Catholic Religious Teaching in Australia
Culture is a catch-all term that is used to describe the various rites, traditions, and rituals attached to a specific group of people. A people's culture encompasses more than his or her religion; it encompasses everything from political beliefs to family traditions. While culture certainly encompasses more than religion, it is important to understand that religion may be the pinnacle of culture. After all, "It is in religion that the human quest for ultimate meaning and a final commotion of creation and the human heart find their themes, symbols, rites and celebration, as well, intertwining them with the other forces." (Boff, 1992). If religion is the height of culture, it should come as no surprise that people who view themselves as civilized find the need to share their religions with other peoples. The spread of religion seems innocuous and inherently-good, especially when viewed from the point-of-view of those spreading the religion. However, evangelization has been historically intertwined with another culture-changing practice: colonialism. Historically, the Catholic Church's view of evangelization has not only sought to promote the Christian faith, but also to convert the targeted individuals to other aspects of
Therefore, any modern attempts at evangelization must make an effort to be more culturally tolerant, and simply offer potential converts the opportunity to know Christianity, rather than using pressure to force them to convert. That is a question that cannot yet be answered, because the changes from Vatican II are relatively new. In fact, the Australian government has continued to treat the native aboriginal population in a paternalistic manner, assuming that Western societies and people must have a more appropriate world-view than indigenous cultures. This change actually reflects the same change that Jesus-era Jews underwent as the developed Christianity. However, some scholars disagree with that viewpoint, and might actually characterize it as an uncivilized point-of-view. "The goal of evangelization, and the basis for its urgency, is to put all things under the dominion of Christ. As described by Donovan, one of the primary problems with old-style evangelization is that it sought to proscribe how people came to Christ, which meant that it was not liberating, but constrictive. But before the positive liberation of wonder, perhaps there is a need for a certain negative clearing of the ground. The Kingdom of God is not a condition after death but is the inner core of life and history, a dynamic and intensifying and expanding after the coming of Jesus. The question that remains is, ""Are we experiencing a cultural paradigm shift with lasting and revolutionary impact? Or are these upheavals in attitudes, and in Christianity itself, just passing tremors that will not change much in the long term?" (Gallagher, 1997). Prior to Vatican II:The Church tended to become a surrogate object of faith.
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