The Spirit of Redfern’s Ted Kennedy a Decade on

Here is the text of Fr Frank Brennan’s homily for Ted Kennedy’s tenth anniversary mass.

The Spirit of Redfern’s Ted Kennedy a Decade on
Fr Frank Brennan SJ
Pentecost Sunday 2015

Acts 2:1-11
1 Corinthians 12:3-7, 12-13
John 20:19-23

Thank you for the privilege of being your preacher this morning here at St Vincent’s Redfern as we come together on Pentecost Sunday to honour the memory of our beloved Fr Ted Kennedy who died 10 years ago. I first came here to Redfern in 1976 as an impressionable young Jesuit novice. I … Continue reading

Pell’s successor announced

The new Archbishop of Sydney – a man with a big appetite for justice – see letter to St Vincent’s from 2005.

Not only did he call on the police to intervene in liturgical disturbances at St Vincent’s, but his vile comments towards the Foster family, destroyed by clerical abuse, makes one question his suitability to lead the Sydney diocese. (Back in July 2008, he enraged sex abuse victims and their supporters when he stated that  people were “dwelling crankily on old wounds”  – The Age.)

Have the intervening years had any mellowing effect?

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The Pope: how the Church will change

 

Dialogue between Francis and Repubblica’s founder, Eugenio Scalfari: “Starting from the Second Vatican Council, open to modern culture”. The conversation in the Vatican after the Pope’s letter to La Repubblica: “Convert you? Proselytism is solemn nonsense. You have to meet people and listen to them.”
by EUGENIO SCALFARI

Pope Francis told me: “The most serious of the evils that afflict the world these days are youth unemployment and the loneliness of the old. The old need care and companionship; the young need work and hope but have neither one nor the other, and the … Continue reading

St Vincent’s according to the Liturgy Office

Report on St Vincent de Paul’s Church, Redfern, with Recommendations
Regarding Internal Ordering and Liturgical Furnishings and Adornment

Introduction

This Report and Recommendations follows an inspection of St Vincent’s Church in April 2013 by Rev. Donald Richardson, Director of the Liturgy Office of the Archdiocese, and Mr Harry Stephens, a liturgical architect, Member of the Archdiocesan Liturgical Commission and Secretary of the National Liturgical Architecture and Art Board. The intent of the Report is to assess the present state of the church regarding liturgical ordering, art and architecture, and in the light of suggestions by the Parish Priest … Continue reading

Mural dilemma at St Vincent’s Church

REDFERN: Concern has been growing among parishioners of the St Vincent’s Catholic Church, as the mural painted behind the altar has deteriorated to an alarming state. Members of the Church have asked for a quote from professional restorers to have the mural fixed and have expressed to the Parish Priest, Father Melvin Llabanes, their wish to pay for the restoration themselves, but it has yet to be approved by the Church authorities.

04.1.StVincentsMural-667x331
The damaged mural at St Vincent’s in Redfern (Photo: Sandra Beeston)

The mural was painted by … Continue reading

Letter of resignation from Parish Advisory Committee

30 August 2013

Fr Melvin Llabanes
PO. Box 1067
Strawberry Hills NSW 2012

Dear Melvin,
I am writing this letter because my position as a long-term community representative on the St Vincent’s Parish Advisory Committee has become untenable, and wish to advise that I am resigning as of today. The community will advise you when my replacement has been selected.

The following is an attempt to contextualise my decision. I can’t apologise for its length – you have given me so much to reflect upon.

Hopeful Beginnings

When you started as parish priest in September … Continue reading

Ted Kennedy Interviews

Helen McCue interviewed Father Ted Kennedy at her place in Bowral over several months during 1996. In all there were six series of long interviews. Following Ted’s first mini-stroke she was keen to conduct the interviews so that some of Ted’s wonderful and inspirational life story could be collected. During the course of these interviews Ted had another small stroke, was not in the best of health and consequently struggled for memory and expression at times. These interviews nonetheless provide the reader with a partial insight into the extraordinary life of Father Ted Kennedy.

The recorded interviews were transcribed by … Continue reading

New life for the presbytery

After lying derelict for many years, the former St Vincent’s presbytery next to the church on Redfern Street is about to enter a new phase of life, as the transformation of the old building into a new school for Aboriginal children nears completion.

Redfern Jarjum College, sponsored by St Aloysius’ College, Milsons Point, on behalf of the Jesuits, will be a fee-free school. (Jarjum means “children” in the Bundjalung language).

“Jarjum’s mission is to educate urban Aboriginal children who are not currently participating or coping in mainstream primary schools and to alleviate the social, emotional, behavioural and health disadvantages … Continue reading

That Strange Mass the Pope Doesn’t Like

It is the Mass according to the rite of the Neocatechumenal Way. Benedict XVI has ordered the congregation for the doctrine of the faith to examine it thoroughly. Its condemnation appears to be sealed.

ROME, April 11, 2012 – With a letter written personally to Cardinal William J. Levada, Benedict XVI has ordered the congregation for the doctrine of the faith to examine whether the Neocatechumenal Masses are or are not in keeping with the liturgical teaching and practice of the Catholic Church.

A “problem,” in the pope’s judgment, that is … Continue reading