Archbishop Emeritus Barry Hickey sent the following letter to The Record. It was published in the August 1 edition of the paper.
Gerard Henderson is right to warn us to be wary of the ABC. (The Record July 25). I speak as a long-time fan of the ABC.
This year ABC Radio is celebrating 80 years of broadcasting. I have been a listener of almost 70 of those years.
It was the only radio broadcast we could get in Wiluna during the Second World War, and only possible by having a very tall aerial in the backyard.
Those were the days of Jack Davey, who even visited Wiluna. He caused some consternation when he arrived on the very day that Mrs Miniver was showing at the local theatre.
People my age and over will know what I am talking about.
I have loved and admired the ABC from those early days and saw no reason to switch to commercial radio when it came.
I still feel the same today. Over the past 20 years I have felt admiration for, and acute frustration with, the ABC as it became the promoter and advocate of a raft of controversial social issues and changes.
For years the “Coming Out” program delivered the propaganda week after week for a number of feminist issues.
This program called for the acceptance of contraception and abortion as necessary for women’s liberation. Other programs supported the acceptance of homosexuality.
There were a series of programs on gay art, gay literature and gay theatre, all of which showed the homosexual lifestyle in a positive light, and this right in the middle of the AIDS scare.
All this paved a way for a new sexual ethic to replace the traditional Christian understanding of human sexuality.
In all of these areas the ABC has been extremely successful.
I felt as a priest and later as a Bishop that I should listen to these programs in order to examine them critically and offer some Christian comment.
The Church has not been as media savvy as the ABC in putting its views forward and has conceded so much ground that the counter-offensive is now extremely difficult and the people able to mount it are few and far between.
Part of my frustration with the ABC was its failure to present any contrary views to those presented in the “Coming Out” program and other more recent programs along the same lines.
I have to admit that I did have a chance personally to join in a talk-back program on the ABC in Canberra some years ago, with Eva Cox on fetal abnormalities and the rights of such children to be born.
From the callers to the program it was clear many people defended the pro-life stance I advanced.
I only wish the ABC would make an effort to find spokespersons for traditional Christian or Catholic positions and give them air time.
They do exist. Cardinal Pell fearlessly shapes up when required.
Bishop Anthony Fisher, author of “Catholic Bioethics” is coherent and convincing, and he is only one of many clerics and lay people, yet the people the ABC choose to speak for the Catholic Church are not true representatives of the orthodox Catholic teaching, nor of the mainstream of the Catholic people.
Whenever the ABC journalists interview Buddhists, Muslims or Bahais, they treat them with great respect and let them put forward their views politely.
But whenever Christians, particularly Catholics, are interviewed, they reach for the blowtorch. Why is this?
Nevertheless I cannot do without my ABC Radio nor my ABC TV. Both set an extremely high standard in broadcasting.
They present matters of substance across a wide spectrum and attract very talented and informed people who think through issues and produce marvellous programs.
Look at their science programs, for instance.
Oh, if only the ABC would reach for talent beyond their present mindset! I can forgive them their fascination with man-bags, or for smuggling in their favourite tipple on Beaujolais Day, but not their negativity towards the Christian heritage of Australia.
A more objective approach is needed, at least as accommodating to the Church as to other faiths.
I can now reveal here my secret wish I have harboured for many years, to be a member of the Board of the ABC.
It didn’t happen and it is too late now. But it is still my hope that the set of values and beliefs I hold will eventually find a respected place on the ABC Board.