THE parlous state of the Catholic Church in Australia led the
Auxiliary Bishop of Canberra, Pat Power, to write to the Pope in
November last year.
No reply has been received and the bishop is considering early retirement.
He said yesterday he was disappointed rather than
disillusioned with the church.
The second Vatican Council had given
great hope and some wonderful things had happened.
''But in other ways we have retreated into fairly narrow
positions … It is a shame … the potential we had to be a source of
inspiration within the [community] has been diminished.''
The bishop had been prompted to write to the Pope
particularly over the parlous state of the diocese of
Wilcannia-Forbes, which remains without a bishop since the resignation
of Bishop Chris Toohey almost two years ago.
The diocese, which covers more than half the area of NSW, has only about 15 priests.
''I maintain that what is happening in Wilcannia-Forbes
at the moment is going to … become the situation in other Australian
dioceses,'' he said.
The archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn had kept the ship afloat to some extent with overseas priests.
But he was deeply concerned about the health and morale of its priests.
''I am not saying the morale in the diocese is not good
but it is tested when priests are doing a whole lot more than really
they should be asked to be doing.
''That there are so few doing a brilliant job puts a
great deal of pressure on everyone.''
The bishop will turn 70 next
year: ''I am thinking seriously of retirement when I turn 70.''
(Bishops and priests normally retire at 75.)
He attributes in part
the crisis in Australia to undermining of the church by conservative
Catholics reporting to Rome on more liberal developments.
Given the lack of reply to his letter to the Pope, the bishop said, ''They are amazingly well connected.''