St Mary’s Library
St Mary’s Library updated book list.
Archive > May 2010
Catholics reach back to church tradition
Tess Livingston, The Australian, May 22, 2010
A NEW translation of the mass soon to be celebrated by more than 100 million English-speaking Catholics reaches back to church tradition, replacing the more colloquial and dumbed-down liturgy that was adopted by the Vatican 40 years ago. The Weekend Australian today provides an exclusive and comprehensive preview of the changes, which are the biggest revision since Pope Paul VI approved the current Roman Missal in 1969 after the Second Vatican Council. In style, the new translation of the mass is reverential and traditional, restoring emphasis on the transcendent and the sacred, and replacing words such as “happy” with “blessed” and phrases such as “this is” with “behold”. It revives a classical style of liturgical language rarely heard for 40 years, using such words and phrases as: oblation, implore, consubstantial, serene and kindly countenance, spotless victim, divine majesty, holy and venerable, and “command that these gifts be borne by the hands of your holy Angel to your altar on high”.
Abuse crisis is actually a hierarchy crisis
by An NCR Editorial on Apr. 30, 2010
The sex abuse crisis is not fundamentally about sex. The phrase is a convenient tag that has been applied to a deeper, ongoing problem that, at its core, has to do with power and authority and how it is used in the church.
The sex abuse crisis is actually a hierarchy crisis, it is a crisis of a culture that can no longer maintain its superiority by dint of office or by claim of some ontological difference from the rest of humankind. The overwhelming evidence shows that from parish priest to pope, those charged with protecting the community, on hearing that children were being sexually abused, acted first to protect the institutional church.
A Blessing for Absence – John O’Donohue
May you know that absence is full
Of tender presence and that
Nothing is ever lost or forgotten.
May the absences in your life be full of eternal echo.
May you sense around you the secret
Elsewhere which holds the presences
That have left your life.
May you be generous in your embrace of loss.
May the sore of your grief turn into a well
Of seamless presence.
May your compassion reach out to the ones
We never hear from and may you have
The courage to speak out for the excluded ones.
May you become the gracious
And passionate subject of your own life.
May you not disrespect your mystery
Through brittle words or false belonging.
May you be embraced by God in whom
Dawn and twilight are one and may
Your longing inhabit its deepest dreams
Within the shelter of the Great Belonging.
From John O’Donohue’s Eternal Echoes-Exploring our Hunger to Belong
Karyn Walsh – Homilist May 8-9th 2010
Reflection on the Progressive Spirituality conference
I went to the progressive spirituality conference with Peter Terry and Helen after having coffee with Peter and Terry on Easter Sunday.
I had this question within me about where does justice fit, where does engagement with the world around us has it place in this emerging language of progressive spirituality that we are hearing.
Peter Kennedy’s first year in exile
Peter Kennedy May 07, 2010 Eureka Street.com.au
This interview with rebel Catholic priest, Peter Kennedy, took place almost exactly 12 months after his departure from St Mary’s Parish in South Brisbane. Since leaving, he and his followers have formed a congregation outside the Catholic Church that they call St Mary’s-in-Exile.
Trouble had been brewing between Kennedy and the local hierarchy for a number of years. This came to a head in August 2008 when Archbishop John Bathersby sent Kennedy a letter accusing him and his parish of ‘practices that separate it from communion with the Roman Catholic Church’.
A number of heated exchanges followed — exacerbated by taking place in the full glare of the media spotlight — culminating in a letter from the archbishop the following February terminating Kennedy’s appointment to the parish. Initially Kennedy refused to go, but he and his supporters finally departed from the parish in April 2009, marking a final rupture with the Catholic Church.
On this anniversary of the split, he reflects on the state of his community, how he views his priesthood, whether a return to the Catholic fold might be possible, and the importance to him of the mystical approach to religion.
The interview was recorded for Eureka Street at a conference called Common Dreams, a meeting of religious progressives held over four days at St Kilda Town Hall in Melbourne in mid-April 2010.
This forum is indicative of where Kennedy sees his new spiritual home. As he says in the interview, one of the first groups he connected with after his departure from the Church was the Progressive Spirituality Network in Brisbane, and St Mary’s-in-Exile will probably continue to be part of the progressive Christian movement.
This progressive movement has gathered steam in the last ten years or so. It seeks to update Christian beliefs and practice so that they are in line with the modern world, with the latest findings in science, psychology, and sociology. It tends to reinterpret as metaphor, or even deny, the supernatural and miraculous elements of Christianity, including core beliefs like the virgin birth of Jesus and his resurrection.
It straddles denominational divides, and is probably most clearly seen in its intellectual leaders, the chief one being retired US Episcopalian bishop, John Shelby Spong. Others include English theologian Don Cupitt who inspired the Sea of Faith Network, and theologian and Presbyterian minister from New Zealand, Lloyd Geering.
The Christian organisations widely recognised as pioneering the progressive movement are the Westar Institute and its off-shoot, the Jesus Seminar, both founded and based in America.
In the video, Kennedy refers to a book of essays recently published about him and his falling out with the Church. Called Peter Kennedy: the Man who Threatened Rome, it is no mere hagiography. While most writers — and it includes heavyweights like Paul Collins, Martin Flanagan, Hans Kung and Joan Chittister — are in sympathy with him, there is an excellent chapter by Neil Ormerod, professor of theology at the Australian Catholic University, who is critical of Kennedy, and points out very clearly why he can no longer be considered part of the Church.
And that is a pity. As the video shows, he is a man of some eloquence, conviction and charisma, well able to communicate to the broader culture. In these days of shortage of priests, and crisis in the Church on a number of fronts, there is an urgent need for people with his abilities.
Peter Kirkwood is a freelance writer and video consultant who worked for 23 years in the Religion and Ethics Unit of ABC TV. He has a Master’s degree from the Sydney College of Divinity.
Correspondence to and from Archbishop John Bathersby
Your Grace,
I wrote about a dozen letters to you a year ago when St Mary’s community was so much in the news and now, a year later, I would like to give you a personal update on this community which once worshiped at St Marys.
Certainly the homeless are no longer able to shelter in our grounds and the low ceiling at the TLC is a little claustrophobic – nothing like the soaring height in the old church – but we have come to appreciate the opportunity to look beyond the physical space where we gather and we do experience the presence of Christ among us. Ourselves experiencing this homelessness has itself taught us even greater empathy with the marginalised.
What we have really appreciated is the freedom we have felt to express our beliefs and especially our doubts. As a community we have felt that we can be authentic followers of the Christian tradition – no longer constrained by views imposed from an outside “authority.” We are fully adult human beings and are encouraged to think for ourselves. Though we appreciate the challenges thrown out by Peter and Terry we are certainly not lemmings following our leaders over the cliff. They are frequently challenged by those in the community.
Today I was reminded of this quote from Vatican II’s “Constitution on the Church” which clearly states “The baptized, by regeneration and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, are consecrated a spiritual house and a holy priesthood, that through all their Christian activities they may offer spiritual sacrifices and proclaim the marvels of him who has called them out of darkness into his wonderful light” (Lumen Gentium 10). Do you agree that this means that the vocation that the church offers to the faithful is not a secondary role as clients of clerical ministries, but a Spirit-filled participation as pioneers in the church’s role as herald of the kingdom of God.?
I agree with this quote from an article on the Catholica website: “The fundamental problem with clerical condescension is that it appeals to and reinforces a passive clericalism on the part of the laity who are used to being put down and quite unused to being reminded of, or commissioned for, an apostolic role.” Yes I know there are some wonderful lay people working with the main stream church but do they really feel free to question (and in so doing deepen) their faith?
I had always tried to be a “Good Catholic” but after really experiencing God’s presence for the first time in 1970 my spiritual life changed radically. I realised the necessity of listening to God, .and experienced a wonderful confidence to speak out. Both qualities I hope you may have recognised in the many letters I sent to you before we moved from the old church.
I do believe that we at St Marys-in-exile have made and will make many mistakes but we are firmly in the tradition of the great mystics of the church and if we continue (individually and as a group) to listen to the Spirit we will have made a contribution, however small, that only we can make to the coming of the Kingdom.
18 April 2010
Dear Patricia,
Thanks for your note. May God continue to bless you both. I will pray for all of us hoping that one day we will meet in God’s presence of love.
Sincerely in Christ
John Bathersby
ARCHBISHOP OF BRISBANE