BRISBANE Archbishop John Bathersby has placed the onus for the future of St Mary’s, South Brisbane, in the hands of its community.
In a statement released on August 19 Archbishop Bathersby said the Vatican had raised questions about the church and its practices after it had received complaints.
“First of all (these queries were) concerning the presence of a Buddhist statue in the sanctuary of the church as well as the orthodoxy of the congregation itself praying the Eucharistic prayers during the Mass as well as the orthodoxy of the prayers themselves,” the Archbishop’s statement said.
He said he had spoken to St Mary’s administrator Fr Peter Kennedy about the seriousness of the concerns.
Archbishop Bathersby said the key question for St Mary’s was whether it was in communion with the Roman Catholic Church.
During a press conference at “Wynberg” on Monday, the Archbishop said: “At the present time St Mary’s I believe is not in communion with the Roman Catholic Church.
“It’s a Catholic parish, always has been and I would hope that the people would make decisions about coming back into communion with the Roman Catholic Church.
“I think the church that they have at the present time is the church that they’ve more or less shaped themselves.”
Archbishop Bathersby said being in communion with the Roman Catholic Church meant observing its rules.
“You have the same orthodox liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church, you use the sacraments in the same way as the Roman Catholic Church does and therefore if you go ahead and make your own decisions about that then you are shaping your own church.”
He said the church’s future was within the hands of its own congregation.
“If a parish goes astray in some way and says we’ll make our own church well then big decisions have to be made at that time.
“Certainly it’s something that I pray about and I’d like the whole archdiocese to pray about it.”
In a letter to Fr Kennedy and parishioners, he wrote: “The question for me is not so much whether St Mary’s should be closed down but whether St Mary’s will close itself down by practices that separate it from communion with the Roman Catholic Church.”
The Archbishop said there was much to admire at St Mary’s, especially its passion for social justice.
“At St Mary’s there is a strong emphasis upon Jesus as prophet of social justice, as champion of the poor and needy, which is good,” he said.
“But is equal emphasis given to Jesus as lover of the Father and man of prayer, who in Luke 5:16 leaves sick and suffering people to go off and pray to his Father, so important is the ‘will of the Father’?
“Pope Benedict XVI wrote in 2004 ‘The primacy of worship is the fundamental pre-requisite for the redemption of all people’.
“Often nowadays too little attention is paid to God and worship, and too much attention to action, important in itself, but needing to be linked absolutely to prayer and worship.”
The congregation of St Mary’s does however believe it is still in communion with the Roman Catholic Church.
A packed meeting at the church on Monday affirmed the parish’s vision of a Vatican II Church.
St Mary’s community member Karyn Walsh, who chaired the meeting, said South Brisbane parish was taking the issues raised by Archbishop Bathersby seriously.
“It was agreed that there are issues that the community needed to reflect on and we are starting on a process and these issues are being taken seriously,” Ms Walsh said.
“The important thing is that we do see ourselves as in communion with the archdiocese and we appreciate that the Archbishop recognises the process will take time.”
Ms Walsh said parishioners would be given the opportunity to sign up to groups to look at the issues raised by the Archbishop.
Parishioner Tony Robertson said there was a “healthy diversity” of opinions at the meeting and a desire to engage in dialogue about the issues raised by the Archbishop.
