Missionaries on the Move: A Pastoral History of the Scalabrinians in Australia and Asia 1952-2002 (review)

In 1878 Giovanni Battista Scalabrini was appointed Bishop of Piacenza, where he was to remain until his death at the age of 65 in 1905. He was a pastorally minded bishop who focused much attention on catechetical formation, which led to his convening of the First National Catechetical Congress in Italy. His pastoral strategy also centered on a systematic visitation of the 365 parishes that made up his diocese. It was during the first of his visitations in 1876–77 that he became aware of a troubling statistic: 11 percent of his flock for whom he was pastorally responsible had emigrated to overseas destinations. This reality was accompanied by a Damascus-like experience, when at the Milan railway station he was moved by the sight of so many of his fellow countrymen preparing themselves to emigrate to distant shores. He described his thoughts and how he was deeply moved by this sight in his diocesan weekly, and in 1887 he would put his concerns into practical effect through the foundation of the Congregation of the Missionaries of Saint Charles Borromeo for the Emigrants, better known by the name taken from the founder, the Scalabrinians.

From its beginnings in 1887 the new Congregation had experienced many difficulties and in the 1920's had come close to extinction, but this was overcome through the wise oversight and guidance of Cardinal De Lai, Secretary of the Sacred Consistorial Congregation, whom Pius XI appointed as their Superior General. In 1951 the Congregation became independent of the Consistorial Congregation and able to independently elect their superior general.

This present book, which traces the Scalabrinian mission in Australia and Asia from 1952 to 2002, thus opens at a significant moment in the Congregation's overall history, a year after it regained its independence. It says something of the spirit and courage of the Congregation to embark on a new mission to such a distant shore in the form of four Scalabrinians—three priests and a lay brother.

The challenges they faced just over fifty years ago are considerably different from those faced by the present members of the Scalabrinians working in the Southern Hemisphere, and one of the many positive aspects of this book is to trace those challenges as the Congregation gradually spread to various parts of Australia and in recent years to the Philippines. Theirs was no easy task. In many respects they suffered the same problems, doubts, and insecurities as the emigrants they came to serve: tensions between themselves and the predominant Irish clerical and lay culture of the Australian Catholic Church; difficult relations with some of the local hierarchy; apostolates in isolated and difficult parishes, such as the first in Silkwood in northern Queensland, known as the Australian 'Deep South'; and the inevitable tensions among the members of the Congregation as they sought to understand the Australian character and adequately respond to it.

The story is told with care and sympathy and the author has used a variety of sources to weave a delightful, occasionally sad, though positive historical presentation. Clearly he was constrained by the fact that his is 'living history,' namely, that a number of the characters on whom the story is based are still alive. Given this he has made a judicious use of archival material found in the provincial house in Mosman, Sydney, along with interviews with the priests concerned and his own critical observations. The historical development of the Scalabrinians is centered on two key approaches: the first, by tracing the personal stories of those men who undertook various new works to Italian immigrants in parishes in various parts of Australia; the second, by concentrating on the pastoral challenges they met in those selfsame apostolates. It is a highly successful approach as it conveys something of the personal trials of an endless number of individuals who nevertheless meet the obvious pastoral...