Papal policy towards conflict in the Australian Catholic missions : the relationship between John Bede Polding, O.S.B., archbishop of Sydney, and the Sacred Congregation, De Propaganda Fide, 1842-1874

Abstract

The centralizing trend in the government of the Catholic Church in the nineteenth century ensured that the deeply-divided Catholics of colonial Australia turned to Rome for a verdict on their many disagreements. At the centre of much of this conflict were the English Benedictine monk, the Archbishop of Sydney, John Bede Polding, and his ambitious scheme for a distinctively Australian, socially integrated Catholicism unified by a monastic administrative framework and elevated by monastic spiritual culture. This scheme collided with certain realities of Catholic life in the Australian colonies: rapid growth, a correspondingly urgent need for basic, flexible pastoral structures and a pronounced, increasingly self-conscious Irish complexion. If Polding's vision were to be implemented, the approval of the arm of the papal bureaucracy responsible for the mission territories, the Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide, was vital. Polding came closest to this goal in 1842 when the Congregation accepted his proposals for a general reorganization of the Australian Church, including making St. Mary's cathedral, Sydney, a monastic cathedral. At this stage Polding enjoyed considerable prestige at Rome because of his pioneering work. However, his doctrinaire pursuit of the total monastery-centred approach after his return to Australia generated continual friction. He alienated non- Benedictine religious orders and had to face rebellion among his own monks and fierce opposition to his policies from elements of the clergy and laity, often fired by a sense of Irish grievance. As the Sydney Benedictine establishment disintegrated through insufficient recruiting, defections, squabbling and scandal and as complaints and alternative suggestions for the development of the Australian Church mounted up in the Propaganda Congregation, Roman officials became increasingly sceptical about Polding's plans. Apart from occasional minor successes, all of the official decisions made by the Congregation about Australian affairs in the 1850s and 1860s went against Polding's recommendations. Most significantly, Rome rejected his submission that the Archdiocese of Sydney be committed permanently to Benedictine rule and assigned the new bishoprics carved out of the Archdiocese from 1859 onwards to assertive, independent Irishmen totally opposed to Polding's vision of the Australian Church and who, relying on the supreme influence at Rome of their mentor, Cardinal Cullen of Dublin, were able to prevail repeatedly over Polding in competition for Roman favour. At the personal level, the difficulties that Polding encountered in his dealings with Rome were magnified by his strained relationship with Pope Pius IX and the head of the Propaganda Congregation, Cardinal Barnab6. Frustrated by continual, painful disappointments and upset by often unfair and rough Propaganda judgements, Polding steadily lost confidence in the Roman system and had become utterly embittered by the late 1860s. Unexpectedly, by the time of his retirement in 1874 Polding won a notable final victory at Rome by securing the successor of his choice, his fellow English Benedictine, Roger Bede Vaughan. Motivated by an appreciation of the now septuagenarian Polding's pressing need for assistance and worried about domination of the Australian episcopate by the militant Cullenite Irish, Roman policy shifted towards a new balance. Show more