JPII Institute: building on John Paul II’s legacy in Australia
By Anthony Coyte and
Gerard O’Shea
Blessed Pope John Paul II was a man who, quite literally, changed the world. His influence on world events in the 1980s, especially the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe, is widely acknowledged today.
He was the one who, in those early years of his pontificate, lit the flame that ignited the Polish people’s resistance to the totalitarian regime that had suppressed their identity and their freedom for decades.
Pope John Paul II encouraged them to stand firm in their Christian heritage and to let the values derived from that heritage transform the society in which they lived.
Yet there was also another way in which he changed the world and in which his legacy continues to do so. One theme that captured Karol Wojtyla’s heart long before his election as Pope was the dignity and greatness of human love.
In his book Crossing the Threshold of Hope (see advertisement on back page of liftout), John Paul II said that as a young priest he “learned to love human love”. His work as a young priest and university professor led him to form close friendships with many young married couples.
Through such friendships, he developed a great appreciation for the beauty of married love and had a desire to help married couples live their vocation to the full.
From these early experiences, Karol Wojtyla developed a life-long pastoral and academic interest in marriage and family, resulting in the publication of many books on this topic. Among his early works were the 1960 play The Jeweller’s Shop, centred on the lives of three married couples, and the philosophical work Love and Responsibility, also published in 1960, which presented a groundbreaking analysis of the different dimensions of human love. Yet it wasn’t until Wojtyla was elected to the papacy in 1978 that people in the Church began to discover what profound reflections on marriage and family this Polish prelate had to offer.
Over the 27 years of his papacy, marriage and family was a major theme in many of his key writings as Pope, such as Familiaris Consortio (1981), Letter to Families (1994), Evangelium Vitae (1995) and the now well-known Theology of the Body general audience addresses, delivered between 1979 and 1984. (Marriage and family was also the theme of his homily when he celebrated Mass at Belmont Park racecourse in Perth on 30 November 1986.)
What must be asked is why this topic occupied such a central place in John Paul II’s writing and preaching. Was it just a personal interest? Why did he feel the need to continually return to the topic? Perhaps John Paul II could see that the emerging battle for the Church in the Western world be one that is focused on marriage and the family. In today’s increasingly secular culture, it is not difficult to find confirmation of this. Most of the criticism directed to the Church today concerns marriage, family, sexuality and life matters. From another perspective, one only needs to open a newspaper on any given day to see that marriage and family breakdown leads to many other problems in society, such as depression, substance abuse and violence. For as John Paul II wrote on so many occasions, the family is the fundamental cell of society. When this fundamental cell is threatened or damaged, the negative consequences will be far-reaching
On 13 May 1981, the world was shocked by an event unprecedented in modern times: an attempt had been made to assassinate the Pope and his life was hanging in the balance. Much of what was written about the assassination attempt at the time (and subsequently) has failed to mention something of great significance. What else was special about this day? Many would be aware that it was the anniversary of the appearance of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Fatima in 1917. In terms of the legacy of John Paul II to the Church, however, it was the day that he had set aside for the foundation of the John Paul II Institute of Marriage and Family.
John Paul II was not satisfied that simply writing about issues of marriage and family would be sufficient. He was determined to set up a high level and ongoing academic institution to ensure that these matters would be contested in the realm of ideas. What became known as the John Paul II Institute of Marriage and Family was set up as an entity within the Pontifical Lateran University. The choice of the Lateran was significant; most Pontifical universities are under the direction of Religious Orders or other Catholic organisations, but the Lateran University is responsible directly to the Pope – it is his own university.
It was the wish of Pope John Paul II that these Institutes should spread to every continent in order to address local concerns directly. Little by little, sessions of the Institute spread around the world from their central base in Rome: in Washington DC, Mexico City; Savador Bahia (Brazil); Changanacherry (India); Cotonou (Benin). The last of these continents, Oceania, was added in 2001 when the Australian session opened in Melbourne.
The beatification of John Paul II is of great significance to these Institutes throughout the world, including our own Australian session. The Melbourne Institute has been represented at the ceremony by its dean, Associate Professor Tracey Rowland. Shortly afterwards, Professor Rowland will be joined by other Melbourne Institute staff – Director Bishop Peter Elliott and lecturers Dr Adam Cooper and Dr Gerard O’Shea who will gather in Rome for a conference of all sessions of the John Paul II Institute. The highlight of the conference will be a private audience and allocution from Pope Benedict XVI in the Sistine Chapel.
The Melbourne JPII Institute has already had a dramatic impact on the intellectual arguments about marriage and family issues in this country. Over 100 graduates with higher level degrees have been trained and are working in significant roles throughout the country, in the Pacific Islands and New Zealand, in East and South East and even in Canada and the US.
Closer to home, there are already half a dozen young graduates from Perth – Owen Vyner, Lydia Fernandez, Natalie Thomas, Jing Ping Wong, Grant Gorddard and Anthony Coyte.
For the Institute in Melbourne, John Paul II’s beatification is a great source of encouragement as it strives to build upon John Paul II’s legacy and form a culture of life and love here in Australia.