After returning from the canonisation of Saint Mary MacKillop in Rome, I wondered what would have been the impressions of Roman Emperor Constantine if he had seen the large crowd of Australians amongst the 100,000 or so at the front of St Peters. What would previous Popes have thought at this group of people from a nation they wouldn’t have even heard of until 200 years ago?
It was a crowd where Australians of Asian decent were present as priests. Australians of Italian decent had arrived as senior business leaders and Australians of English and Irish decent had arrived as politicians, all to honour a lady of Scottish decent and an order of religious sisters who were there looking humble, yet familiar like a favourite aunt at a family function.
It made you proud to be Australian. For me it was a statement about how far our nation has come and who we are.
I was proud to be part of a delegation along with our Foreign Affairs Minister, Kevin Rudd, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Julie Bishop and Senator Ursula Stephens.
The wealth of good feeling towards the canonisation far outweighed the ever present minority of detractors. Even these detractors should acknowledge that their capacity to dissent has come about by the ethos of a democratic Christian society.
This event portrayed our nation’s dynamic tapestry as woven from an incredible mix of people, yet there was no doubt that in the piazza we were there as a nation.
It is sometimes harder to identify who is Australian, however it becomes easier when you see them at a venue with people from other nations. Australians flooded Rome and were easily identified by their laughter, friendliness and an egalitarian attitude.
As a politician, they speak to you on a first name basis as if they know you. Other people from other nations find this quite peculiar and are more use to the aloof formalised nature of their politicians.
The canonisation in St Peter’s Square certainly had a sense of the sacred, infused with an Australian context. This is juxtaposed to my experience in the Sistine Chapel the night before which I must admit was spectacular, yet was lacking some gravitas. I put this down to the couples snogging on the seats near the walls.
Our nation’s first saint was unique in that she was a woman, when so many other nations’ first saints were men. Saint Mary MacKillop had spent much of her time in regional and outback Australia and was instrumental in delivering equality to those in regional areas in one of the most fundamental ways, by increasing their capacity to self advancement through education.
Saint Mary MacKillop was kicked out of her own church for a period at which time she was supported by those of different faiths. Saint Mary MacKillop never threw teddy in the dirt, she just quietly took it on the chin and continued on doing what she believed was right and the passage of time has proven her right.
Australians of all faiths and denominations celebrated that our nation had taken yet another step as a greater force for good for the future of our world.
Australians are not full of themselves but are determined. We are easy going and will go out of our way to make you feel comfortable, but we are not fools; we are laid back but totally dedicated to the task when required.
No doubt there will be many who say that the whole canonisation thing was ridiculous and they don’t want to be part of it in any way shape or form. Yet that is the great thing about Australia; they can say this, no one is going to shoot them or lock them up.
There are many nations in the world with different faiths and in some nations, if you speak against their views you will find yourself in all sorts of trouble. Australia is not one of these. Our faith is strong, it’s just not delivered in an overbearing way that precludes the right of the individuals to dissent.
We have to be careful in the future that under the auspice of being secular we don’t unwittingly develop a rule that says we must be atheist. Atheism is itself a belief structure and it is in its own way occupying exactly the same space as religion. It has the same capacity to demand strict compliance at the expense of others’ beliefs when its practice becomes belligerent.
The thing I take away from Rome is that, as a nation we can develop economically without being mercenary, we can develop socially without being exploitive, and we can develop spiritually without being offensive. In fact, we have to.