Religious Communities and the future of the Church in Australia

By Rev’d Dr Tim Watson

In November 2021 the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture is welcoming members of traditional, modern and emerging Religious Communities to a three-day ecumenical conference titled “Ancient Futures: The renewal of Religious life in the Australian Church”.  Archbishop Justin Welby has described Religious Communities as the ‘canary in the coal mine’ of the Church, having an importance out of all proportion to their size, and called for a ‘wild burst of Spirit-filled enthusiasm about religion in the 21st century’ which will be ‘embedded in its traditions’ while also being different, spontaneous, and organic.  This second of two articles for Engage explores some historical features of Australian Christianity, the distinctive characteristics Religious Communities have developed on Australian soil, and the new forms of community life that God may now be calling into being to meet the challenge of our current missional context.

The Australian context

Spiritually, Australia was regarded by its first Christians as terra nullius, a virgin mission field within the British Imperial project.  The first clergy were British military and prison chaplains, while in 1825 the continent was declared to be an archdeaconry of the Anglican Diocese of Calcutta, and one Anglican parish was given the name of ‘Australia west of Liverpool’!  We need only note the traumatic resonances of the word ‘mission’ for this land’s First Nation Peoples to be reminded of the complicity of the churches in a colonial evil which still cries out for justice, redress, and reconciliation.  Other denominations came early to the new colonies, subverting the pretensions of the ‘Church of England in Australia’ and creating a distinctively Australian ecumenical culture: on the one hand, the chance to build a ‘new Jerusalem’ without the baggage of Anglican establishment; on the other, the importing of sectarian tensions which proved as virulent (if not more so) as in the British Isles.  More recently denominational tensions have eased as the churches have slipped to the margin of society, but one Australian ecumenist has argued that Australian Christians still struggle to articulate a common vision of ‘God’s Church for Australia’ because our denominations are so burdened by their histories as chaplaincies to ethnic groups.

New forms of life, new challenges

The first Catholic bishops in Australia were English Benedictines with a vision for a church founded on monastic lines, and European religious orders, established traditional centres such as New Norcia (Benedictine, 1847) and Sevenhill (Jesuit, 1851) – just as later migrant monastic groups such as Serbian and Coptic Orthodox have done in their turn.  But soon the particular missional needs of the Australian context gave rise to distinctive new communities, such as the Josephites founded in 1866 by St Mary MacKillop who pioneered education for the children of the bush, or the Anglican Bush Brotherhoods founded in 1897 which adapted existing models of religious life to meet the challenge of providing pastoral ministry over huge distances.  These pioneers were not always welcomed by the authorities: famously, Mary MacKillop was excommunicated for her pains!  Communities also led the way in church-based social provision.  Anglicare traces its origins to the Community of the Holy Name founded in Melbourne by Mother Esther in 1888, which developed a network of soup kitchens, residential homes, and hospitals.  After 1900 an influx of Catholic apostolic religious orders from Ireland and Europe expanded these educational and health care ministries in unprecedented ways, but their arrival also reinforced denominational fault lines.

The social changes of the 1960s led to the decline of traditional communities, a wave of new experiments in community living (often inspired by the charismatic renewal), and the arrival in Australia of international movements such as L’Arche, Focolare and Youth with a Mission (YWAM).  Some new communities such as the Missionaries of God’s Love / Disciples of Jesus have found long term stability, while many faced a range of issues including mistrust from denominational authorities and internal governance failures, and proved unable to sustain the vision of their founders over time.  Others morphed first into ‘house churches’ and then independent Pentecostal denominations – and interestingly today many of these churches are showing increasing interest in ‘new monastic’ spiritual practises and birthing new communities such as 24-7 Prayer's Order of the Mustard Seed.

Rediscovery and renewal

In 2021 Australian Christianity faces the twin challenges of rebuilding confidence in its public value and rediscovering its prophetic edge.  At the same time, social commentators such as Hugh Mackay and the Hon Dr Andrew Leigh MP are noting how our secular contemporaries are increasingly crying out for sources of spirituality, connectedness, transcendent value, and hope.  More encouragingly, churches are increasingly realising their obligation to work together for environmental justice in a world of climate change, and to articulate a vibrantly authentic Australian spirituality which addresses the ‘original sin’ at the heart of the Australian colonial project.  Ecumenical networks of indigenous and non-indigenous Christian leaders such as Common Grace, and new communities such as Campfire in the Heart, are well placed to make a prophetic contribution to this renewal.

It is within this contemporary mission context that the Holy Spirit is calling into being new forms of community life for the renewal of God’s Church and the service of God's world.  Like all renewals of religious life, such communities will be rooted in the prayerful tradition of the Church, but they will also be different, and history tells us that they will often be misunderstood by ecclesial powerbrokers and gatekeepers – particularly if they do not sit comfortably within existing denominational boundaries.  The conversation between traditional, new and emerging communities must therefore be characterised by a spirit of mutual learning and generous exchange, as together we learn how to welcome the new charisms with which God is blessing God’s Church, and give these communities the support, encouragement and oversight which will give them the best chance to thrive and fulfil their missional potential.