Catholic employees ‘should stick to core beliefs’

The Catholic Church says it should be able to prevent its care employees publicly undermining its “core beliefs and values”.

Archbishop of Hobart Julian Porteous. Picture: Luke Bowden

The Catholic Church is arguing that churches and their welfare and care arms should be able to prevent employees publicly ­undermining their “core beliefs and values”.

As the Turnbull government continues to delay the release of the report on religious freedoms by former Howard government minister Philip Ruddock, the Catholic archbishop of Hobart, Julian Porteous, has declared church agencies should not be forced to give a platform to ­employees “who seek to contradict its core beliefs and ­teachings”.

Addressing the issues of freedom of speech and freedom of ­religion, Archbishop Porteous said churches, their formal agencies and volunteer groups should not have to provide resources or a platform to employees or volunteers who wanted to undermine church values.

Writing for The Weekend Australian, Archbishop Porteous said the balance between churches encouraging freedom of religion and protecting their own values was “no small ­question”.

“Christian church agencies now provide services across a wide range of sectors, from family counselling to hospital care to education,” he said.

“Like any voluntary ­association, they face the challenge of trying to maintain a commitment to core values and beliefs among members and ­employees, at least in any official capacity.

“We know from historical ­examples that voluntary associations enter a period of decline and corporations cease to operate ­effectively when they do not ­ensure commitment to core ­values and beliefs of the organisation. No organisation has the rightful authority to prevent someone expressing or practising their religious beliefs or to force someone to comply with a particular set of beliefs.

“But when one joins a voluntary association, either as an ­employee or member, one is undertaking to respect and ­uphold the core beliefs of this ­association. When they find they can no longer do this in good faith it is necessary to part ­company.”

Malcolm Turnbull commissioned the Ruddock report into religious freedom last year during the debate on same-sex marriage but its release has been delayed and is now not expected to be made public until at least next month.