Origins of the Catholic Church in Australia.
The first Catholics to come along to Australia, were amongst the first convicts to step foot on the shores of Port Jackson in Sydney. These Catholics were Irish in origin, and brought Catholicism to Australia, although Anglican Ministers were trying to stop the spread of Catholicism in Great Britain and her colonies. Most of the Irish who came here came here because of the British persecution of Irish Nationalists.
The first obstacle to Catholicism spreading came with the Passing of the so called, White Australia Act, 1903 which prohibited those with of non-white colour from successfully settling in Australia. After World War II, there then came a relaxing of the immigration prohibitions, the Federal Government under Prime Minister Menzies and Prime Minister Chiefly opened Australia’s doors to immigrants of European origin, which brought over 1 million Catholics in a short period of time. This period brought dramatic change to the Australian Catholic Church.
The Church was not the centre of life as it was in Asia or in Europe. The separation of Church and State was clear, and the Church had nearly no influence in Politics. Australian Catholics focused on saints of Irish and English origin, while these saints held nearly no influence in other nations.
Catholic Practices Prior to 1962.
The Catholic Church prior to 1962 was very different to what it is today. Most things were practiced differently, such as mass, churches, and catholic participation in the church. This all changed when in 1962 the pope at the time called a council that would forever change the church.
Before this council, the way a church building would have been set out was very different. A church built prior to 1962 would have been built as if it were a large cross if you were to look at it from the sky.
Also, pre-1962, a Catholic Mass was very different. In a catholic mass prior to 1962, a priest would speak to the congregation in Ecclesiastical Latin and it was not practiced in the local languages. The people were not encouraged to participate. Practices such as Benediction, Novenas, and Rosary were practiced by the family as a whole. Benediction was on Friday nights where the whole family would attend. The novenas would be attended by children prior to important schooling events (held by the school itself) and the rosary was a family ac...
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...of the clergy, almost always condemning the laity to hell for even the most minor things. Once, the relationship between us and the clergy was rather formal, as many of the religious felt they were superior that us. This all changed after Vatican II as it liberated the church.
The changes made by Vatican II were essential, as society was becoming more liberal, and religion was becoming increasingly irrelevant with its old and conservative ways of practicing Catholicism. Without Vatican II, almost certainly the Church would have lost its appeal to the increasingly liberal societies of the late 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and now. Vatican II stopped the Catholic Church from becoming an irrelevant part of our society, and now is stronger than ever. But, many Catholics, and Christians believe it is time for further reform as the undirected youth of today strays from the church.
Bibliography
Sheets:
Church Council
The Second Vatican Council
The First Vatican Council
Camille’s Story
Everyday Life before Vatican II
Books
To Know, Worship and love, Rev. P.J. Elliot, James Goold House Publications, 2002, East Melbourne. (Chapters 2- 4)
Video:
Brides of Christ, Australian Broadcast Corporation
John Bede Polding- John Bede Polding was born at Liverpool on the 18th of October 1794 and died at Sydney, 16 March 1877. During his life he contributed in many ways to the growth of Catholicism in Australia through many different events. He was the first Catholic Archbishop in Australia, although he was ordained in England. He came to Australia in 1835 ¡¨and at once set to work to organize his vast diocese. He found only three priests in New South Wales and one in Tasmania; these with the three or four Benedictine monks whom he had brought with him constituted the entire force at his disposal. Then, and for many years afterwards, he worked like one of his priests, saying Mass daily in various stations, often in the convict prisons, teaching the Catechism, hearing the confessions of multitudes, and attending the sick and dying. He obtained permission to give retreats in the prison establishments, and between 1836 and 1841 no less than 7000 convicts made at least ten days' retreat under his guidance.¡¨ Because of his good work the authorities began to bring every new shipload of Christian convicts to him, and he assisted all of them personally and attempted to help them before they were sent off to different places throughout Australia, showing his remarkable patience and acceptance for all people. ¡§In 1841 Bishop Polding revisited England and thence went on to Rome to report on his vicariate and petition for the establishment of a hierarchy, which was granted in 1842, the vicar Apostolic becoming first Archbishop of Sydney and Primate of all Australia. During this visit he was sent on a special diplomatic mission to Malta, and in recognition of his success therein was made a Count of the Holy Roman Empire and an assistant at the pontifical throne. In 1843 he returned to Sydney, taking with him a band of Christian Brothers, four Passionists, and some Benedictines. His return as archbishop aroused a violent storm among the Church of England party in the colony, but his gentleness and tact disarmed all opponents.¡¨ This displays some of the ways that Polding contributed to the forming of Christianity in Australia during its early stages. He also contributed to the founding of the benedict nuns in Australia. He brought the two founding Nuns, Scholastica Gregory and Magdalen le Clerc, to Australia, where they began Benedictine Monastic life for women on February 2nd, 1849.
The church pleaded each farmer to transport a carload of bricks for six dollars and fifty cents a thousand. Also, the church asked each family to bring twelve loads of creek gravel. (“Schnellville 2” 14) The price tag of the new church would come out of a total of one thousand six hundred dollars; thereafter, Joseph Merkel took the position of the contractor. Construction of the new church began in 1874. (“Schnellville 1” 11-12) Schnellville had its first church when the laborers put what the townspeople called “weatherboards,” or made out of wood; later, white became the new color of the church (Welp 1). On May 4, 1876, Sacred Heart offered its first mass (“Schnellville 3” 12). Sadly on April 24, 1898; surprisingly, a fire occurred at the site of the church. The only things that survived included baptism, marriage, and death records because they found the records in a safe. Lightning may have caused the fire, but the truth of the source of the fire remains unknown. (Welp 1) Three hand carved angles and six stained glass windows, in fact, now located in the present church, came from the first church (Striegel 12). After the first fire occurred in 1898, the members of the church determined to build a new church sixteen years
The Catholic Church made its own laws and possessed land. The Roman Catholic Church collected taxes, service fees, and even accepted gifts from people who wanted a guaranteed "spot" in Heaven. The Church also had the power to influence kings and rulers. The Church helped by publicly supporting the kings and in return, the Church was given reasonable amounts of land and the clergy were given essential positions inside of the King's Court, which gave the Church the ability to manipulate policy and laws. The Church made many laws that include the involuntary conversions of heretics and the stifling of anti-church influences that could persuade other people to leave the Church and become heretics. This showed the immense authority that the Roman Catholic Church had over the people. Blasphemy (the speaking against God or anything that was considered sacred) was deemed as a capital crime (meaning it was punished by death).
Evangelization has attempted to destroy the beliefs to different Aboriginal peopled there groups and also their culture. It has forced the Aboriginal people to forget their Aboriginal beliefs and the Catholics made the Aboriginal to believe in Catholicism because they thought it was the right thing to believe in. In the movie ‘Rabbit Proof Fence’ they capture three young aboriginal girls to of to a school that converts them to Christians. They dont want to be captured because they want to stay there religion and be the same as each and every Aboriginal in there
In the 2011 Religious Affiliation in Australia census data, ‘Catholic’ recorded the highest percentage of adherents, at 25.3%.
Before the Reformation, medieval Christians all worshipped under the same universal idea of Christendom. The catholic faith had existed for centuries (since 325 C.E. Constantinople, Council of Nicaea) without opposition to it legitimacy, but at the turn of 1500s new ideas on Christian belief erupted all over Europe causing a split between the Church. Christianity prior to the reformation was a part of the worshippers’ everyday life. Their home, work, and social lives were oriented around the Church, yet many 16th century Christians before the Reformation did not fully understand why. Most 16th century Christians were not educated enough to understand the mandatory sermons and mass services that were preached in the medieval church because these services were in Latin. Only the upper echelon of society were sophisticated enough to understand sermon. This upper crust included the clergy, nun, monks, monarchs, nobles, and the patricians which made up a small portion of the medieval population. The clergy consisted of the Pope (Top), Cardinals (princes of the church and electors of the pope), Bishop (overseers of the dioceses), and Priest (lowest and served at each parish). The clergy were the intermediaries between the laity and God and their most important job was to ensure proper following of the sacraments .
Vatican II was what made the Church, what we know it as now. Vatican II has molded the modern Church and has had the most influence on it. Therefore, it is explicitly obvious that Vatican II was what made the Church what we know as the "Modern Church." If Vatican II did not take place, there would not be a "Modern Church." Bibliography:.. Information obtained from the following sources. 1) Encyclopedia Britannica 2) Roman Catholic Church History.
Roles of the Catholic Church in Western civilization has been scrambled with the times past and development of Western society. Regardless of the fact that the West is no longer entirely Catholic, the Catholic tradition is still strong in Western countries. The church has been a very important foundation of public facilities like schooling, Western art, culture and philosophy; and influential player in religion. In many ways it has wanted to have an impact on Western approaches to pros and cons in numerous areas. It has over many periods of time, spread the teachings of Jesus within the Western World and remains a foundation of continuousness connecting recent Western culture to old Western culture.-
Now I shall give a bit of a quick history lesson. The land of Australia had two types of people living there before the European settlers came to the country the Aboriginal and the Torres Strait Islanders and in 1688 a man named William Dampier was the first British man to explore Australia (Austrailian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade). This is similar to how America had Native A...
This caused a lot of deaths during the Reformation period because the Catholic church decided to prosecute people for following and listening to what Luther had taught them about the real Catholic Teachings. The Council of Trent was a way to stop the teachings of Catholic traditions and state clearly the renewal of the Catholic life. The work of the council was concerned with the organisation of the Church. A seminary was going to be set up for the education of priests in each diocese. During the reformation a Catechism which is a clear summary of Catholic beliefs was set out to help reform the order of Mass throughout the Catholic world which priests then helped educate and teach this understanding to Catholics. Indulgence selling was abolished which means that it was no longer a way for the Church to scavenge money and the infamous Inquisition was
The renaissance and the reformation were two of the most significant changes in history that has shaped our world today. If you examined both the renaissance and the reformation there were many differences and similarities from both. One of the main contrasts was that the reformation was all about the way to reform the church, and the renaissance had a much more secular view. Some of the similarities were that they both were about accepting new ideas whether artistic or religious, and they both had leaders who were corrupt. There were many changes that came about during these times and I believe that our world today would be completely different without them.
The Reformation was a decisive period in the history not only for the Catholic Church, but also for the entire world. The causes of this tumultuous point in history did not burst on the scene all at once, but slowly gained momentum like a boil that slowly festers through time before it finally bursts open. The Reformation of the Church was inevitable because of the abuses which the Church was suffering during this period. At the time of the Reformation, a segment of the Church had drifted away from its mission to bring Christ and salvation to the world. Throughout the Middle Ages, the Church had gradually become weaker because of abusive leadership, philosophical heresy, and a renewal of a form of the Pelagian heresy.
On the positive note, people who attend church do so out of their own faith, as opposed to when they were pressured into fearing God from the medieval clergy. Going to the Church is now an expression of the love for God, it builds spiritual strength, and gives people direction in their lives where they would be lost otherwise. What made the biggest difference between religions in the Middle Ages and now is the people's dependence on their clergy. Whereas before people needed priests and Popes to interpret God's word for them, people can now read the Bible themselves, and come to their own conclusions and learning.
The Church was organised into a hierarchical system that sustained the Church’s stability and control over the people and lower clergy, by organising them into different groups. First there were the ordinary believers, the citizens of the kingdom who followed the Christian faith. Then there was the clergy, the members who devoted their lives to the church. Each group of the clergy was assigned specific functions by the clergy nobles to help run the Church competently. Amongst all the clergy associates, the Pope was at the top, he had the equivalent if not more power than the ruling monarch and was in charge of all political affairs and administered the clergy. He was able to dictate political laws and even comment on the Monarch’s decisions. Under the Pope, there were the bishops. The bishops directed church courts and managed cases correlated to the public such as marriage, wills and other public predicaments. Priests held religious services that consisted of sacraments, baptisms and the usual Sabbath services. The monks and nuns received manual labour that required helping clean the monasteries and assist the needy. Educated monks copied manuscripts of medieval and ancient knowledge in the Scriptorium. Finally...
The Catholic Church had a great influence on Social policy in Ireland which began in the 19th Century. They worked from two broad headings; the teaching influence and the practical influence.