A multicultural policy fundamentally is about commitment to the core beliefs of an institution whose members are drawn from a range of culturally diverse backgrounds, about equality of opportunity and participation in the affairs of the institution, about the management of diversity in the survival and development of the institution and in the development of the skills to achieve diversity and integrate diversity into current structures.
Prof. Des Cahill
The Australian Catholic Church: the most multi-cultural Catholic Church in the world
An issue whose time has come - multiculturalism in the Australian Catholic Church - was broken open for more than 100 leaders of religious congregations when they gathered in Melbourne earlier this year for Catholic Religious Australia's national assembly.
While multiculturalism has been the province of some congregations such as the Columbans and the Divine Word Missionaries for many years, it is impacting more directly on an increasing number of congregations as well as the broader Church.
The leaders do not want this complex and growing reality to be placed in the too hard basket.
So they might have a better, more factual understanding of what for many was only a vague hunch, Australia's leading Catholic voice on multiculturalism, Professor Desmond Cahill, from Melbourne, presented the leaders with a detailed look at Australia's multicultural Church in a globalizing multi-faith world.
In absorbing presentations, he left no-one in any doubt that the face of Australia is changing as globalisation takes hold, leaving the Church in unchartered waters that must be journeyed across.
He contends that the Australian Catholic Church is the most multicultural Catholic Church in the world and suggests that its future will be as an immigrant Church with an Anglo-Irish remnant.
Few people would argue that Australia is continuing to evolve as a culturally, linguistically and religiously diverse country, but how many would suggest a strong influence from Asia and the Middle East?
Based on the 1996 and 2006 Australia Bureau of Statistic figures, Prof Cahill said that China had become the most numerous, non-English-speaking source country, after 50 years of dominance by the Italy-born group.
Of the major 20 languages, the biggest growth has occurred with Hindi, reflecting the number of Indian immigrants, followed by Persian and Korean, while the continental European languages continue to decline.
"Australia has become one of the great language laboratories of the world," Prof. Cahill said.
"Its linguistic profile over the past two decades has become more interesting. The figures highlight that, since 1947, Australia has been transformed from being a British to a European to a Eurasian country. Australia is now walking down this Eurasian path that is its probable future."
Religiously, Prof. Cahill sees Australia, in one sense becoming more secularised, but in another more religious - through multi-cultural difference.
The 2006 census showed, he said, that one person in 18 practiced a religion other than Christianity.
Buddhism is the largest of the religious groups that are not Christian while during 1996-06, Islam grew by 69.45 per cent with the largest group being the Australian-born, followed by those born in Lebanon and Turkey.
He noted that the Australian parish was struggling and greying. The drift away, which began in the 1960s as a consequence of the birth control issue, had been compounded, he said, by "the forces of secularisation, post-modernity and straight-out consumerism", further compounded by the sexual corruption issue.
He concluded that the Australian Catholic Church - historically united by a series of grievances built around its Irish-Rome core - was at the crossroads. While retreating into a "Tridentine restorationist past" was an option, it would "end in failure in a mobile, networked, diasporic, multifaith and multipolared world".
He suggested there were four major challenges facing the Australian Catholic Church - the challenges of leadership, diversity, community and interfaith.
While each of these challenges will be dealt with in more depth in later editions of pathways, briefly, Prof. Cahill said of each challenge ...
Leadership
"... the challenge is to build quality leadership for a multicultural Church and for the Catholic educational system, amongst those now in their 20s and 30s.
"The challenge is great, and I think that there is an opportunity for the larger religious orders working in tandem with the Catholic universities to provide graded and in-depth leadership programs for the priests working in the parishes and for school personnel.
"As well, the strategy needs to be supported by good mentoring programs by older, experienced religious personnel, perhaps now retired or near retirement."
Diversity
"... it is suggested Catholic Heritage Sunday be instituted on the Sunday prior to Australia Day in January each year. A theme or event or person be selected to illustrate one facet in Australian history and built around a specially developed Sunday liturgy with materials specially produced by experts and backed up with a website for more detailed information.
Community
"... it is recommended as a strategy that all such trainees complete towards the end of their pastoral training a pastoral internship in a country outside Australia. As one of the world's most trans-national organizations, the Church through its religious orders has the capacity to provide meaningful internships in real situations such as overseas parishes or migrant organizations."
Interfaith
As Australia witnesses the rise of multi-faith networks and the Australian context is now more religiously competitive, Prof. Cahill said every person had to justify his/her faith in the religious marketplace of personal conscience: Why do I believe in Catholic Christianity and not in another faith tradition?
"Ultimately, the answer is in the life of Jesus who, as history's greatest figure in contrast to the other great religious figures of history, is much more appealing and magnetic. Our greatest product is Jesus, given as God's bargain to history, the ethnic Jesus, the trans-cultural Christ and the multicultural body of Christ."
Prof. Cahill concluded his presentations:
"Inter-religious dialogue and education is an unfolding process. However, behind and beyond my rhetoric the risks are real.
"In today's world, religious and pastoral leadership is being broadened beyond that of religious authority. And at times, it may be necessary for that leadership to take action against that authority as Paul did against Peter.
"We are called to support religious moderation and resist religious extremism, nothing more and nothing less.
"As Hans Kung, now back in favour, has said, what is needed is 'religiosity with a foundation but without fundamentalism; religiosity with religious identity, but without exclusivity; religiosity with certainty of truth, but without fanaticism' (Kung 1996: 283)."
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Educated in Melbourne and Rome, Des Cahill is Professor of Intercultural Studies at RMIT University and has been one of Australia's leading researchers in the areas of immigrant, cross-cultural, interfaith and international studies for almost three decades. His many publications and research projects have focussed on immigrant and multicultural education, ethnic minority youth, immigrant settlement, ethnic community development, intermarriage and, more recently, religion and globalization.Since the events of September 11, 2001, he has played a major role in researching and bringing together the various faith communities in Australia and across the world through his research and community activities. With Gary Bouma, he was commissioned by the Australian Government after S11 to examine its implications in Religion, Cultural Diversity and Safeguarding Australia (2004) and to prepare the resource book, Constructing a Local Multifaith Network (2004).
Since 2001, he has chaired the Australian chapter of the World Conference of Religions for Peace (WCRP), and represents Australia on the executive committee of the Asian Conference of Religion and Peace. He was the leader of the City of Melbourne's successful bid to stage the Parliament of the World's Religions in December 2009.
some references in relation to these articles ...
Cahill, D. (1990) Intermarriage in International Contexts: A Study of Filipino Women Married to Australian, Japanese and Swiss Men (SMC Center, Manila)
Cahill, D. (2004) Missionaries on the Move: A Pastoral Study of the Scalabrinians in Australia and Asia 1952 - 2002 (CMS, New York)
Cahill, D. (2005) The conundrum of globalization. Australian Mosaic 12, 4, 6 - 11.
Cahill, D. (2007) From dagoes to doers: accommodating Australia's Italian migrants by church and state. In A. Paganoni (ed.) Pastoral Care of Italians in Australia: Memory and Prophecy (Connor Court Publishing, Victoria)
Cahill, D., Bouma, G., Dellal, H. & Leahy, M. (2004) Religion, Cultural Diversity and Safeguarding Australia (DIMIA with the Australian Multicultural Foundation, Canberra), also available on the AMF website in the research folder.
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Editor's note: Due to the length, detail and importance of Professor Cahill's address, the material will be reported in the segments of the address over this and subsequent editions of pathways.
In this edition, see
in which Prof. Cahill paints a fascinating picture of the global context which Australian Church finds itself in, using Pope Benedict's long journey to Australia for World Youth Day as the setting
and
in which Prof. Cahill contends that Australian has become one of the great language laboratories of the world.
Background reading:
GRACED BY MIGRATION: Implementing a national strategy in pastoral care for a multi-cultural Australian Church' (2007)
COMMENT AND EXPERIENCES ARE WELCOME.
Or if you have an experience of our multi-cultural Australian Church you would like to share, please contact Penny.
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