Author Archives: cmadmin

Irish and Aboriginal links

When Ted Kennedy, 74, former parish priest of St Vincent de Paul’s, Redfern, famous for his solidarity with Aboriginal people and for his challenge to Cardinal George Pell’s moral condemnation of homosexuals, died at Concord Hospital in Croydon, NSW, in the early hours of Tuesday 17 May, the news came to us in Fitzroy through two phone calls from Ireland before our Sydney friends had got started on their day. He would have liked that.

Those calls came from Ted Casey of Ring, County Waterford, and Seán O’Connor of Beamore, County … Continue reading →

From: wendy
Sent: Sunday, 26 June 2005 1:38 PM
To: mail@church-mouse.net
Subject: Neocatechists’ hypocrisy

I have for the first time been reading through your web site and am horrified and saddened at the state of affairs in Redfern so soon after Fr. Ted Kennedy’s death.

Fr. Kennedy is (or was) the equivalent of Christ among the Pharisees of the time, whom He accused of hypocrisy and too much involvement with the law rather than the people, and urged his followers to love one another.

Cardinal Pell and the hierarchy of the Church would do well to remember … Continue reading →

St Vincent’s Community Redfern 10 June 2005

Most Revd. Anthony Fisher
Auxiliary Bishop of Sydney
341 Old South Head Road
Watson’s Bay. NSW 2030

Dear Bishop Fisher,

Thank you for your kind comments about our late pastor Ted Kennedy. As you rightly say he was a person held in great affection and loved by many people. Members of the Redfern congregation and the wider Catholic community will continue to feel his influence and direction. We believe that it was his special love for Aboriginal people that gave rigour and strength to his theology of the poor as … Continue reading →

The rhetoric:

The Reality: Kiko and Screaming in Kelmscott

A 73 year old man alleges he was threatened with excommunication by his Neo Catechumenate Way priest as well as physically threatened by the same priest on two occasions.

Mr Ernie Samuels, of the Good Shepherd Church in Kelmscott, West Australia, has written to Archbishop Barry Hickey alleging abusive behaviour by the assistant priest, Fr Richard Tomelty.

Mr Samuels claims that a meeting the attended for the purpose of discussing the use of the parish hall was diverted into a series of questions about … Continue reading →

The following item, which appeared in the Tablet earlier this month, is nowhere near the normal standard of articles published in that venerable journal. It is riddled with errors and misinformation, which could readily have been avoided had an attempt been made to look at both sides of the story.

Police called to Aboriginal church demonstration.

Police have been called to a Sydney church that was at the centre of an innovative ministry to Aboriginal people only days after a bishop warned parishioners against disrupting the liturgy.

Parish clergy who are members of the Neocatechumenal Way … Continue reading →

Marnie Kennedy has received literally hundreds of letters and phone calls from well-wishers from, one might say, the highest to the lowest in the land and beyond.

There has, however, been no communication from the Archdiocese of Sydney save Auxiliary Bishop Fisher’s expression of “sincere sympathies to you all” in the introductory paragraph of his appalling and uninformed letter to the Parishioners of St Vincent de Paul Church Redfern.

Reproduced below is a letter from Bob Carr, NSW State Premier.

The following message comes from a young lady who has been part of our community all her life.

Hi All,

I’ve been wanting to write for a couple of weeks since Ted’s funeral and the increasing physical violence.

It’s really lovely to see a few old (sic) faces returning and hopefully there are more to come! At Ted’s funeral, seeing so many familiar faces, I was reminded of the strong physical presence of our community that was so vibrant during Ted’s years.

With the Neocat population steadily increasing we must continue to stand our ground as a community. It would … Continue reading →

He came to Redfern by choice. With two other priests he elected to go where he could form a ministry following Jesus in companionship and solidarity with the poor and dispossessed. Here he made his first contact with aboriginal people. He was shocked and appalled by the violence done to their lives. Encountering their poverty was transforming. He spoke of finding in aboriginal people a nobility and gentleness that had been wrought by suffering. Father Ted Kennedy died on 17 May after a long illness. Parish Priest at St Vincent’s Church Redfern for thirty years … Continue reading →

I write to let you know that I support your endeavours during what has been a painful and challenging time for the Community at St Vincent’s Redfern since the appointment of Neo-Catechumenate priests to that church.

As a priest, I worked from the beginning of 1994 to the end of 1996, in a parish in western Melbourne, where the Neo-Catechumenate had been asked to leave my predecessor because of a whole range of painful issues that had divided the parish community, caused heartache to so many and resulted in those entrusted with the leadership of the parish being “snubbed” by … Continue reading →

St Joseph’s Catholic Church Newtown
9.6.05

Dear Bishop Fisher

Having received no return call to my messages left with two of your secretaries on Tuesday I assume I will not get one now – thus this letter.

I have worked in this archdiocese for 35 years since going to the seminary and 20 years before that as a parishioner, catechist, member of the Legion of Mary and active Catholic on the school campuses and places of work I have attended.

I have been visiting Redfern parish for 18 years on a weekly basis to attend the gospel discussion group … Continue reading →