Saint Mary's in Exile - Brisbane

First RC rule of obedience:

Don’t let the local bishop get into your pants – your pants pocket that is – the one with the deed to the church in it.

Once Rome or the local bishop has the deed, they can throw you out with any excuse and like any other slumlord. And sell your church to meet walking around petty cash expenses.

Looks like Father Kennedy of St Mary’s of Brisbane fame is learning the fine points of the fine print of boilerplate real estate contracts with the official RC Church.

Want to preach and live 95% of the whole Cultural Catholic thing and skip the 5% BULLSHIT imposed by the prissy guys in dresses – Form your own RC church parish and don’t surrender the deed.

One can see far reaching possibilities in the RC people of God who care and believe in themselves and within the cultural context of Christian fellowship to continue an energetic and viable church ministry – with less interference from church bureaucrats.

Rebel priest forms ‘church in exile’

Sacked St Mary's priest, Father Peter Kennedy has announced that he will be forming a "church in exile" only a few blocks from St Mary's Catholic Church in South Brisbane, after Fr Kennedy and the archdiocese of Brisbane reached an agreement in arbitration…

Father Kennedy said the Archbishop would not be able to stop him from forming another congregation of the Catholic Church.

"The Archbishop told me that himself," Fr Kennedy said.

Rebel priest Peter Kennedy expects congregation to follow him

Fr Kennedy, a priest for 44 years including 28 at St Mary's, said he still rejected Archbishop Bathersby's claim that St Mary's was operating outside the Church.

"We've lost the fight but have we lost the battle?" Fr Kennedy said.

He predicted the Catholic Church was "pragmatic enough" to change radically, including allowing women to become leaders.

"The Church when it is facing annihilation can turn itself around," he said.

Fr Kennedy said he was not afraid of being excommunicated, because the move was "just words".

"They can't burn you at the stake these days," he said. "We live, thank God, in a liberal-democratic society.

"That's the question the Church has to face: How it can be a feudal system working in a liberal democracy."

Enough said for the moment. And good luck.