Vatican Post
July 22nd 2008 08:28
Greg Sheridan has an interesting post on his blog in today's Australian. The interesting part for me was his information that John McCarthy QC had been considered for the job of Australian Ambassador to the Holy See, indeed that the upgrading of the position to a permanently resident one might have had him in mind.
It's difficult to know how to unpack this. The first thing to note is history. McCarthy and Sheridan go back a long way - they are not unknown to each other. Sheridan famously had a significant connection with Queensbury Street. McCarthy was from the same tribe but further north and in the ALP.
In the 1960s and, more particularly, the 1970s, the lay reaction to the excesses of Vatican II promoted the formation of a number of intellectual Catholic think tanks of the ecclesiastical, though not necessarily political, right. There are many confluences here.
McCarthy has been, some would say - though not me - notoriously, active in the recognition of aboriginal land rights. He worked closely with others, notably the SDA Senator Harradine and the not so SDA Jesuit, Frank Brennan.
You could point to McCarthy's well-known connection with the now Cardinal Archbishop of Sydney, as a reason that people might find him less than suitable for the post descibed by Sheridan. The cardinal doesn't need another man in Rome, Kevin very well might. After all his sort of Anglican is a disappearing breed.
The Chifley view is that McCarthy is angling to be the first lay Cardinal for many a year and would like to be put in charge of the Congregation for Bishops. Australian Ambassador to the Holy See is not necessarily in his sights. You never know - Benedict is a Baroque kind of traditionalist! The expertise of the right wing of the ALP could well be brought to bear on the selection of Catholic bishops - if it isn't already.
It's difficult to know how to unpack this. The first thing to note is history. McCarthy and Sheridan go back a long way - they are not unknown to each other. Sheridan famously had a significant connection with Queensbury Street. McCarthy was from the same tribe but further north and in the ALP.
In the 1960s and, more particularly, the 1970s, the lay reaction to the excesses of Vatican II promoted the formation of a number of intellectual Catholic think tanks of the ecclesiastical, though not necessarily political, right. There are many confluences here.
McCarthy has been, some would say - though not me - notoriously, active in the recognition of aboriginal land rights. He worked closely with others, notably the SDA Senator Harradine and the not so SDA Jesuit, Frank Brennan.
You could point to McCarthy's well-known connection with the now Cardinal Archbishop of Sydney, as a reason that people might find him less than suitable for the post descibed by Sheridan. The cardinal doesn't need another man in Rome, Kevin very well might. After all his sort of Anglican is a disappearing breed.
The Chifley view is that McCarthy is angling to be the first lay Cardinal for many a year and would like to be put in charge of the Congregation for Bishops. Australian Ambassador to the Holy See is not necessarily in his sights. You never know - Benedict is a Baroque kind of traditionalist! The expertise of the right wing of the ALP could well be brought to bear on the selection of Catholic bishops - if it isn't already.
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