Martin Dixon, Voices series, RRP $24.95, paperback, 50 pages
In October 2003, on the initiative and at the invitation of the National Council of Priests of Australia (NCP), representatives of the Commission for Australian Catholic Women, the Bishops’ Committee for Laity, and Australian Catholic Leaders of Religious Institutes, met with Fr Martin Dixon (representing the NCP) in Canberra to begin a conversation on ways of being church in Australia at this point in our history.
This was the first time representatives of these four bodies had come together with a common purpose. A key inspiration was John Paul II’s Novo Millennio Ineunte (n.46):
“The Church of the third millennium will need to encourage all the baptised and confirmed to be aware of their active responsibility in the church’s life. Together with the ordained ministry, other ministries, whether formally instituted or simply recognised, can flourish for the good of the whole community.”
Out of this gathering grew the Imagining Pastoral Leadership (IPL) Project, of which Martin Dixon is the coordinator and which is the basis of his brief volume. Dixon is also parish priest of St Simon’s, Rowville, Victoria.
Based in a theology of both God and Church as communion, and examining current realities such the decline in priest numbers and increased education of laity, Dixon offers much food for thought and reflection. He also has practical proposals.
The volume is refreshing due to the author’s honesty. He pulls no punches:
“The Melbourne Archdiocese under Archbishop Little began such a process in 1992… and in March 1994 launched Tomorrow’s Church where over 2000 people enthusiastically received it at the Dallas Brooks Hall. The process involved extensive consultation with the people throughout the archdiocese and received a very warm response. Archbishop Little’s successor thought better and produced, without consultation, another plan. That was thrown out by his successor whose Strategic Working Plan has fizzled into thin air. Now amalgamations are made whenever a priest dies, retires or moves without any thought of preparation or planning.”
This is not point scoring, but a cautionary tale of how addressing the current leadership crisis in the Church can meet many obstacles (and be extremely frustrating to those who have invested in a planned process of change). He contrasts the above account with more positive outcomes in dioceses such as Toowoomba and Adelaide.
I think this is a rare instance where one can truly say this is a book that every priest and bishop in Australia, and any lay Catholic with an interest in pastoral leadership, should read.
The book is part of Voices, a quarterly series of essays on religion in Australia published by John Garratt Publishing under the editorship of Garry Eastman, and launched in 2008. The other initial releases are Max Charlesworth’s A Democratic Church, Eric Hodgen’s New Evangelisation in the 21st Century, and Muriel Porter’s Women in Purple: Women Bishops in the Australian Church. Authors of Voices essays in 2009 are expected to be Michael Costigan, Frank Purcell, Anne Boyd, and Denham Grierson.
