Recently I had the privilege of attending the Canberra International Film Festival screening of In Bob We Trust, a documentary film following the last three years of Father Bob Maguire at Sts Peter’s and St Paul’s in South Melbourne. Known for his outspoken, at times irreverent and creative media work, Father Bob appears to have had the Catholic hierarchy wondering what to do with him. The film shows the congregation’s response to a letter from Denis Hart, Archbishop of Melbourne, inviting Father Bob to retire from his charge at the age of 75. Somehow the congregation and Bob were able to negotiate a short extension from the end of 2009 through to the beginning of 2012, on the understanding that The Commons, a collaborative project with the Friends of the Earth, would be allowed to continue. Sadly, the parish did not renew the FOE lease and The Commons closed in August this year.
The film itself, directed by Lynn-Maree Milburn, was all over the place, jumping from place to place, and topic to topic, as we followed Father Bob’s journey, living arrangements and theology. It captured Bob’s rascal approach to communication, quirky. There were moments of great joy, times of deep sadness, and of course a few deep thought conversations with John Safran. For me, viewing In Bob We Trust was two hours well spent.
What I found most interesting, however, was the panel and audience discussion after the screening. Pat Power, recently retired as Auxiliary Bishop of Canberra and Goulburn, and ABC Paul Collins, who wrote the 1997 book, Papal Power, before resigning as a Catholic priest and going on to write his 2007 book, The Modern Inquisition. Conversation focused on the lack of imaginative leadership in the Catholic church in Australia, as illustrated by the inflexible response to Father Bob’s social justice ministry and media appearances. What happens when talented and imaginative leaders are excluded from influential positions because they have chosen to marry and raise families? Or because they are women? We end up with an institution led by people who have learned the ways of dullness. That won’t change until a way is found to strengthen the voices of the people at the grass roots.
Watching “In Bob We Trust” fit well with my current re-engagement with the writing NZ/Australian anthropologist, cultural and organisational consultant/theologian Gerard Arbuckle: Change, Grief, and Renewal in the Church: A Spirituality for a New Era
