MEDIATION on the way forward in the changeover of administrators for St Mary’s parish, South Brisbane, will possibly start this week, according to a spokesman for Brisbane archdiocese.
The mediation proceedings follow an impasse which developed when former St Mary’s administrator Fr Peter Kennedy refused to hand over responsibility for the parish to new administrator Fr Ken Howell.
Fr Howell was to celebrate his first Masses as the parish administrator on the weekend of February 21 and 22. However, he decided not to preside at the Masses on police advice when feelings in the South Brisbane community continued to run high.
Archbishop John Bathersby of Brisbane later said a logical first step to achieve “a peaceful and dignified outcome” to the impasse would be to invite Fr Kennedy to participate in a process of mediation over the transition to a new pastor.
Former Justice of the High Court of Australia Ian Callinan said he would act as mediator if both parties were agreeable.
Last week an archdiocesan spokesman said the archdiocese’s legal representatives were negotiating for a start to mediation, and he hoped this would start in the coming week.
Fr Kennedy was removed as St Mary’s administrator on February 19 following his failure to agree to directives from Archbishop Bathersby to cease practices at St Mary’s “that separated it from communion with the Roman Catholic Church”.
Since then several liturgical and theological experts within the Church have outlined a number of areas in which Fr Kennedy’s liturgical practices affected communion within the Church.
Director of The Liturgical Commission in Brisbane archdiocese Fr Tom Elich, in an article in The Catholic Leader today, poses several questions relating to the situation.
“What happens when a community does not use these (liturgical texts), does not even use a recognised Eucharistic Prayer, and omits any mention of the Pope, the bishop of Rome, or the bishop of the local diocese?
“What happens when the community chooses its own readings or even chooses to dispense with the Scriptures altogether?”
“There is a rupture,” he said.
Assistant head of the Australian Catholic University’s School of Theology Fr David Pascoe noted that Fr Kennedy had publicly appealed to Vatican II for how St Mary’s is an expression of the council’s teaching.
Fr Pascoe, however noted that Vatican II “focused on the bishop entrusted with the task of safeguarding this sacred communion within and between every diocese and all the people who are Church in each diocese”.
Fr Howell said the situation was that he could not “move forward” as St Mary’s administrator until mediation occurred.
The Catholic Leader attempted to contact Fr Peter Kennedy for his comments on the proposed mediation, but was told by a parish spokesperson that “he hasn’t heard from lawyers yet and will not be making a comment until he does”.
