BRISBANE CATHOLIC Priest Peter Kennedy was sacked by his Archbishop for contravening aspects of Catholic doctrine in February 2009.
This was a crisis that had been brewing for several years and was as much about Peter’s shedding of Church formalities as it was about his personal struggles with the relevance of a heavily doctrinal church.
Kennedy was accused of not wearing vestments at Mass, of allowing lay women to preach and of using alternative Eucharistic prayers. More concerning for the dogmatists is Kennedy’s worrying out loud that Jesus was a human being rather than a divine one.
Peter Kennedy has been strongly supported by his articulate congregation at St Mary’s Church in South Brisbane. Following Kennedy’s sacking they became St Mary’s-in-Exile and re-located to the Trades and Labour Council building also in South Brisbane.
Journalist Martin Flanagan has assembled a number of commentators who reflect on Kennedy’s personality, the people who worked with him, his social justice work with the disadvantaged in Brisbane, and the complexity of his doctrinal fight with Catholic hierarchy that went all the way to Rome.
Broadcaster Paul Collins is clear on what side of the line he stands -”the temple police seem to be the kind of people who psychologically can’t tolerate the fact that others may have different approaches to faith to them…”
The specific combatants were Kennedy and Archbishop Bathersby who was once Kennedy’s friend, and Collins now sees the clash of two pretty big egos. He puts the blame for the sacking on Bathersby who he sees as having ‘a very narrow view of the nature of ecclesiastical communion’.
Age journalist Martin Flanagan’s sensitive portrait is of Kennedy the lonely but determined and charismatic man.
That charisma was felt by Millie De Conceicao a Timorese migrant who was the community garden coordinator at
beliefs.
History professor Ross Fitzgerald goes further to suggest that, ‘Fr Kennedy is the victim of an institutionalised Church more concerned with papering over the cracks than in cleaning up its own act as a force for good in the world.’
Catholic nun, Veronica Brady takes up that theme and is worried that the Catholic Church is bureaucratic and follows the model of the old Roman Empire. “The Law seems more powerful than the Spirit and prophets are regarded with suspicion”, she says.
A differing point of view comes from theology professor Neil Ormerod who says that when Kennedy brings into question the divinity of Christ, he can’t then call his beliefs Catholic or Christian. He frowns on the schism caused by Kennedy and says that ‘notoriety is almost guaranteed to produce St Mary’s. A strong Catholic, Millie is deeply saddened by what has happened at St Mary’s. ‘It’s taken a lot of people’s home away’, she says conscious of the homeless people who came to rely on the community garden and the church grounds. ‘The church without Peter … is nothing’ she adds.
Like Millie there are a number of short contributions in the book by St Mary’s supporters and a wide range of thoughtful people who were drawn to this vibrant church community.
Some are concerned at being ‘out of communion with Rome’, still others are angry at conservative church vigilantes who secretly reported on Kennedy’s wayward interpretation of church doctrine. Kennedy is said to have ordered one vigilante out of St Mary’s for taking photos at an unorthodox Christening.
Michael Morewood, a former Catholic priest believes what has happened to Kennedy is symptomatic of the wider view of Christians who don’t see relevance in orthodox theology or Catholic sacramental practice. He says these people are not being unfaithful, they just want their religion to shift to more contemporary views of men,
women and their relationship to each other and their
popularity’. In the end it comes down to whether Kennedy’s parish can claim to have upheld central Christian and Catholic beliefs.
Australian songwriter Shane Howard has sung at St Mary’s. He attempts to analyse the dilemma that caused Kennedy’s sacking and like many essayists in this book, sees an inflexible Church unable to embrace a modern world.
He concludes with what the Church has perhaps forgotten, that they and Father Peter Kennedy are on the same side: “Fr Peter Kennedy and St Mary’s ‘crime’ was to lean toward a modestly different kind of Australian Catholicism. It’s not a foreign country. ‘All are welcomed, none are turned away’.
July 7th, 2010 at 6:05 pm
where is Fr Peter kennedy now? is he still doing baptisms?
January 8th, 2011 at 7:32 pm
As a young man during the 60s I was in a Catholic Youth Movement called the CYM. It was very exciting for us when we believed Vatican 2 started towards some changes that gave us the impression that some of the Power of the Catholic Church was going to be shared with all humans.
I am not sure when things started to go back to the DARK age, but, I do appreciate the Christian support and Education I had around the 60s. From the Catholic Church.
During the 1960,s and up to the 1990,s I was working, as a volunteer, to put that Christian education I had to what I considered was good use.
I have been to Bible studies with a few different Christian Churches, and the best ones I went to were within the Catholic Church. Fr. Eugene o,Sullivan comes to mind as being the one who introduce great Bible Studies methods.
So for me, the Catholic Church was the best group to practice Christianity in, However, With what the Catholic Authorities have done to Fr. Kennedy, I do not feel confident that the Catholic Church is saying :::: Lay People of the Catholic Church, Please practice Christianity. Instead I hear the Authorities saying, Do as we say, not as God says.
Layman Gary.
April 7th, 2011 at 9:12 pm
Heresy is heresy – no matter how you dress it up. By their fruits you will know them – what now are Peter Kennedy’s fruits without the Catholic Church?
May 17th, 2011 at 7:11 pm
A lot of the old timers who tried to redefine Catholicism like Peter Kennedy are now being left like a shag on a rock with little support. If you are not Catholic then don’t stay in the Church and cause division. Leave and start your own Church instead of weakening someone else’s.
May 29th, 2011 at 10:05 pm
Good on you Peter Im just watching you on tele. Im a non practicing catholic too much when I was young. Im 55 and gay. Boo when it comes to the church besides its bloody boring. If Peters church was where I live myself and my partner would go. When I die I dont care if a buddist monk sends me off thats what I think of the church its teachings and its GREED.
May 29th, 2011 at 10:10 pm
As an active member of the Baptist faith, it has been refreshing to see a Catholic Priest understand that there is more to Jesus than the antiquated rules and regulations of Catholicism and reaching out to his community. Unfortunately it looks as though he’s heading somewhere else with his magnificent Knowledge. Peter please keep your eyes on Jesus, he will lead you and your church in the right direction.
June 11th, 2011 at 2:05 pm
The Church is better off without Peter. It’s great that Peter reached out to the local community. As a Catholic priest that’s exactly what he should have been doing. But his dumping of Christianity while still keeping the pretence of being a Catholic priest makes him a hyppocrate.
June 12th, 2011 at 8:08 am
Hey Mr Sear, what do you mean dumping of Christianity? Christianity is not a set of rules or the colour of a robe, but an act of love and kindness towards the spirit of life, for God is life. I cannot believe that in this day and age church goers need to be told how to feel about God rather than to seek this spirit in their heart. Church is indeed a space where people find one another to worship the spirit of life. I was born a Catholic and that’s what I learned in my heart because I listened. I never seen the Catholic Church as a big club with rules to follow. That’s the RSL.
August 8th, 2011 at 4:54 pm
Shame on Peter Kennedy! He wrongly blames our Heavenly Father, the God of Creation, for the work of the devil. A person who massacres innocent people is bearing the wicked fruits of their father the devil, the “father of lies”, “the ruler of this world”, the Bible says!!!
Father Kennedy is totally wrong regarding Jesus – he fails to acknowledge the overwhelming evidence of Jesus life, death and resurrection. His devotees are following a man whose wicked thinking is leading them to an eternity in hell!!!
September 12th, 2011 at 12:59 am
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