Speaking in tongues and American evangelism

My head is so full of religion right now, so I apologise if it has been a bit of an overdose.

I just wanted to, however, draw your attention to a fantastic interview by Stephen Crittenden on Radio National's The Religion Report.

If you had any doubts whatsoever about the influence of the neo-conservative elements of Catholicism that was in Sydney last week, you need not go any further than this;


Camille : I'm from Brisbane, and I've just come here to be challenged by World Youth Day I suppose, yeah. I'm part of the Edmund Rice network, and we have an international justice gathering for young people within our network, from obviously across the globe, and then it led into World Youth Day.

Stephen Crittenden: This is in the week before World Youth Day?

Camille : Yes, that's right, yes.

Stephen Crittenden: So how have you found it?

Camille : It's been quite cross-cultural, quite challenging in many ways. Very different to the justice talk that we were engaged in at Mulgoa, so -

Stephen Crittenden: How so?

Camille : Well I think we were kind of looking at how Edmund Rice, who is the founder of the Christian Brothers, and how his charism was very much about social justice, and the same with the actions of Jesus I suppose. Very much about the social justice standing of the oppressed and marginalised in solidarity and I haven't heard much of that here at World Youth Day.

Stephen Crittenden: What have you heard much of?

Camille : Well there's been a lot of testifying and stuff that I would associate with Pentecostal religions and evangelicalism and that sort of thing, that is quite foreign to me back in my home church in my own diocese.

Stephen Crittenden: In Brisbane. Is this mainly American Catholic kids, or where are the testifiers coming from? All over?

Camille : Yes. Surprisingly they're in the catechesis sessions that we've been having. They get up and they tell a story about how they found the Holy Spirit in their lives, or the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they were in times of trouble before that, or someone handed them a Bible or something like that, and they've been infused with the Holy Spirit and they've surrounded themselves with others that are also infused with the Holy Spirit and now their life is great and marvelous. It's kind of something that you would see, that I would usually see when I flick on the TV on a weekend at 7 o'clock in the morning when there's nothing else on. The sort of American TV programs, that's what I associate that experience with.

Stephen Crittenden: How have you found the catechesis sessions?

Camille : In our catechesis sessions? Yeah - you're very much being talked at, rather than talked to and engaged, and it's also very much the official line of the church. When there is Question Time, when questions of how to engage in social justice, and how does the Holy Spirit move in terms of social justice and Jesus' working in justice, or Jesus in oppressed and marginalised people, they're very much vague and they don't really know how to tackle those answers, kind of like they weren't expecting -

Stephen Crittenden: Kids to be interested in those things? What are kids interested in talking about at these sessions?

Camille : Well there's been questions about you know, speaking in tongues, and what's the official line about that, and how do you know that you're touched by the Holy Spirit, and it's kind of like, Well you just know. If you're doing the right things, and if you read the Bible, you should know that you're being touched by the Holy Spirit. Other people like within my own delegation haven't gone to any catechesis sessions or went to one and haven't been back since. There are things out there in the program, it's just that with the organisation of the way it's gone, we were meant to get a program in every part of it, that didn't happen so being able to find those elements of the church that are talking about the things that you are interested in, is very hard when there's limited resources.

Stephen Crittenden: What about the big events. Are you going to go to Stations of the Cross? Have you got close to the Pope yet? Is that why you came? Did you come to see Benny?

Camille : Yes, I think I did. I mean there's an element of curiosity and celebrity there. I went to the opening mass and I went to the Pope's arrival yesterday and was about 100 or so metres away from him.

Stephen Crittenden: And as a young Australian Catholic, what does Pope Benedict mean to you?

Camille : Oh, he's the head of the church, so yes. In terms of admiration, I mean what he was saying in his address yesterday, he talked about social justice and he talked about advocacy for women's issues.

Stephen Crittenden: It was very wide-ranging, wasn't it?

Camille : Yes. I think actually I was more inspired by what he had said than what I heard - definitely- in the catechesis sessions. I think there might be a disconnect with what the Pope was saying and what's coming through in catechesis.

Stephen Crittenden: Thank you very much for talking to us.

Camille : No worries, thank you.


For more WYD fun, go to the program website.