Witness and teacher : the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace, 1968-1987 : a study of the ideology of a Catholic Church agency

Abstract

The Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) was an innovative Catholic Church agency - innovative in the task the Catholic bishops gave it to do, innovative in its relationship with the bishops, and innovative in the way in which it was commissioned to operate. It was established in the late sixties at a time of rapid cultural change and consequent social confusion. For Catholics, the turmoil of the times was exacerbated by the hopes, but also disturbance, created by the Second Vatican Council, 1962-1965, which was a watershed for Roman Catholicism worldwide.

This thesis deals with the CCJP's ideology, that is, its corporate self-understanding of mission, justice and education as manifested in its decisions and priorities in regard to the two main elements of its mandate, the element related to education and the element related to action to promote justice and peace.

The Commission's ideology of social justice, discernible from its public statements, submissions and other material generated from its involvement in social justice issues, and its ideology of education, each placed the emphasis on the human person as acting subject rather than passive object, and accepted an understanding of social justice favouring greater participation of poor and marginalised people in the mainstream of society and in decisions which affect their lives. The mmission's ideology of education flowed out of its ideology of social just e and was ideologically in harmony with it. Both the justice and peace and education strands of the Commission's ideology were strongly influenced by Catholic social teaching which underwent significant development during the period of the Commission's operation.

Given that the CCJP was one of the most important instruments whereby the Catholic bishops publicly expressed both their new understanding of the Church's relationship with the world following the Second Vatican Council, and their own commitment as an Episcopal Conference to justice and peace, and that the CCJP carried a large share of the bishOps' own teaching role at a time when Catholic social teaching was undergoing considerable development, it might have been expected that the agency would have experienced strong ecclesiastical support. Instead, the bishops gave the impression of ambivalence towards it. The far from unanimous support of the bishops in regard to the agency's nature and modus Operandi inevitably affected its credibility.

A key ingredient in the CCJP's ideology was its nature as an official Catholic organization. A serious problem encountered by the CCJP in translating its ideology into education and social action initiatives was its remoteness as a national body in a Church organized on a diocesan basis. Poor links with the Church at the diocesan level constituted a problem the Commission was never able to solve satisfactorily.

Social justice action and education presuppose an analysis of society. They also entail more or less specific recommendations regarding social change. In both of these the Commission sometimes, particularly in the last decade of its life, found itself in ideological conflict with other groups in society, including one significant body of opinion, articulated by the National Civic Council and its most well-known spokesman, B.A. Santamaria. The opposition to the Commission from this source was important since the National Civic Council's predecessor, the Movement, had operated within the Catholic Church with the approval and support of the hierarchy until 1957. It had been a significant, and in sectors of the Australian's Church, a major, source of Catholic social opinion and the direction of Catholic commitment. The withdrawal of official Church support from the Movement in 1957 did not change the way it continued to function within the Church as an alternative source of social ideology. This factor, combined with the less than unanimous support from the Episcopal Conference in regard to the Commission's charter and modus operandi, added to the difficulty the Commission had in carrying out an effective educational role vis-a-vis the Catholic people.