23 May, 2024
Dear Reader,
A LOCAL CONTROVERSY
Only half of our readers are in Tasmania, the rest interstate or overseas, but many will now be aware that Archbishop Porteous of Hobart, founder and patron of the Dawson Centre, recently sent this pastoral letter to parents of children at Catholic schools. The response was explosive. Predictably he was pilloried by the media and all the usual suspects, including some of the parents whose approach to Catholic education appears to be driven by the spirit of the supermarket: take the items you want and leave the rest
You may be aware that some years ago the same Archbishop was prosecuted by an anti-discrimination tribunal for a very similar offence. He is thus, in the eyes of many, a habitual offender. Once again the Archbishop is ’taking the bullet’ for all of us in the Catholic Church, and far too many are standing by in silence.
I have read the letter carefully and take exception to nothing in it. Needless to say it was not published in the mainstream media, for they understand that to publish the letter in full would neutralise or even vitiate almost all the complaints against it.
I defend the Archbishop’s right – and affirm his duty – to uphold the teachings of the Church in his letter to parents. I admire his courage in doing so, and deplore the accusations of ‘hate speech’ levelled against him by and in the media. Hate Speech is a repulsive charge, a foul and cheap jibe so glibly used by activists on both sides when actual evidence is unavailable. Its use as a weapon against people we disagree with deceives no thinking person: look at those who use it and you’ll quickly see who the real haters are!
It is disappointing that many Catholics appear to have supported the charges against their bishop by their silence, or even by taking the matter to the mainstream news sources. In my view it is reasonable to air such matters vigorously within ’the Household of Faith’, but never among the disinterested or even hostile users of the secular media.
FUTURE OF THE DAWSON CENTRE
Having established the Dawson Centre, at the request and invitation of the same Archbishop in 2013, I have decided that it would be timely to step aside – and retire properly – early in the New Year.
As it happens, His Grace must offer his resignation to the Pope on the occasion of his birthday next month. There is of course no way of knowing when a successor might be appointed, or whether his successor would wish to keep the Centre, but in any case we have felt for some time that it needs an extra injection of time and energy if it is even to maintain its current level of activity, let alone extend itself towards further long-cherished goals.
We have agreed that the next Director will be Alex Sidhu, currently private secretary to the Archbishop, who is shortly to move back to Melbourne, his original home. That will mean that the Centre’s epicentre, so to speak, will shift northwards, allowing it immediate access to more speakers and bigger audiences, and also better opportunities to engage in teaching and lecturing on Christian Civilisation. That was always among our chief goals, though our relative remoteness (and my own slowness to engage with zoom!) has made that difficult to achieve.
But our Tasmanian roots will be maintained regardless. We think we might continue to hold the annual Colloquia here. Archbishop Porteous will remain patron of the Centre, for he intends to retire here – and I have no plans to go anywhere else.
So this is in no sense a message of farewell, but an opportunity for me to thank those who have supported the Centre so loyally for more than 10 years – and to ask for advice and encouragement.
We are unique. We work closely with a number of organisations, most much larger than ourselves, that have very similar goals, but in Alex Sidhu’s own words, ‘there is currently no Catholic think tank or advocacy organisation seeking to approach the cultural crisis from a fully theological understanding of the social and political order, and to offer both critique of the dominant ideas striving to undermine Western Civilisation, and positive policy proposals to address the crisis’.
WELCOME BERNARD O’DONOVAN!
My wonderful and efficient deputy, Naomi O’Donovan (formerly Spinks) gave birth to her son Bernard on 13 May. All will join me, I’m sure, in offering our joyful congratulations to Naomi and her husband Michael, and our warm welcome to young Bernard! May he be a blessing to his parents, and they to him.
Naomi always assembles and edits the newsletter, but I’d be a horrible boss if I forced her to do this one, so I’m doing it myself. If it doesn’t look as good as usual, blame me!
Best wishes to all,
David Daintree
THE COLLOQUIUM 6 JULY
We’ll have papers from Bella d’Abrera, Richard Brown, Anna Krohn, Lucas McLennan, Karl Schmude, Fr Matthew Solomon and Prof Steven Schwartz. We are able to accept a few more submissions. The detailed Call for Papers document is the final item of this newsletter.
FREE STUDENT REGISTRATIONS
Due to the generosity of two readers we have two free Colloquium registrations available. Do you know someone who would like to come but can’t afford it? Please send nominations to me: director@dawsoncentre.org.
FOR FURTHER READING
WEAPONISING RAPE
Screams before Silence is a harrowing documentary on the events of 7 October 2023, featuring Sheryl Sandberg, former Facebook senior executive. Watch it here.
…AND WEAPONISING BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCE TOO
This intriguing article by British writer Gary Sidley examines the ways governments use specialists to shape and control public opinion: ‘You are being Nudged!’
THE REACTION AGAINST THE ARCHBISHOP
This witty piece by James MacPherson explores the consternation of the ABC on discovering that Christianity’s standards may not exactly coincide with those of the secular world.
CATHOLIC SPEAKER CANCELLED
Talks on sexual morality by US speaker Jason Evert have been banned by some NSW Catholic schools. Parent groups have successfully petitioned school authorities to silence him, in the time-honoured leftist way: ‘we don’t want to hear him so you can’t either!’ This is the ABC’s report. Oddly, The Catholic Weekly takes a different view. If you can trust yourself to hear him, try this.
COMING EVENTS
BRISBANE SATURDAY 1 JUNE
Classical Education: Making a Comeback. Seminar and Dinner in collaboration with LOGOS AUSTRALIS and the Australian Classical Education Society. The keynote speakers will be Andrew Kern, founder and president of the US CIRCE INSTITUTE, and Katerina Hamilton. FULL DETAILS AND BOOKINGS HERE. Discounted early-bird rates are available until 6 May.
MORE CLASSICAL EDUCATION EVENTS!
Andrew and Katerina will appear at several other classical education events in Melbourne and Sydney as well as Brisbane, including training days for teachers and home educators in each city. For details and tickets to each event please visit:
- Mon 3 June – Classical Teaching Seminar in Brisbane
- Tue 4 June – The Classical Education Revolution – Evening Seminar in Melbourne
- Wed 5 June – Classical Teaching Seminar in Melbourne
- Thu 6 June – Ramsay Centre Lecture in Sydney
- Fri 7 June – Classical Teaching Seminar in Sydney
REDISCOVERING HOPE
How did we lose it? How can we get it back?
The 5th Henry Baldwin Lecture Wednesday 19 June 7:30pm.
In the midst of an epidemic of mental illness, wars and political breakdown, the climate crisis, the rising cost of living, many of us are feeling anxious about our world. Hope is not lost. But where can we find it? Clinical Psychologist Dr Leisa Aitken on how hope has endured through the storms of human history, with practical advice on how we can have hope today.
St George’s Anglican Church, Battery Point
All welcome – free admission: BOOK HERE
FOR NEXT YEAR’S DIARY: ROME, JULY 2025
With Campion College we are jointly planning a two-week residential Summer School, with two parallel streams, Latin and History, from 30 June to 15 July 2025. Campion’s last Rome school was before the in 2018, and the Dawson Centre held its own in 2019. We are thrilled to be able to collaborate with Campion in this exciting new venture.
HOBART SATURDAY 6 JULY
COLLOQUIUM 2024
The Ninth Dawson Centre Colloquium,
on Saturday 6 July 2024
at The Italian Club, 77 Federal Street, North Hobart
Authentic Humanism
and the Crisis of Culture
The Christopher Dawson Centre for Cultural Studies is an independent, not-for-profit think tank, dedicated to promoting enhanced awareness of the riches of the Christian Intellectual and Cultural Tradition.
Christopher Dawson (1889-1970) is considered to have been the greatest English-speaking Catholic historian of the twentieth century. He is principally known for his powerful defence of the vital role of the Christian religion as a central strand of Western culture, but he also insists –
‘It is true that Christianity is not bound up with any particular race or culture. It is neither of the East or of the West, but has a universal mission to the human race as a whole…’
We in the Dawson Centre believe that every civilisation is shaped by a religious impulse, something fundamental to and inseparable from human nature, and that civilisations wither when this impulse is smothered or suppressed. In the twentieth century, and perhaps even more now, we have seen that nexus between Religion and Culture, between Faith and Reason, challenged by tyrannical forces of both the Right and the Left.
Not only is the belief in God as our ultimate reality widely denied, but our confidence in objective truth, goodness and beauty has been dealt a near fatal blow by the soi-disantintellectual elites that dominate the educational high ground. Our young people must be saved from this.
On Saturday 6 July the Christopher Dawson Centre for Cultural Studies will host its ninth annual colloquium in Hobart, Tasmania. The Dawson Colloquium is a conversation, rather than a multi-stream conference. There are no keynote speeches, as all are considered important to the flow of ideas, and speakers are encouraged to attend all papers.
The Colloquium will be held again at the Italian Club, 77 Federal Street, North Hobart. The after-dinner speaker this year will be Emeritus Professor Steven Schwartz AM FASSA, formerly Vice-Chancellor of Macquarie University and currently Senior Fellow of the Centre for Independent Studies.
CALL FOR PAPERS
We invite submissions from persons interested in addressing the topic. Speakers should not only identify and evaluate threats to the Christian culture and humanism, our common heritage, but propose practical strategies for its preservation and restoration.
Total time allocation for each paper will be 45 minutes, which should include time for questions and discussion (the proportion at each presenter’s discretion). Proceedings will be recorded, posted on the internet, and published late in 2024 or early 2025. A submission implies consent to online and print publication. Those intending to offer a paper should supply the following:
- The title of your paper
- A brief abstract (50 – 150 words)
- A brief bio or CV (50 – 150 words)
- A hi-res passport style photo, jpeg format
Proposals should be sent to Dr David Daintree, Director, Christopher Dawson Centre for Cultural Studies director@dawsoncentre.org, 0408 87 9494.
Please note if your paper is accepted that registration is complimentary for all presenters