A selection of photos taken at yesterday’s magnificent farewell to Sr Marnie Kennedy may be viewed here. Captions may be added if time permits, and as always, suggestions are most welcome.
More details, including transcripts of the tributes will be posted here as they become available.
The following opinion piece, Religion is poetry or it is nothing!, by Paul Collins, appeared in ABC Religion and Ethics Online last December, and was subsequently picked up by Cathnews (as Opinion – Threat to religion is from fundamentalism not atheism). Our own Sheila Quonoey reproduced the article in the March edition of her "Thoughts for the Month".
A couple of dozen or so copies were still floating around the back of the church this morning until defender of the church Mendes seized them, having decided that they were unsuitable material. He also commanded that the … Continue reading
Sister Marnie Kennedy died this morning around 5:20am. She had been ill for some time, but it was a very peaceful home-going for her.
Sister, friend, wisdom figure, Marnie will be greatly missed.
Realising a dream – Marnie in Central Australia, August 2009
(from Sydney Morning Herald March 18, 2011)
SISTER MARNIE KENNEDY RSCJ
2 December 1927 – 16 March 2011
MARNIE’S long and difficult journey finally came to a close in the early hours … Continue reading
The country’s Neo-Cats need some time for reflection that will pave the way for dialog.
Over about the past 20 years, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Japan (CBCJ) has expended great time and energy on problems concerning the Neocatechumenal Way (which I refer to hereafter as simply ‘the Way’). To our extreme disappointment, these efforts have not improved the situation.
Of the passion and good intentions of the people of the Way, I have not the slightest doubt. Nevertheless, the Way’s activities over the past 30 years can in no way be called a success. The fact is that … Continue reading
Bishop Osamu Mizobe of Takamatsu today issued a New Year pastoral letter titled “The Neocatechumenal Way” that described a visit by Japanese bishops to Rome to discuss problems that have arisen in connection with that movement in Japan.
The bishop announced that, “until we have received the visit of the special Envoy of the Holy Father all activities of the Neocatechumenal Way will be suspended in this diocese.”
Bishop Mizobe says that until now he has tried to deal with the problem of the Neocatechumenal Way in the Church in Japan “as quietly as possible,” hoping for “self-discipline.”
On … Continue reading
Movement’s net effect has been negative conference president says.
ucanews.com special correspondent, Tokyo
The president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Japan (CBCJ) has called for the cooperation of priests and laypeople to confront "problems" with the Neocatechumenal Way, which he says has had a negative effect in the country.
“In those places touched by the Neocatechumenal Way, there has been rampant confusion, conflict, division, and chaos," the Jesuit Archbishop of Osaka, Leo Jun Ikenaga, said in a statement published in Katorikku Shimbun, the Catholic Weekly of Japan, yesterday.
“In Japan, the net effect has been negative,” … Continue reading
By Alan Holdren, Catholic News Service Rome Correspondent Vatican City, Dec 16, 2010 / 07:32 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Citing years of “trouble,” Japan’s Catholic bishops have asked the Neocatechumenal Way to cease activities in the country for the next five years.
Archbishop Joseph Mitsuaki Takami of Nagasaki told CNA on Dec. 15 that the bishops’ proposal, made directly to the Way’s founder, Kiko Arguello, has so far not been accepted.
Archbishop Takami was reached by phone at his home in Nagasaki. Four other Japanese bishops took part in a Dec. 13 closed door meeting in Rome with Pope … Continue reading
By Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Japanese bishops, including the president of the bishops’ conference, met with Pope Benedict XVI and top Vatican officials to discuss the Neocatechumenal Way.
The Dec. 13 meeting with four Japanese bishops had been called by Pope Benedict, said the president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Japan, Archbishop Leo Jun Ikenaga of Osaka.
He told Catholic News Service that the meeting lasted nearly two hours and included the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, and "several other cardinals."
While the archbishop would not comment on the substance … Continue reading
The following is a detailed account of the Neocat "memorial" for Pat Durnan by Peter Griffin, who was present last Tuesday.
The recent passing of (Sr) Pat Durnan has been an occasion for yet another eruption of dysfunctionality in the relationship between the church community of St Vincents Redfern and the incumbent priests – both members of the internationally established and Vatican approved group known as the Neo Catechumenate.
Pat was, of course buried with due respect and celebration in Melbourne. Nonetheless there are many in Sydney who remember her with fondness and wished to mark her loss to … Continue reading