Category Archives: Morsels

After 30 years doors open on new centre

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Sydney’s Aboriginal Medical Service

An article by Jeremy Hartcher in Issue 2/2004 of The Southside News, a publication of the University of Technology Sydney Journalism program.

Sydney’s Aboriginal Medical Service has waited thirty three years for a new centre in Redfern.

This month it opened its doors with the help of a major donation from a nun. Sister Pat Durnan sold her home for $145,000 to donate to the service which had been looking for Government help since the 1970s.

Why?

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In the 1920s the term ‘fundamentalism’ was first coined to refer to the Protestant denominations and sects in the US who advocated the return to what they claimed were the ‘fundamentals’ of their faith.

They believed that the Bible should be taken literally, that it was dictated by the hand of God, that morality was to be strictly adhered to, and that Darwin’s theory of evolution contradicted Holy Scripture and should never be taught in the schools. They were profoundly conservative and hated pluralism, materialism, relativism and libertinism of all kinds.

The term fundamentalism has … Continue reading →

The word according to Gerry

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Prayers of the Faithful

The priest and he alone decides if the prayers of the faithful are to be opened up to the congregation and he decides when the prayers are to be concluded. There is no right to publicly express your own private prayers at Mass. Whenever you are invited to pray it is not necessary to give explanation or introductions to your prayer. God knows what you are praying for. The prayer need to be brief and to the point. This is now the practise[sic] in this parish irrespective of what … Continue reading →

No comment needed

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First the Nazis went after the Jews, but I wasn’t a Jew, so I did not react.
Then they went after the Catholics, but I wasn’t a Catholic, so I did not object.
Then they went after the workers, but I wasn’t a worker, so I did not stand up.
Then they went after the Protestant clergy, and, by then, it was too late for anyone to stand up.

Pastor Martin Niemoeller

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men [people] to do nothing.

Edmund Burke … Continue reading →

Good on you, Fr John Crothers

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John Crothers, parish priest of St Declan’s, Peakhurst and Penshurst, in southwest Sydney has bravely spoken out against Pell’s leadership style in a letter to Online Catholics last week. The letter from which the following paragraphs were taken may be read here.

The fundamental problem with this sort of conservative leadership style is that it is exclusive and inflexible. Its exclusiveness expresses itself in an "us and them" mentality. I think this is one of the main reasons for the current low morale among the Sydney priests. Many feel that they are "on the outer" because … Continue reading →

Mass at St Vincent’s

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The scriptures suggest that a balanced relationship between faith and its expression in good works might not be such a bad thing.

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well," but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it? So also faith of itself, if it does not … Continue reading →

Pell’s conservatism adds fuel to the fire of Catholic disharmony

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Sydney Morning Herald, August 3, 2004

Australian Catholics are at odds over how to practise their faith in the modern world, writes Paul Collins.

Cardinal George Pell has trouble on his hands in inner Sydney. Yesterday a leading conservative priest, Father Terence Purcell, of St Benedict’s parish Broadway, was protesting because the Cardinal wants to turn his disused school building into a campus for Notre Dame University, which Pell wants to import from Fremantle.

One wonders why Notre Dame has to come to Sydney when the Australian Catholic University has campuses in North Sydney … Continue reading →

Food for thought

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Yesterday’s announcement that Sydney’s second Catholic university – the University of Notre Dame – is to open at St Benedict’s on Broadway was attended by the likes of George Card Pell, Brendan Nelson, Mon Brian Raynor and the Prime Minister John Howard. The Church Mouse’s observers noted food tables at the reception laden with wine and snacks.

There is apparently no shortage of money to feed the rich and powerful.

Media coverage

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It’s been a hectic week trying to keep the mouse house in order with St Vincent’s in the spot light – two ABC radio programs, articles in the online Catholic media and a swag of emails. Over 700 visitors, viewing on average 5 web pages each, have come here since Sunday. If you missed the fuss, here are transcripts of Radio National’s {rdlc id=464} and {rdlc id=465}.

Responses to the broadcasts, especially the news revealed on the Encounter program that the Sydney Archdiocese Charitable Works Foundation has withdrawn its meagre funding of the community’s Sharing of the Meal … Continue reading →

Mad Roman Catholic Movement

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Another message from San Francisco:

Hello St. Vincent’s, Redfern Parishioners:

In the U.S., Roman Catholics have plenty of problems caused by Roman Catholic priests selling out to clericalism. The situation at St. Vincent’s, however, surpasses the worst U.S. parish mess.

In fact, in the U.S. the worst clericalism results in the closure of the parish and the sale of the church buildings. The land under most urban U.S. Roman Catholic churches has usually appreciated greatly in value.

It would be very unusual in the U.S. for so much effort to establish a community, Neo-Catechumenate, that a diverse group … Continue reading →