QLD: Broken branch turns over new leaf

AAP General News (Australia)
04-08-2009
QLD: Broken branch turns over new leaf

By Paul Osborne

BRISBANE, April 8 AAP - A thicket cross has replaced the traditional crucifix at St
Mary's Catholic church in South Brisbane.

The chosen symbol for the final Easter service for rebel priest Father Peter Kennedy
is, as the parish website says, "a mass of sticks, branches, and brushwood, gathered from
near and afar, old, new, shattered, broken, pruned and milled".

Church members and visitors have added to it over several weeks.

One Melbourne visitor contributed a century-old piece of wood in a gesture of solidarity.

The symbol echoes the words of Catholic reformer, St John of the Cross: "Would that
people might come at last to see that it is quite impossible to reach the thicket of the
riches and wisdom of God except by first entering the thicket of much suffering, in such
a way that the soul finds there its consolation and desire".

It also echoes St Mary's position at a crucial point in its 116-year history.

The Easter Sunday service will be the last for Fr Kennedy after almost three decades
of ministry at St Mary's church.

The controversial cleric agreed to step aside from his role from April 19 after a mediation
agreement was reached with the Archdiocese of Brisbane.

The mediation followed nine months of intense battling with Archbishop John Bathersby,
who declared St Mary's to be "an authority to itself" and accused Fr Kennedy of having
"caused harm to ecclesiastical communion in spite of frequent requests from me to do otherwise".

The archbishop cited examples such as a Buddhist statue in the church, using unauthorised
wording for baptisms and marriages and allowing women to preach the homily.

Following this weekend's Easter services, many - if not all - of the parish's members
plan to move 200 metres down the road to a new premises at the Trades and Labour Council
building.

Fr Kennedy, who has vowed to lead the new congregation, has cheekily named the new
church "St Mary's in Exile".

But for how long it will go on remains uncertain.

The plan looks to be on shaky ground, according to Brisbane Chancellor Fr Adrian Farrelly.

He cites a letter written to the parish in February by Archbishop Bathersby which removed
Fr Kennedy as St Mary's administrator.

The letter said that "those who follow you (Fr Kennedy) should realise they will not
be in communion with the Roman Catholic Church or the Archdiocese of Brisbane".

Fr Farrelly told The Catholic Leader newspaper that Fr Kennedy was "clearly in an area
of disobedience" by setting up such a community and was acting contrary to his promise
of obedience to Archbishop Bathersby made on his ordination day.

The canon lawyer said the basis of any examination by the church of the new St Mary's
group would be how it met the tests of "faith, sacraments and governance".

"We need to wait and see what the reality of the situation becomes. Ecclesiastical
penalties can be imposed for such disobedience to the archbishop's wishes," he said.

"However, the church still looks for a change of heart - it's still hoped that Fr Peter
may reconsider his plans."

The existing parish - originally formed in 1893 - will continue, under administrator
Fr Ken Howell.

"It has a present and it will have a future," Fr Farrelly said.

Fr Kennedy told reporters after agreeing on the mediation deal with the archdiocese
that he expected the vast majority of St Mary's congregation to go with him to the new
community.

"I'm hoping that somehow people within the community will come up with some ideas about
how we might rent. We couldn't buy one, but we could rent something," he said.

"For now, nothing has changed in my position, except I can't now come to St Mary's."

Fr Kennedy remains a Catholic priest with the right to conduct masses and baptisms.

"I think we've lost the fight by being pushed out of here, by being excluded from here,
but have they won the battle? That is the question," Fr Kennedy said.

The turbulent priest has a raft of supporters.

Fellow priest Fr Wrex (Wrex) Woolnough, from Caboolture, wrote in his parish newsletter
that the situation raised a wider issue for the church.

"It is about the way we will be able to `be church' in the future," he wrote.

Another backer, Gaye Keir, whose comments have been reproduced in a number of parish
newsletters, says what has happened at St Mary's represents a "paradigm shift".

"Once you've decided the earth is round and not flat, there's no going back to believing
the earth is flat and there's no compromise position that encompasses both flat and round,"

she says.

"So it is with the people of St Mary's who have arrived at an understanding of God,
Jesus and church that is at odds with the paradigms of the hierarchical church."

As the St Mary's community reflect on the thicket cross - with its shattered and broken
sticks - they'll be praying for healing and new life in exile.

AAP pjo/ldj/cdh

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