Catholic Family and Education

The chapter describes the powerful Irish-Catholic tradition in Australia whose origin is linked to the arrival of the 1788 First Convict Fleet from England. It gives an account of my mother’s rural situation as one of a family of 16 Fitzpatricks outside of Dubbo in the centre of NSW. My Christian Brothers education is outlined, first in a small parish school then as a ‘scholarship’ boy at the large Waverley College. The impact on the Sydney Church of the Second Vatican Council, which opened in 1965, the year I left school, is described. Of special mention is massive negative reaction to Humanae Vitae, the anti-contraception encyclical of Pope Pius VI. The precipitous demise of the Christian Brothers Order in Australia is detailed; the Order went, in a matter of just 20–30 years, from being everywhere to being, literally, nowhere, not even in name. The long tradition of Thomism as the formal and official philosophy of the Catholic Church is documented; its vitality in Sydney is recognised; its demise in seminaries is noted and an account is given of its independent life outside of the Church. Attention is drawn to its strength as an integrated philosophy wherein ontology, epistemology, ethics, politics, and anthropology all need to cohere.