Deal struck to end St Mary's priest rebellion
<http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,25249368-3102,00.html>http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,25249368-3102,00.html Margaret Wenham March 26, 2009 11:00pm REBEL priest Peter Kennedy will conduct his final Mass at St Mary's on April 19 after a breakthrough at mediation meetings yesterday. After eight hours of negotiation, St Mary's council co-convenor Marg Ortiz said a solution had been found to the impasse that had seen Father Kennedy refuse to hand over the keys to the church and continue to lead masses in defiance of Archbishop John Bathersby's February 19 "decree of removal". Archbishop Bathersby did not attend the mediation session he had helped to organise. Instead of attending at the city offices of the Archdiocese's lawyers with church community members, Archbishop Bathersby spent the morning at Seton College in Mt Gravatt. There he gave a liturgy, blessed a bible, welcomed a religious relic and addressed the student body. Mrs Ortiz said church members were disappointed by the Archbishop's non-attendance. "We were very disappointed as initially we were under the impression he was going to be part of it." The Archdiocese declined to comment on the Archbishop's absence, saying it did "not wish to jeopardise the independent mediation process". Father Kennedy, who was unavailable for comment late yesterday, had previously ruled out participating, citing Archbishop Bathersby's refusal to include in the mediation his handling of the accusations of unorthodox practices made against Father Kennedy and his sacking of the popular priest who has been at St Mary's for 28 years. The agreement recorded the church council and the Archbishop wanting to avoid legal action by the Archdiocese as owners of the St Mary's church property. At the mediation – led by former High Court judge Ian Callinan – the church community was represented by Mrs Ortiz, Tony Presland, John Fitzwalter, Roger Dewar and Karyn Walsh and Michael Kelly representing Micah Projects. Solicitor-General Walter Sofronoff, QC, led the Catholic Church's legal team. Also attending for the Archdiocese was St Stephen's Cathedral Dean Father Ken Howell – whom Archbishop Bathersby has appointed to take over St Mary's administration. Ms Ortiz said, in the interests of the community's needs, it had been agreed that Father Kennedy would continue saying Mass at St Mary's until April 19. This meant he could still conduct the liturgies over Easter. <*}}}>< <http://www.holypostage.com/>Custom Faith-based U.S. Postage <*}}}>< + <*}}}>< <http://astore.amazon.com/halthekin-20>Catholic on Amazon <*}}}>< <*}}}>< <http://www.halfthekingdom.org/on+allposters+today.html>on AllPosters today <*}}}>< + <*}}}>< <http://www.holypostage.com/>Holy Postage <*}}}>< <*}}}><<http://www.halfthekingdom.org/>Half the <http://www.halfthekingdom.org/>Kingdom!<*}}}>< + "A person is a person, no matter how small." Dr. Seuss --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Please note that I do not send or open attachments sent to this list. You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Catholics on Fire" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Catholics-on-Fire May the blessing of Jesus and our Blessed Mother be with you -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
