamped "PG" for family consumption.
They will talk mildly about "values" and "the traditional family". They will point away from themselves and make judicious references to being "mainstream" and reflecting a wider societal "return to values". But there is little evidence of broad-based support, and little awareness of their real values.

This band of brothers has the same goal as the late B.A. Santamaria: to impose a conservative, Christian-influenced set of principles into the legal system and into government policy.

They will not talk about branch stacking in the Liberal Party nor the funnelling of tax dollars into the myriad "pregnancy counselling services" that are essentially fronts for right-wing proselytising.

Take health.

Catholics are pretty good at running hospitals. But in an Opus Deified world, what would a more strictly "Catholic" hospital look like? It could not offer abortions, sterilisations, in-vitro fertilisation or certain plastic surgery, or look the other way when someone, desperately, just wants to die.

Rape victims would not be offered emergency contraception. None of this is allowable under Catholic ethical guidelines. Just ask Dr Amin Abboud, doctor and assistant lecturer in medical ethics and health law at the University of NSW and director of Australasian Bioethics Information. He is also a former information officer for Opus Dei Australia.

In education, Opus Dei is aiming for the "high end". The private Catholic (publicly funded) University of Notre Dame is interested in training doctors and lawyers who will move into public life and apply the values they have been taught.

So here are some values to watch out for: that the church alone is the repository of absolute truth; conscience must be subordinate to the teachings of the church; the "traditional family" should enjoy legal and financial privileges over other families; abortion is always wrong (though killing in war is sometimes right); men are almost always the disadvantaged party in family disputes due to "extreme feminism" rampant in today's society; IVF is a capitalist plot; there is no obligation for the church to be transparent and accountable; labour is best hired on the basis of correct religious convictions; foreign aid is a misuse of public money; Catholic social teaching embraces market forces; economic prosperity and morality go hand in hand; homosexuals are "intrinsically disordered"; global warming is exaggerated; social welfare is best undertaken by the church.

Those who hold these values have a mission to correct all those who are "in error". They do not believe in your right to conscientiously hold an opinion they do not share. They have little sympathy for your pluralism. They have no commitment to your rights, or democracy. Pell said last year: "Democracy is not a good in itself. Its value is instrumental and depends on the vision it serves."

The irony in all this is that according to church teaching from as early as the fifth century, direct action which seeks to interfere with the rightful autonomy of the state is wrong (the Gelasian Doctrine).

Less than 50 years ago, Vatican II confirmed that all have the freedom to exercise their conscientiously held beliefs - even if, from a rigidly Catholic point of view, such beliefs are "wrong".

Hang on to those two thoughts: because that's Catholic.

Kate Mannix was the founding editor of the independent e-zine Online Catholics.