World Catholic (Youth???) Day

A friend of mine adequately summed up my feelings with regard this event: He explained to me how he was to meet the Pope at a mass in a church in Darlinghurst - where disadvantaged youth he looks after would be presented to the Pope, and how everyone was very excited and really nervous.

"I don’t know what they are going on about,” he said, deadpan … “it is not like its David Beckham.”

Strange thing to say, I thought at the time, but this probably encapsulates how our country generally feels about this event. Perhaps, also, he represented the collective feelings of all non-Catholics - amazed by the audacity of the Catholic Church in naming its own event in a manner that suggests they represent all people of the world - when in fact Catholics make up less than a third of the worlds population. And of this number, less than ten percent are practising Catholics.

It was Karl Marx who said that ‘religion lies at the heart of a heartless world’. This generally applies to a country like Australia, with its mostly apathetic attitude toward organized religion. However, for the half a million pilgrims who descended on the city during world youth week, it was anything but! The goodwill and wide-eyed enthusiasm evidenced by the pilgrims all week was palpable: dancing in the streets, mass sing-alongs and constant chanting of all things related to Jesus, God and Pope Benedict were common scenes everywhere.

Local residents' reactions to such activity, however, varied greatly.

Politicians and public dignitaries seemed to bask in the extra attention. So effusive was their praise for Pope Benedict and his messages of peace and hope for the world that one wondered what had come over such otherwise dull and dreary characters. Small business owners, restauranteurs and cab drivers all bemoaned the unwillingness of the pilgrims to part with any of their own money. Inner city residents were also critical of the inconvenience caused to them by all the road closures. The Gay and Lesbian community was similarly unenthused by World Youth Week, staging a mass kiss-athon between same sex persons as a means of expressing their oppostion to, well, just about everything the Catholic Church stands for.

And the parents of a girl who was sexually abused by a catholic priest, and later committed suicide, were also gaining some media attention as they tried to obtain an audience with the pope to express their very personal dismay with how the Catholic Church had treated them.

So who is right and who is wrong? Does it really matter?

It was the renowned 17th century social theorist, John Stuart Mill, who stated: ‘persons should be free to do whatever they so choose so long as it does not cause harm to others.' The idea came from his famous essay ‘On Liberty’ and has been the mantra practised by libertarians for centuries. Conversely, this mantra should also serve as a reminder to these same libertarians that freedom to do whatever one chooses does not extend to 'the freedom' to mock and criticize those who do not share their views.

For people of either persuasion, once you start hurling insults and cruel barbs and judgements, your argument is lost. Insults and hard and fast judgements, whether they be from Pope Benedict, Cardinal George Pell or some lesbian on Oxford street, do cause harm to others and are therefore wrong. John Stuart Mill's ideas on this matter seem simple and straightforward; nevertheless they are something that many (including world and religious leaders and regular citizens alike) are dismissive of.

'All you need is love,' opined The Beatles. If only it were that simple!

For the record, my role in the charade was small - a couple of events - the papal motorcade and stations 4, 5 and 6 of the Stations of the Cross. Pictures enclosed.