THE P RTAL
April 2015
Page 22
Chaplains without borders
Fr James Grant OLSC works in the Diocese of Melbourne
One of
the great problems for parish life is the ongoing difficulty of connecting with people in their
daily lives. Many priests complain of no longer seeing families at mass as many of these are engaged in
the demanding sporting and social life of their children and seem unable to find time to engage with a parish
on any significant level.
Increasingly, family members are also asked to
work “flexible” hours, this often ensuring that adults
have difficulty juggling work, children and sporting
responsibilities. A parish commitment will often
be spoken of as an important goal but in reality is a
distant and low grade priority.
few touch points with workers’
Unions or industry groups
Chaplains Without Borders was established in 2004
to confront one of these issues; our complete lack of
influence in the workplace. At present, the church has
few touch points with workers’ Unions or industry
groups and no possibility of ensuring its view on
Catholic social teaching and the concerns of the family
and workers can be articulated at important forums.
Melbourne Casino, one of the biggest in the world
with 6,800 staff and around 120K visitors per day.
a role to play
The focus for Fr James Grant is not only dealing with
issues of problem gambling or staff difficulties, but
with making the serious point that the Church does
have a role to play in the life of a company and also in
the life of individuals at work. Not only do staff morale
and retention rates improve with a chaplain, but ideas
about “Catholicism” are moved from “that’s a private
organisation” to one in which it’s “normal for a priest
to be at our workplace”, contributing on a range of
problems and future directions.
This is also an important opportunity for the
Australian Ordinariate, which is small and in the
Chaplains without Borders only undertakes process of developing its vision of evangelisation
chaplaincies that are not in the traditional chaplaincy within the wider field of Catholic mission.
fields and usually with companies which have never
previously had a chaplain. The focus is philosophically
The important dimension of both going to “where
geared to a new ministry.
people are” and of being with them across a number
of life aspects is a unique contribution of that area of
Perhaps the most contained work is at Crown’s ministry within the Australian Ordinariate.
Letters to the Editor
From Fr John Maunder
Why do we have the page written by Lot’s wife looking back at the goings on in the C of E plc? We
have all left! It is over. Why not devote the page to
what we are all about? More about Catholics and less
about Protestants!
Fr John Maunder
Fareham , Hampshire
From Dr Harry Donnelly
I’m surprised at Cliff Ollife’s view that The Portal
contains “an awful lot of comment and views relating
to the Church of England”. We have come from there
and most still have family members and friends who
contents page
are still there. It therefore seems only natural that we
should continue to take an interest in and comment
on its affairs. I certainly enjoy reading the Revd Paul
Benfield’s ‘Recent Events’.
In March’s Portal we read that, “Mgr Keith
Newton told The Portal that ecumenism is what
the Ordinariate is for”. Given our origin, it would
make sense that we should include the Church of
England in this ecumenism and it’s encouraging that
The Portal has already interviewed the Revd Canon
Alison Joyce along with Commissioner Bill Cochrane
of the Salvation Army and has plans to interview
representatives of the Methodist and Lutheran
Churches in the UK.
When the Ordinariate was erected in 2011, we