Mary MacKillop … a Biblical 'Saint'?

Currently in Australia, the news media is salivating at the prospect that Australia is soon to have its first ever Catholic Saint (you won’t find the word ‘Catholic’ in many news blogs; she will be an Ozzie Saint). Mary MacKillop is big news at the moment and likely to get much bigger.

Criticising Mother Mary is akin to criticising Mother Theresa of Calcutta. Unlike Christopher Hitchens, our website has no interest in criticising either woman but neither do we want to ignore big religious news … on the home front at that!

For those of you who no nothing about Mary MacKillop, a few introductory historical details are in order.

In short, Mary MacKillop (born 1842 in Melbourne) helped to establish ‘the Sisters of St Joseph’ in order to create dozens of Australian Catholic schools to educate Catholic children; many of whom came from poor Australian families.

Temporary excommunication failed to stop the feisty Mary (who fought many battles within the Catholic Church) from achieving her goals and is remembered by Australian Catholics for reaching out to the underprivileged in an Anglican dominated society. Australians like gutsy people who take on big institutions.

At the present time, a second miracle is believed by the Catholic authorities to be attributed to Mary who, in the words of a senior nun in her order, “put in a good word to God” on behalf of the unnamed, former cancer sufferer.

Mary is likely to become a Catholic Saint, officially, in about March 2011. The media frenzy will be loud, inclusive, celebratory and respectful (unlike some other religious issues).

Which brings us to the question, what actually is a ‘saint’?

According to the Catholic Church a ‘saint’ is a totally surrendered Christian (Catholic) who has meritoriously bypassed purgatory, lives in Heaven and intercedes for Catholics on earth. They serve as inspirational examples to the Catholic flock because they are considered very, very holy; due in large part to their "good works" on behalf of the Catholic Church. They are, however, venerated – not worshipped. Be that as it may, Catholics believe saints are good value as far as personal heavenly lobbying is concerned.

Describing Mary MacKillop as a saint-to-be, the Sydney Catholic Archbishop George Pell claimed Mary had “earned her stripes”; a clear reference to the Catholic view of ‘grace plus works’ – in effect, a works based salvation.

When it comes to the Bible, however, there are actually quite a few references to the word “saint”, all of which are at odds with a Catholic understanding.

In fact, the word ‘saint’ is clearly applied to all believers, not just to some. In all cases apart from one verse (Phil. 4.21 and this is contextually applying to all Christians) the word is never used in the singular.

The “saints” according to the New Testament are the church (all true believers). See the 62 references to saints in the ESV, quite an eye opener.

There is not even a hint of the Catholic view of saints found anywhere in the New Testament. To be a "Christian" is to be a "saint" - a holy one; that is, a saved sinner accepted by God, totally, because of what Jesus (only) has achieved for him/her as a substitute for them on the cross. In short, he paid the penalty for their sin - hence, the 'sinner' is now a 'saint' because the sinner has been adopted into the family of God (our Father, our Dad).

Sin has been effectively dealt with, no need for purgatory.

Nor is there any mediator in heaven apart from Jesus Christ, being still in the form of a man; the Divine Messiah is God’s sole representative in Heaven as the Great High Priest, Prophet and King.

It is Jesus only, Who stands between those who formally estranged from God - sinners to saints.

Paul, writing to Timothy, states very clearly that “… there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.” 1 Timothy 2:5-6 (ESV)

Why is it that through the entire history of the church various church groups, sects and denominations and countless individuals find it compulsory to add to the finished work of Christ? Why is it that we find it necessary to inject our human achievements into the ministry of Heaven?

Is Jesus not enough? Is not what He accomplished enough? Did He not say on the cross "It is finished."?

I once held the dying hand of a Catholic woman and told her that Jesus had done it all; all she needed was to trust Jesus, alone… what He had done for her was totally sufficient for her salvation. Repentance and faith in Him was all that God required.

She needed not a manufactured saint but a trustworthy Saviour ... and so do you ... and so do I.

 (This unedited article was previously published on our site December 2009. UPDATE: Mary MacKillop was 'canonised' by Rome, in Rome, October 17th 2010).

ADDED - 18 November 2010: http://www.ballinachurch.org.au/news/mary-mackillop-not-australias-first-saint/