Canonização na Austrália

Something peculiar happened in the past week here in Australia. The media went into a frenzy about a girl from Melbourne: liftouts, wrap-arounds, TV specials, live coverage - the demand for features was insatiable. And it wasn't Nicole Kidman. It was a nun who founded a teaching order and died a hundred years ago.

I have heard it rumoured that in the days when the Pope was merely Cardinal Ratzinger he remarked that Australia was the most secular nation on the planet. It's nice to be noticed, but I thought that places like New Zealand or Finland had that distinction sewn up. Whatever the truth of this is, the Australian media has a reputation for robust hostility towards Christianity and the Australian public for indolent indifference. Over the past few years the Catholic Church, especially, has taken a shellacking over some egregious sex abuse cases.

But on Sunday Mother Mary MacKillop (1842-1909) was canonised in St Peter's Square - Australia's first saint -- and the nation was mesmerised. The papers were full of descriptions of her charity, compassion, fortitude and holiness - not to mention detailed descriptions of her miracles. It was a continent-wide Sunday school.

Forgotten were all the scandals. There was no venom, no ridicule. The national joy in celebrating the flowering of virtue and love of God in a dusty, distant land was heartfelt. There seems to be a lesson here. If the Church wants better PR, it needs more saints. I hope that a few more are on the way Down Under.

Good reading! Enjoy!
Michael Cook
Editor /Mercator net