It may have struck people as unduly militant, but our first in-person event for the Thomas More Centre in Melbourne was a conversation with Catholic priest, broadcaster, activist and scholar Fr Sam Randall on the topic, “Communities of Resistance”.

The title was chosen carefully. It drew upon Fr Randall’s deep studies into the key actors in opposing Nazism across many countries and creeds.

Fr Randall has studied extensively the threads and networks of cultural, literary, philosophical and theological heroes. These people have worked underground or in exile and at severe danger to their own lives in a variety of ways, opposing the totalitarianism, the systematic inhumanity and murderous lies of National Socialism during the 1920s, 30s and 40s.

Fr Randall spoke about his plans to return to academic work and community action after many years serving as a director and broadcaster with Radio Maria in both Australia and the United Kingdom.

In particular, the TMC event at St Gabriel’s Parish Centre in Reservoir enabled Fr Randall to share with the audience his own remarkable life journey into the priesthood and the Catholic Church.

Throughout his narrative, Fr Randall talked of his particular interest and inspiration in the witness and thought of two giants of 20th-century German-Christian history. Both of these produced vital Christian writings and witnesses for our times and both were born in Breslau (today the Polish city Wrocław).

One was the influential Lutheran theologian/pastor, social justice activist and founder of the dissident Confessing Church, Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945); the other was the Jewish-born, philosopher, Catholic convert and Carmelite nun-theologian, Edith Stein – now St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (1891-1942). Both were murdered, like so many millions of others by the Nazis or their operatives. Bonhoeffer was hanged in the last days of the regime; St Edith and her sister Rosa were herded into the gas chambers of Auschwitz. Their graves remain unknown, presumably co-mingled with the remains of the multitude of others.

As it transpired, the TMC event allowed Fr Randall to reflect upon some of the more surprising qualities of effective “resistance” to inhumanity and barbarism in his own life. He identified these as: authentic friendship, openness to “the other”, the complementary vocation of men and women, a daring submission to Divine Will, moral commitment, cultural creativity and a patient and virtuous “lived faith”. There were also revelations about Fr Randall’s own radical journey of faith with his wife Mirjiam (who was present at the event) and his three children.

Fr Randall’s discussion about his commitment and initiatives in projects for the homeless, the victims of sexual trafficking, community and ecumenical dialogue, the building of communities of common life made for what one audience member rightly called “a very gripping” evening.

Witnesses to cultural resistance, such as described by Fr Randall, carry much more moral, social and spiritual power than is often conveyed by the conventional ideological movements of protest or the adventure-packed war movies.

True “resistance” is a humbling work of soul-searching, truth-telling and courage. The enemies of this type of resistance are complacency, intellectual laziness, moral flabbiness, spiritual banality and cultural rigidity or conformity.

As another vigorous and unrelenting voice against Nazism, the Bavarian Catholic-convert philosopher and writer, Dietrich von Hildebrand, would pen in his memoirs from the 1930s his fears for the diluting of Christian compassion, witness and clarity:

“I saw with horror the path that some leading Catholics were taking, and I saw how terribly the soon-to-be concluded Concordat with Hitler was bound to affect the spirit of Catholics, how their inner resistance would be paralyzed by it … (reflecting on the willingness of Catholics and other Christians to accept the falsity and deception of Nazism, he continues) … I realised ever more clearly how great the danger was for German Catholics to fall into “wishful thinking”, to allow themselves to fall for illusions and thus to falter in their inner resistance.” (My Battle Against Hitler, Dietrich von Hildebrand)

So “gripping” was this discussion about “resistance” that the TMC has decided to invite further exploration of the topic. Very fortunately, the conversation with Fr Sam Randall was recorded and a slightly edited version of this event will be available soon on our YouTube channel, and we will notify you via this newsletter.

TMC YouTube: Rewarding meetings with great minds

The TMC aims to build up a creative and growing community of positive hope and resistance so that, wherever you live, you can dive deeply into some of our conversations and interests.

Subscribe to the invigorating and inspiring long interviews (and the short extracts) on the TMC YouTube channel, which you can watch and/or listen to wherever you are.

The interviews are brilliantly researched and genially presented by TMC host Mark Makowiecki, and they provide wonderful portals into some of the most exciting conversations and personalities about alternative cultural revival in our day.

In the last month alone, Mark has published some sparkling conversations with:

Mike Aquilina: The popular and prolific U.S. Catholic writer and journalist, co-founder of Dr Scott Hahn’s St Paul Biblical Theology Centre and an accidental but influential songwriter for Dion, Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen and Van Morrison.

Gavin Ashenden: UK assistant editor of the Catholic Herald, convert and former ordained chaplain to Queen Elizabeth II, literary scholar, theologian and broadcaster.

Jason Craig: North Carolina homesteader, father, editor and author of The Liturgy of the Land – a fascinating discussion on working on a productive “home life”, the maturation of boys and a balanced idea of Christian gentlemen.

Dr Owen Vyner: Perth-born associate professor at Christendom College in Front Royal, Virginia, who worked at the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family (Melbourne).

Finally, for anyone living in the south Queensland area, you are most welcome to meet some TMC friends during my visit to Toowoomba on Monday, September 23 and Brisbane on Wednesday, September 25.

Please continue to support us with your interest, resources and your thoughts. They are vital for our survival and growth.

Anna Krohn
Executive Director
Thomas More Centre