There's little doubt about it - but PolMin's campaign against Howard's workplace relations laws is hitting home if Tony Abbott's rave to-day in The Oz is anything to go by. Abbott might be on message with Cardinal George Pell but he doesn't seem to be with Bishop Kevin Manning. Surprise, surprise!
And - since when did Tony Abbott have an aversion to pre-Vatican II intensity... with its invocations of authority, dogmatic pronouncements and references to the natural order even if it did manage to apply to PolMin. Abbot says he's nostalgic as anyone for the church triumphant but wonder about this application of pseudo-theological rigour to political rather than to religious faith.
Miss Eagle got the giggles at that last quote. Abbot doesn't seem to have an understanding of the ancient Christian doctrine of the Communion of Saints. He should be referring to the Church Militant (those of us still on Planet Earth). Tony, it's not only trade unions who get militant - the church does too!
The Church Triumphant is all those in Heaven so I'm not sure whether all those nuns and brothers have managed to co-opt them to the PolMin campaign at this time - but I'm sure if there was a late Nov/early Dec election and a concerted appeal was made by PolMin to the Church Triumphant on 1 Nov celebrations (All Saints Day) then anything might be possible.
