There seems to be some sort of rowl in Brisbane whereby a popular priest Father Peter Kennedy has taken the good news of Vatican II and created a dynamic, charismatic RC church full of living, breathing Catholics full again of blood and spirit.
Kennedy was removed by the Archbishop on complaints of letters sent to the Vatican complaining that a statue of Buddha was seen on the St Mary parish church grounds in Brisbane.
Buddhism is not incompatible with Jesus and his common man’s message. Buddha in most sects is just an enabler to the awakening of the spirit within which is not necessarily synonymous with soul.
Apparently the Parish church which can get over a thousand people in attendance at mass is deemed a great threat to the Church Hierarchy. Cynical me bets that they want to sell the valuable land beneath St Mary’s and or get rid of Vatican II loving priests and Laity.
Enthusiasm is a dangerous thing. I cannot get an accurate picture to see if Father Kennedy is a con artist of sorts, or worse a Protestant lover, who takes poetic license during the Mass to express the Trinity as Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer instead of Father, Son, Holy Ghost.
This all started a couple weeks ago and I do not see much more news on the matter from down under.
There seems a news blackout has occurred, but it is Australia, with little news about this standoff between the people of St. Mary’s and the cookie cutter hierarchy wanting to stamp this sort of thing out and probably with a tridentine Latin mass.
Why doesn’t the Vatican do like the Church of England or some Lutheran sects and have a high Latin church with rituals and a low church full of Gospel, prayer and spirit.
Stop gleefully sending people out the door to other sects, different religions or no religion at all!!!
Vatican to excommunicate South Brisbane priest Father Peter Kennedy
The death knell was sounded for Father Kennedy in August, when Archbishop Bathersby warned St Mary's to toe the Vatican line or close. He told Father Kennedy, who has presided for 28 years over the 800-member church community, that St Mary's was operating outside practices and policies of the Catholic Church.
He cited a number of issues including allegedly unorthodox Masses being practiced and the hierarchical authority of the church not being respected.
The Archbishop's intervention was sparked by complaints to the Vatican by a parishioner who, among other issues, complained about a Buddhist statue in the church.
In a letter in November responding to Archbishop Bathersby's charges, Father Kennedy and members of the congregation denied they were out-of-step with the Church and Rome.
After a further letter from the Archbishop to the priest in December, the St Mary's community has been awaiting the primate's final decision.
This week the Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell, gave his tacit blessing for the possible excommunication of Father Kennedy.
The Vatican is a place for some. For others Vatican II is spirit, the Spirit, and ideal of Christ’s message lifting itself out of a feudalism mindset.
