With the passing of John Button and Archbishop Frank Little Eureka Street has lost two good friends. We shall miss them. The Australian Catholic Church and public life are the poorer for their passing.
Paradoxically both John and Frank were true believers. Paradoxical, for John Button found freedom in emancipation from the Christian faith that animated Frank Little. True believers, too, are seen as enduring and faithful through good times and bad. But their popular image is also tinged with grudges long held and ideological fixity. Neither of these men was like that. But they were true believers. In carpentry, to true is to get the angles right. The gift brought by John and Frank was to true other believers. The demeanour of both men made believers reflect, if momentarily, on what matters.
We knew John as part of our extended Eureka Street community. He was one of our best writers. He was always generous in accepting requests for articles and reviews. He met deadlines and wrote at the right length for what he wanted to say. In his writing he prompted his readers to conversation. His judgments were always humane and respectful because he was interested in people. Certainly he always went out of his way to encourage us, and particularly our younger editors who were learning their craft.
This concern for people seemed characteristic also of John as a politician and government minister. He is known for his industry reforms, at first sight a demonstrating exercise in economic rationalism. But although he understood the large issues in adjusting industry policy to the changes introduced by globalisation, he was concerned that workers could live decently within a functioning economy. He loathed economic theory that did not look at its effect on human lives. He found aspects of political life tedious. They were the games that allowed politicians to act with less than due respect to each other or to civil servants and members of the public whom they were in a position to bully.
Archbishop Frank Little was also a friend of Eureka Street. He read widely and commented on what he liked in his reading. Eureka Street would not have been his favourite reading. His natural taste was for theology written directly for a Catholic audience. But he had a catholic taste and knew that insights were to be found in unexpected places. You did not have to