Eric Hodgens (Dec'd)

Recent articles by Eric Hodgens (Dec'd)

Understanding today's USA

To understand a nation, look at its origins.

Merry Christmas - 2020 - Really?

We cannot wish people a Merry Christmas without taking some personal action. And the recipe for that action is central to the Gospel message of Jesus. We are called to be a commonwealth of peoples, not a conglomeration of self-interested individuals Margaret Thatcher notwithstanding.

Grieving for the Lost Parish.- an institution on its knees.

Some church groups are pressing for a post-pandemic opening up, others, who have already opened up, are sounding a lament as they find it is not business as usual. There are signs of grieving for the parish an institution on its knees.

Reflections on sixty years as a priest .

The more reflective component of the Church is crying out for imaginative leadership on the ministry crisis and institutional re-organisation. But episcopal conferences seem paralysed.

ERIC HODGENS. Easter in a Time of Virus.

Easter is one of the biggest holidays of the year throughout much of the world. It was originally a Holy Day. But its significance is changing accelerated by COVID-19.

ERIC HODGENS.- Migration and the Christmas Story.

The Christmas story characters are mainly on the move migrants in fact.

ERIC HODGENS. Pastoral Planning - A Church Crisis.

Church Pastoral Planning languishes ignored and unloved. Yet, with the church being in freefall, it is needed today more than ever. Its time to bring it in from the cold.

ERIC HODGENS. Where Do We Find the Authentic Catholic Voice?

Cardinal Pell got his voice heard from prison. Furthermore, surrogate Pell voices are heard from bishops he has promoted in Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart. But, on three current issues polls show that most Catholics disagree with them. So, which voice is authentically Catholic?

Eric Hodgens. Pastoral Care of Victim and Offender - The Pell Case Dilemma.

The church is called to offer pastoral care to both offender and victim. A dilemma arises when the offender is an official of the church. Like it, or not, the victim must come first.

The Fascinating Christian Story.

We all have our personal story. And it is just one part of the bigger story of our family, our tribe, our nation the things that have shaped us. Institutions, too, have a life of their own and their own story. Where did they come from? What made them as they are? Religions are such. We need storytellers with long memories. And, if we get really serious about understanding all this, we need good historians. Christianity has the story and the historians who, over the last couple of centuries, have become better at their game.

ERIC HODGENS. Catholic Culture Wars and the Pell legacy

A clash of cultures was graphically dramatized in 1968 when Paul VI published Humanae Vitae. It was a major moment in a tumultuous year. Europe was split over the Vietnam War. Student riots paralysed Paris and alarmed a young theology professor in Tubingen, Joseph Ratzinger, into retreat to a fearful conservatism.The baby boomer generation was rejecting old certainties and exercising new freedoms, especially sexual, that alarmed their elders. Paul's condemnation of contraception was accepted or rejected along the lines of this cultural divide.

ERIC HODGENS. Missing the Catholic Bus.

The Catholic Church is now in freefall. Vatican II called for adaptation to the modern world. Most of the opportunities for adaptation have been missed. How do we catch the last bus?

ERIC HODGENS: A Possible Australian Church Contribution.

The Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (RC) is one of the most thorough investigations of its kind worldwide. The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC) and Catholic Religious Australia (CRA) have made a combined response accepting virtually all the commissions recommendations. This puts them further down the track of adaptation than most countries in the world. If it works out, Australia has the chance to be showing the way for other nations, the Roman Curia and even the Canon Law itself.

ERIC HODGENS. Catholic Governance - A Challenge for Improvement.

A monarchical organization, powered by ideology, with promotion by patronage results in bad governance. The Catholic Church has a governance problem.

ERIC HODGENS. Pell Conviction a Wake-up Call.

Culture wars are simply factional standoffs given a zippy title. The Church has had them forever. George Pell is a warrior of the right. His conviction is a setback for the right - but only a setback. The war still goes on.

Eric Hodgens. Catholic Culture Wars.

Culture Wars are a feature of todays political life. The Catholic Church has likewise been through the wars. Here are some features of the last fifty years.

ERIC HODGENS. The True Christmas Spirit Embraces the New.

Christmas celebrates new life and a new world order. It is news of joy for all the people. Nervous or not, we are called to embrace the new and add it to our treasure. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not see it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. (Isaiah 43:19)

Three Religious Elephants

Is religion on the way out?

ERIC HODGENS. The Fifties Werribees Greatest Years.

Werribee's fiftieth year as a scene of priestly training will also be its last. Nostalgia prompts deeper reflection. Our thesis is that the fifties were Werribee's greatest years. This article was published by Catholic View in October 2018.

ERIC HODGENS. Revisiting the Theology of Clericalism.

Theology tends to ramp up the status and certainty of its models and theories so that what starts off as a theory morphs into unquestionable truth.

ERIC HODGENS. Humanae Vitae A 50 Year Odyssey.

Paul VI had no idea what he was setting loose when he published Humanae Vitae.

ERIC HODGENS. Spare A Thought for the New Archbishop.

A bishop job is part shepherd, part leader, part ruler, part manager. Pope Francis insists that pastoral care is the primary role. The Melbourne Catholic Church is getting a new bishop. At 54 he can look forward to 21 years in that post. What is the scenario Archbishop Peter Comensoli is walking into?

ERIC HODGENS. Storms and Synods.

The Catholic Church is facing a perfect storm. How well will an Australian National Synod deal with it?

ERIC HODGENS. Reading the Christian Story Properly.

Christianity is now 2,000 years old with a pre-history of a further 1,000 years Its stories are amongst its most prized possessions. Christians love their stories. Stories take pride of place in its liturgies. But for some they are a credibility stumbling block. How can the story be told and heard so that it engenders faith as it was originally intended to do?

ERIC HODGENS. Pell and the course that took him to the top

Nothing if not always controversial, and some would say divisive, George Pell is now at a decisive fork in the road. One way could lead to gaol after being sent to trial on May 1st to face multiple charges of sexual abuse. In Pell, we see an ideologue in action. How did he get to here?

ERIC HODGENS: Common-wealth versus Common-loss.Easter and Australian Politics.

Australia is a commonwealth, where seeking the common good brings prosperity, unlike the fostering of division which leads to decline if not death. An object lesson in the meaning of Easter.

ERIC HODGENS. Melbournes New Archbishop.

2018 will be a fateful year for the Catholic Church in Australia as Melbourne gets a new archbishop. This appointment, if successful, offers some hope for the Church; if a failure, it will hasten the Churchs decline into insignificance. Heres why.

ERIC HODGENS. Christmas Prompts Reflection on Power.

The powerless Jesus of the Christmas Gospel stories offers a tutorial on power in the Church today.

ERIC HODGENS. What Makes Australias Catholic Bishops Tick?

The Catholic Church is a clerical institution. Bishops are the top rung of the clergy. Where do they come from? What are they like? What is their future?

ERIC HODGENS. Back to following The Way.

Power is still the Churchs stumbling block. Mind you, Jesus warned us: The gentiles lord it over their subjects not so with you. The Churchs power to lord it over society has been curtailed by todays pluralism but is still jealously guardedwithinthe institution. And ideas and laws are the instruments by which power is exercised. Doctrine and law are sacralised as the teaching of the Church or even the teaching of God.

ERIC HODGENS. The Catholic Dilemma.

Clerical privilege took a heavy blow when Catholic bishops were summoned to appear at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to child sexual abuse (RC). The church answering to the state.

ERIC HODGENS. The need for new Church Leadership.

While the Catholic population is increasing, active participation in parish life is steadily decreasing. This means that the pool of future lay leaders is steadily getting shallower. If this decline is to be reversed, now is the time to select lay leaders, train them to lead parishes and then formally appoint them as Parish Leaders.

ERIC HODGENS. Epiphany A Supernova In Full Eruption.

Love is a many splendored thing. So, too is a diamond. The more skilled the diamond cutter, the more brilliant the diamonds sparkle. Love and diamonds pair perfectly.

ERIC HODGENS. Christmas An Epiphany.

What he stands for is the real object of our celebration love of family and friends; love of enemies, too. He stands for peace, for fair consideration of everyone we deal with, for a world in which we work not only for our own good but for the good of others too.

Eric Hodgens. Easter Eggs and Hot Cross Buns.

Easter brings Easter eggs and hot cross buns. You see the egg and dart pattern on the frieze of some Victorian-period buildings. But it goes way back to classical times. The eternal question - life or death. Two men looked out through the prison bars. One saw mud, the other saw stars. Malcolm Turnbull assures us Its never been a better time to be an Australian. But Tony Abbott effectively tells us to be alert AND alarmed. George Pells motto is Dont Be Afraid making you wonder what is he afraid of? In our darker moments we fear...

Eric Hodgens. Pell and the Royal Commission: Spotlight on Ideology.

When Cardinal George Pell enters the witness box at the Royal Commission we see a legal counsel interviewing him to find to what extent he is to blame for a failure in his churchs duty of care. The adversarial setup puts him on the defensive. He admits past reticence to intervene, but says others are mainly to blame. But as he defends himself he is also displaying himself. He is, on his own admission wooden emotionally distant. He is sure of himself but unconvincing to others. What we see is an ideologue in action. How did he get to here?...

Eric Hodgens. Child Sexual Abuse A Cascade of Victims.

The sexual abuse of children creates many victims and many levels of victimhood. Cultures, including ours, have rules about sexual activity. Cultural deviations from what is considered normal meet a range of cultural responses from approval to acceptance, to disapproval, to condemnation as immoral or, finally, criminalisation. Our culture has a minimum age of consent for sexual activity. It criminalises sexual activity with children. Many states have laws of mandatory reporting. The western world learned an extraordinary amount about paedophilia during the last quarter of the 20th century. At the start of that quarter most knew that...

Eric Hodgens. Christmas Peace A Paradox

Christmas is a Christian afterthought. The earliest Christian writings (Pauls epistles and Marks Gospel) dont mention Jesus birth. The first to do so is Matthews gospel where the author posits the birth simply as another event in the fuller story of Gods salvation of His people. Lukes gospel has the more discursive story containing Mary and Josephs journey to Jerusalem, the stable and the shepherds recognising the newly born saviour who is Christ, the Lord. The main story is Jesuss life, death and resurrection to a new form of life. A Tony Abbott recent speech claims that Islams problem...

Eric Hodgens. Hope After The Synod?

In Greek synod means on the way together (odos means a way; syn means together). The model is peripatetic- walking around. Aristotle used to walk round with his disciples discussing issues and his school got called the Peripatetic School. The Synod of Bishops was set up after Vatican II and met in 1967, 1971 , 1974 and 1977 under Paul VI. These were meetings of a representative group of the worlds bishops looking at significant issues selected by the pope. There was genuine consultation but the pope alone wrote the final document. By the time the fifth meeting...

Eric Hodgens. The Catholic Church is really two churches.

The Catholic Church is really two churches these days. The first is the hierarchy. The second is rank and file active Catholics together with their priests. This second group is the real church. Over the last 35 years, now, they have heard what the hierarchy was saying and simply have not agreed. They thought that communal penance services worked and confession didnt. They continued to use communal services despite John Paul IIs forbidding of them. They knew that the time had come to contemplate ordaining married men - and women too. Many knew that re-married divorcees were going to...

Eric Hodgens. No Change in Priestly Recruits

The Melbourne Age said on Sunday 3 May that the Catholic Church was attracting more trainee priests. SBS had a similar article. Both are factually wrong. The last big year of seminary entries was 1968. Recruitment dropped steadily for 20 years and has been steady for the last 35 years. Corpus Christi College is Victoria and Tasmanias Catholic Seminary. It is typical of all Australias seminaries. Have a look at its entry numbers. For 35 years Corpus Christi has averaged 9 entries a year. Only a third of them stay till they...

Eric Hodgens. Can Pope Francis Turn the Church around?

The question needs to be asked because the Catholic Church is in trouble. Firstly, it has a . credibility problem. Affiliation has been dropping since the 60s. Sunday Mass attendance, the first indicator of affiliation, backs this up. The Churchs compelling message of Jesus as the icon of life defeating death is not getting through. Relentlessly, Catholics are feeling more and more marginalised or leaving the Church altogether. Bishops are not leading. Sexual and financial scandals have blackened the Churchs image. The administration is too centralised and preoccupied with issues which are irrelevant to the lives of people whether Catholic...

Eric Hodgens. Phillip Hughes - A Christmas Story.

The Phillip Hughes story gripped a nation. So much potential felled in an instant. Grief amplified by promise and love lost. Phillip was a Little Aussie Battler like us. But what promise! Looming all the larger because it is gone. Pup becomes a tower of strength. We see him in a new light. Rival teams are at one. The game is bigger than the individual. The next test is both contest and tribute. An injured but newly-inspired captain makes the right calls, hits another century and wins; all the more meaningful because of a valiant, striving opponent. David Warner...

Eric Hodgens. Celibacy Icon of Clericalism.

The Catholic Church October synod was surprisingly successful. Unlike previous synods the discussion was open. The focus was pastoral rather than legal. Questions like Communion for divorcees, living together without being married, homosexual relationships, contraception are now on the table. The objective is to seek solutions to complications rather than repeat the rules that most Catholics do not accept. Common sense won over ideology. For the first time in thirty five years the hierarchy are catching up on the rank and file who have been solving these dilemmas in practical terms for decades. The laity solved the contraception issue...

Eric Hodgens. Archbishop Fishers Vision.

Archbishop Fisher introduced himself to his Sydney flock at his installation on 12th November 2014. He knows the Sydney Church and its history from personal experience. He is, after all, a born Sydney native whose early years inculturated him into that city and church. He was always a leading student at Catholic primary and secondary schools. He gained a First Class honour law degree at Sydney University and practised as a lawyer till entering the Dominicans. After ordination his life was academic - first as a post-graduate student and then as a lecturer. He was the founding director of...

Eric Hodgens. Will the Synod on the family work?

Pope Francis has changed the focus of the Catholic Church from doctrine and rules to care and compassion. If people are at odds with the rules they should be supported and encouraged rather than condemned. Since many of the rules causing complications in todays society are associated with marriage he has called a special Synod of Bishops to address The Pastoral Challenges of the Family in the Context of Evangelization. This meeting will take place in October 2014. The associated problems are many: Prohibition of remarriage after divorce; Prohibition of masturbation; Prohibition of contraception; Prohibition of sexual activity outside...

Eric Hodgens. On a Wing and a Prayer A Personal Memoir.

As priests we were sent out on a mission to spread the Gospel and be pastors of the flock. But it was the secular world that formulated mission statements and pastoral care policies. We had the vocation, but it was the secular world that developed vocational training. We were good at the concepts but slow at the application. The nuances of Scholastic theology werent much help once we got out. The seminary had initiated us into the clerical class but we had to learn our task on the fast track of self-help launched on a wing and a...

Eric Hodgens. A new moral compass

The Church is not the best guide to moral values. That is the response of some Catholics to the questionnaire which the Vatican sent out in preparation for the October Synod of Bishops. Many practising Catholics do not agree with the official opinions of the Pope on moral rules associated with marriage and sexuality. The disagreement list is long: No living together before marriage; No sexual activity except between a man and a woman officially married in the Church; No contraception; No masturbation; No civil marriages or partnerships; No re-marriage after divorce; No sexual activity by homosexuals; No...

Eric Hodgens. Sydney's next bishop - what sort?

What should we look for in a bishop for Sydney in these changing times? A Christian. One committed to Jesus message of love, forgiveness and compassion. One who holds that the Church is not just the hierarchy, but the People of God on a journey. A citizen of the world. One who, while suspicious of all isms including secularism and pluralism, loves the worlds secularity and plurality. One who sees this non-confessional culture as an ideal setting for proclaiming a message of hope and salvation amid the reality of sadness, loss, sickness, poverty and death. One who wants the believers...

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