5 June, 2021
Dear Reader,
We are proud to be able to lead with this guest piece by Prof Robert G Kennedy of the Department of Catholic Studies, University of St Thomas, St Paul, Minnesota USA. Prof Kennedy is a member of our International Advisory Board.
LETTER FROM AMERICA: GEORGE FLOYD ONE YEAR ON
I wrote this a few days ago, on the first anniversary of the day that a man by the name of George Floyd died in police custody, less than two miles from where we live and from the campus where I teach. His death was the occasion for unprecedented rioting in Minneapolis (across the wide Mississippi from my city of St Paul) in the midst of our struggle with COVID. These two realities, and the consequences that have rippled out from them, have starkly exposed critical fault lines in American public life, two visions of who we are and of what we seek to become.
On the one hand, we have what one writer has called ‘the reductive binary of oppressor and oppressed,’ while on the other, we have an older, but now somewhat muddled, conception of a free people attempting to craft a common life in spite of their differences. The clash of these two visions emerges not only in politics but also in the universities, in the news media, in religion, and in culture.
The first narrative is one of conflict, which is thought to be the means necessary if social justice is ever to be achieved. It is a vision of a perfect society, achievable if only the right structures and programs can be set in place. Those who stand in the way of this noble goal must be, and deserve to be, converted or defeated.
The other vision is of a society that is not perfect but possible. It is populated by imperfect people, all of whom are flawed or, as a Christian would say, damaged by original sin. Yet this possible society can nevertheless be a good one, even as it falls short of the ideal. Its construction is a considerable achievement, brought about by cooperation not conflict. And it deserves to be defended while an endless process of incremental improvement is pursued.
A great American philosopher, and sometime major league baseball player, once said that predictions are hard to make, especially about the future. Many of us have been surprised by the swiftness with which the first narrative has come to dominate American culture, embraced and reinforced endlessly by thought leaders in entertainment, the media, government, business, and the academy. Does all this signal a permanent change in Western culture?
Perhaps, but in my judgment it would be a mistake to see this movement as anything other than weak, superficial, and temporary. It will have its victories and claim its victims, to be sure, but in the end it is merely the child of what Dawson called ‘that restless, perpetually dissatisfied class—the revolutionary intelligentsia.’ It appeals to the spiritual emptiness in a society that cannot find peace in material prosperity and is frustrated with the failure of secular theory to produce the perfection of social life that has been promised. Channeling the Manichaeism that lured St Augustine, it divides people into the evil and the good (racist and anti-racist); like Marxism, it preaches that conflict is the only path to peace. It can stir passions and it can tear down—but it cannot build. As Napoleon followed the French revolutionaries, it will sooner or later be replaced by something else and ultimately fail in its goals. What that replacement will be remains to be seen; we have no guarantee that it will be an improvement.
Dawson believed that only a recovery of Christian culture could restore health to the West, though even 60 years ago he thought the hour was late. On the positive side, however, we are beginning to see resistance to the aggression of the ‘woke.’ In the United States, some state legislatures are passing bills to prohibit the teaching of Critical Race Theory in public schools, while others are prohibiting males identifying as females from competing in women’s sporting events. A number of academics, including some prominent black scholars, are speaking out aggressively against this new and divisive racism. Parents across the country are removing their children from schools that have embraced indoctrination. And a growing number of people, tired from a year of coping with COVID, have lost patience with continuing restrictions and the enervating progression of crises. New voices are raised every day in support of law and order.
So, where does this leave us? With an opportunity, in fact. An opportunity to champion a coherent, workable vision of a society committed to community not conflict, to truth not fiction, to justice not coercion, and to a life-giving faith. Christians have been here before, in ancient Rome and in other times and cultures since then. By now we should have learned that the Spirit is active where Christians are willing to be witnesses to the truth and that remarkable things can follow. The question for us is whether we are willing to cooperate.
‘TWO BROADCASTERS, BOTH ALIKE IN IN UNACCOUNTABILITY’
This clever piece by Gerard Henderson points to the culpability of both the ABC and the BBC in misreporting news and fermenting scandal: well-researched disclosures about two interesting cases, Princess Diana and Neville Wran.
LIBERTY AND SOCIETY CONFERENCE
Unfortunately this conference hosted by the Centre for Independent Studies clashes this year with our own Colloquium, but if you can’t get to ours do think about theirs! It is an annual event with a fine reputation. Last week’s guest columnist Prof Augusto Zimmermann will be one of the speakers.
SUMMER SCHOOLS 2022
10-14 January – Medieval and Ecclesiastical Latin – a one-week intensive reading course for people with some Latin, or a willingness to undertake some self-instruction or brushing up beforehand. Guided readings of pieces from the Bible, Sts Ambrose, Augustine and Thomas Aquinas, as well as poetry both sacred and secular, and good Latin narrative prose. This will be the Hobart Latin Summer School’s 30thyear!
17-21 January – Western Civilisation – an Overview. This is a pilot venture. We shall cover five major areas: History (Greece, Rome, the emergence of the modern world), Literature (Homer, Virgil, Dante, Shakespeare), Philosophy (Plato, Aristotle, the Scholastics, ethical theories), Theology (the person of Christ, Scripture, Sacraments) and Art (painting, Sculpture and architecture). Lectures by Xavier Young, Dr David Moltow, David Daintree. We are still seeking somebody to teach Art and would be glad to receive expressions of interest.
Write for further details about either of these short courses.
A beginners’ course in New Testament Greek will be offered from 24 January if there is sufficient interest.
COLLOQUIUM 2021
Our annual conference will take place on 25–26 June 2021 at Jane Franklin Hall, one of the colleges of the University of Tasmania, in South Hobart.
The theme will be secondary education, with a particular focus on the development of the spiritual and religious dimension of human nature.
The guest speaker at the Closing Dinner on Saturday night will be Prof Robert Carver, inaugural Director, Ramsay Centre Western Civilisation Program, Australian Catholic University, Sydney.
THIS IS THE FULL PROGRAMME
FRIDAY 25 JUNE
Tea and coffee available from 1.30 pm
2.00 Official opening
2.15 Session 1
Mr Kenneth Crowther
Whose Culture, Which Liberal Arts?
3.00 Session 2
Mr Fadi Elbarbar
See, Judge, Act: A Lens for Remembering and Living the Good News
3.45 Tea Break
4.00 Session 3
Dr Gerard Gaskin
Catholic Education and the Ascendance of Christian Culture
4.45 Session 4
The Most Revd Archbishop Julian Porteous
An Anthropological Creed
5.30 Close for the day (no evening event)
SATURDAY 26 JUNE
Tea and coffee available all day
9.00 Session 5
Dr David Hastie
Human Resources is not boring, it’s the Greatest Threat: Rethinking Initial Teacher Education for Australian Christian-affiliated schools
9.45 Session 6
Ms Cheryl Lacey
Faith and Family: The Fundamental Principles of an Educated Nation
10.30 Tea Break
11.00 Session 7
Mr Eammon Pollard
Who are adolescents today? The case for a holistic formation of the head, heart and hands
11.45 Session 8
Revd Peter Robinson
How Firm a Foundation? Governor Bourke’s vision for Eastern Australia based on common Christianity and its current fruit in state school faith education
1230 Lunch in college dining hall
1.30 Session 9
Dr Wanda Skowronska
The Late Fr Paul Stenhouse’s writings: persistent educational ‘smelling salts’ confronting the Gramscian Reset
2.15 Session 10
Dr Kevin Donnelly
Virtues not Values
3.00 Tea Break
3.30 Session 11
Ben and Julianna Smith
Seeking the right balance of family, Church and school for passing on the faith
4.15 Session 12
Mr Robert van Gend
Tasting the Transcendentals: Augustine Academy
6.00 Pre-dinner drinks
6.30 Colloquium Dinner
9.30 (approx) Close