The Catholic Church, often critical of parliamentary democracy, nevertheless seeks to engage with it. It encourages Catholics to participate in civic life and still considers itself a political player. At election time, the Church takes part in various ways and through many different voices. A key practice is the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC) — the Church’s peak body — issuing an election statement to guide voters. In 2022, this statement was titled Towards a Better Kind of Politics, echoing Pope Francis’s call in Fratelli Tutti to put politics ‘at the service of the common good.’
Collectively, the ACBC speaks for the Church, but our fragmented Church struggles to do ‘collective action’ well. The bishops span the full length of the political continuum. Their ties and inclinations range from ultra-conservative international networks like the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship and local conservative think tanks such as the Institute of Public Affairs, to peace, climate, and justice movements associated with Palm Sunday marches.
What does the Church have to offer? Usually, the bishops advocate for a mix of the Church’s interests and values, trying to balance the two. The 2022 statement highlighted the needs of the most vulnerable, including palliative and aged care, First Nations peoples, asylum seekers, and refugees — concerns that remain relevant today. It also called for protections for religious freedom, including the right of religious schools to hire staff aligned with their beliefs. That issue remains unresolved and is unlikely to be settled by 2025. The statement concluded with core principles of Catholic Social Teaching and a Prayer for the Election.
Towards a Better Kind of Politics was a fair effort, though not as sharply focused as statements from other Catholic organisations such as Catholic Religious Australia, the St Vincent de Paul Society, or Catholic Social Services Australia. It also neglected to confront the troubling conduct of the election campaign itself — both from the major parties and cashed-up outsiders like Clive Palmer.
Surely something stronger is needed this time. While American President Donald Trump continues to disrupt the global order, savagely belittling allies, undermining good governance at home and abroad, the moment demands a more radical statement. How might they speak out against the possibility of what’s happening in the United States infecting Australian politics?
Perhaps the Church’s most distinctive contribution to the political world in 2025 would be to offer an alternative way of coping with polarisation, fragmentation and disrespect in human relationships. That alternative is synodality: a method grounded in mutual respect, deep listening, inclusion, especially of the most vulnerable, and discernment through the ‘conversations in the Spirit’ method.
Synodality will be a hard sell in today’s adversarial, media- and money-driven politics, where personal attacks put people down, facts are misrepresented, and any perceived weakness in your opponent is ruthlessly exploited. The clunky term ‘synodality’ doesn’t help, but the essential elements of the concept should be re-affirmed to the wider public. I say re-affirmed because secular equivalents already exist, often led by women, which do value consensus more highly than mindless conflict and are rightly suspicious of the supposed attraction of ‘strong male leaders’.
Any public commentary the Church offers should humbly reflect on our own church experience, including how difficult it is to bring everyone to the table in a timely manner, and how resistant our culture can be to new ways of doing things. True synodality is never easy, and always meets resistance.
It would also be worth the bishops having a frank discussion among themselves about how they can do better ‘collectively’. The culture warriors will want to focus on the issues which divide us. The compromisers may settle for worthy generalities. That will leave some visionaries extremely frustrated. The latter can return to their dioceses and offer guidance to their own flock, but as team players they are forced to tread sensitively and speak carefully.
One weakness of such collective statements is that they are faceless and lack colour even when introduced by the ACBC President. Perhaps the 2025 general statement could be spiced up by adding some separate short statements on policy by those bishops who chair the major episcopal commissions, just as the 2023 Social Justice Statement prior to the Voice referendum included the manifesto of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Commission (NATSICC). That might add some oomph. Ukrainian rite Cardinal Mykola Bychok of Melbourne could also be invited to add a strong personal statement in support of Ukraine against Russia.
The ACBC Secretariat has probably been drafting and road-testing an election statement for some months, seeking a theme. Their work should be respected. But all bureaucrats tend to be careful unless encouraged to be otherwise. Now is the time not for caution but for a radical confrontation by the Australian church with the awful direction world politics is heading.
John Warhurst is an Emeritus Professor of Political Science at the Australian National University.