Letters

ACU Syllabus (letter)

John Kelly

Contents - Apr 2001 - Buy a copy now Editorial: 'If Christ is not risen, then your faith is in vain' - Peter Westmore John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family to open in July 2001 - AD2000 Report News: The Church Around the World Former Townsville Bishop's admissions on liturgy practices - Bishop Raymond Benjamin Is Townsville the model for Ballarat's priest shortage? - Michael Gilchrist Archbishop Curtiss on implementing the theology 'mandatum' - Archbishop Elden Curtiss US parishioners more outspoken about church "renovations" - Zenit News Service Thomas More Centre Summer School 2001: "Building a Culture of Life" - Michael Daniel How to avoid banal, superficial liturgies - Bishop Kevin Manning Rights of unborn are inalienable - Archbishop Barry J. Hickey Tanzania's Father Winfried makes return visit to Australia - Martin Sheehan Letters: Melbourne RE texts (letter) - Barbara Chigwidden Letters: Sponsorship (letter) - Barry O'Brien Letters: Legal action (letter) - Chris Joseph Letters: Inaccuracy (letter) - Fr Michael Kalka PP Letters: Ambiguities (letter) - Valentine Gallagher Letters: ACU Syllabus (letter) - John Kelly Letters: Stations of the Cross (letter) - Charles Bignold Letters: Good responses (letter) - Hyacinth Morel Letters: Dress code (letter) - Raymond de Souza Review Article: A 'silly book' from ACU professor of theology - Frank Mobbs Books: Keeping The Faith: Making a Difference by Wilson D. Miscamble - Michael Daniel (reviewer) JESUS - Jubilee Edition Video - Johanna O'Farrell (reviewer) Books: 'Contraception: The Hidden Truth' by Christine de Stoop - Katie Forster (reviewer) Books: The Apostles' Creed, Defend the Faith and other apologetics topics - Michael Daniel (reviewer) Books: 'The Atonement Child' by Francine Rivers - Mary-Jane Donnellan (reviewer) Books: The Seven Cities of the Apocalypse, by Roland J. Worth - Michael Daniel (reviewer) Reflection: Giving witness to the Gospel of Life - Rebecca van Rensburg

Michael Gilchrist (March AD2000) instances anomalies in the Australian Catholic University's syllabus and alerts readers to their implications for the formation of future Catholic teachers and their students.

In addition to the serious deficiencies of course content itemised in Mr Gilchrist's article, there are further issues to be addressed if ACU's offerings are to be credibly Catholic:

* a growing regard of theology exclusively as an academic exercise and career qualification that can be pursued independently of its genesis in faith and the practice of prayer and sacramental life;

* a failure to recognise the divinely given nature of revelation and faith and a misplaced emphasis on the construction rather than Apostolic derivation of theological truth and meaning;

* a postmodernist lack of conviction about the objectivity and knowability of truth, and the ability of language to make valid affirmations about God.

Surely the evangelisation of academia can only be effected by a teaching community thoroughly versed in and committed to official Church teaching, Catholic history and philosophy, whose own scholarly and faith formation have equipped its members to discern wheat from chaff?

JOHN KELLY
Tranmere, SA

Reprinted from AD2000 Vol 14 No 3 (April 2001), p. 14