Editorial: Too Little Too Late From Bishops On Census

Editor Sebastian Beckett Writes That Australian Bishops Acted Far Too Late And Without Firm Authority On The Push To Have Non-Practicing Catholics Put 'No Religion' On The Census.

Laudetur Iesus Christus.

For many months now Australian Bishops have been warned by the lay of an imminent push by secularists to tell Catholics who do not regularly attend mass or disagree with Church leadership to put 'No Religion' on their 2021 Census paper which was due last night.

Australian Bishops had months and months to respond, yet their SOS came days after millions of Australians had already completed their census forms.

In Stark Contrast, The United States Bishops. Photo: CNS

Once more, this highlights nothing short of a failure of intelligence gathering and of the ability of the Bishops' political advisors.

The 'Church of Old', even here in Australia, used networks of Catholics in every industry and every walk of life as a conduit for intelligence gathering. By gathering intelligence, Bishops could better negotiate with politicians and would know about proposed changes long before they were even publicly proposed; this then allowed time for the Church to lobby those politicians or officials.

However, our dear Bishops have lost the art of politics, for they do not know what their own office was just two hundred years ago. Gone are the lavish parties and balls, used to lobby businessmen, officials and politicians. Gone is the state car and driver. Gone is the stately office full of advisors and officers. Gone is the cassock, biretta and ferraiolo, replaced with civilian casualwear.

Each Bishop must remember that they are the supreme Church authority in their Diocese, that they carry the weight of all their predecessors and of the apostles. They are the Chief Liturgist, Chief Theologian, Chief Arbitrator; they are the CEO and the Managing Director; they are the Chief Evangeliser, Chief Lobbyist and the Shepard of the Flock.

A Bishop should not just be there for prayers; he must be there for business, society, evangelisation, prayers, and politics, for Bishops were also once Governors of civil society, with authority, power, command and strength.

All of this culminates at a time where Bishops are dealing with, but not punishing, a rise in subordinate clergy whom actively seek to undermine them, and the Vatican is dealing with an ever growing rank of subordinate Bishops, whom actively seek to undermine the greater Church.