The news that the Pope has announced Australia as the next venue for the World Catholic Youth Conference has sent the nation into a spin. The number crunchers aside, the more significant news was the Pontiff's remark that Australia was amongst those countries that are most desperately spiritually impoverished.
Its true that, to outsiders, Australians might court the image of being a nation of irreverent, sports-loving hedonists, but the truth may be quite different. The brash call-a-spade-spade Aussie seems to have a hidden world of potential spiritualities. Its just that we rarely like to talk about them. I was surprised by the candour of the many responses on a talk back radio program this evening to the question, 'Do you have an object that has special daily spiritual meaning for you?' It made we wonder about the assumptions I've made about my countrymen.
Its certainly true that established churches are emptier than ever; not a desirable outcome in my estimation. The moral relativism that has often ensued has been chaotic at best. Nor am I enamoured of the fashion for New Age therapies with their 'Me' obsessions. It's just that I think people here think more about God, and about matters relating to the meaning of life than they are prepared to admit or given credit for.
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