Police at Mass

Sr Dom has been absent from St Vincent’s for some time, recovering from the dreadful physical and psychological abuse that she was subjected to in the church earlier this year – see Violence at St Vincent’s.

This morning she returned, attending the 10am Mass at St Vincent’s for the first time since those vicious attacks. Her presence was acknowledged, not by the parish clergy, but by a member of the local constabulary, who stopped by to ensure that Sr Dom was safe.

This was a welcome change from the norm. The parish clergy, in … Continue reading

The archetypal shepherd

Read about our most caring and compassionate (whoops – badly worded, but you know what I mean) George Cardinal Pell here.

And as the saga unfolds also here.

Brian Coyne (Catholica Australia) has expressed things far better in these words:

The exercise is like trying to resurrect a broken down motor vehicle engine – something else I’ve been involved in at various points in my life. If the engine has something like a broken crankshaft, or a smashed big end bearing (something wrong deep down in the heart of the engine where you … Continue reading

Violence at St Vincent’s

There have been many violent incidents at St Vincent’s since the arrival of the Neocats in Redfern, and some have been reported on these pages over the years. Most, if viewed in isolation, might be dismissed as comparatively trivial, but when each is considered as part of an overall pattern of behaviour it becomes clear that there is a serious problem at St Vincent’s.

Several recent incidents can definitely not be classified as trivial, no matter how they are viewed.

On Tuesday, 11 March 2008, an elderly nun, who has worked tirelessly with the marginalised for many years, was physically … Continue reading

The Vatican responds

Back in the middle of 2007 the community sent letters and copies of a detailed report on the Redfern Neocat experience to a number of senior bishops in the Vatican. Some of the letters may be found here. To date only one reply has been received – from Archbishop Mauro Piacenza on behalf of the Congregation for the Clergy (Congregatio pro Clericis). His letter is reproduced below.

It is difficult to take seriously Piacenza’s claim that the Dicastery studied the May 2007 report when he pronounces that … Continue reading

Easter liturgy prescribed

Despite several attempts over the last couple of weeks to engage the Neocat clergy in dialogue over details for the Easter ceremonies there has been stoney silence until the following item appeared in the church bulletin this weekend.

Holy Week Guidelines

The liturgy as prescribed for Holy Week and at all other times is the public worship of the whole Church and therefore must be respected. The liturgies for Holy Week are to follow the rubrics of the Church. These are outlined in any Sunday Missal.

None of the liturgies are to be done without me[sic] being … Continue reading

Neocats will save us

from    MArcos Antonio Patino
date    Wed, Feb 13, 2008 at 5:24 PM
subject Church Mouse: World Youth Day

Dear Church Mouse,

I am a Young Catholic from the NeoCatechumenal Way. I am coming to Sydney in July 2008 for World Youth Day and with 40 young people from the NeoCatechumenal Way from my PArish here in the United States of America.

I admired your passion and work for the Aboriginal People in Australia, but I think you are using your Church for Political reasons. The Church is not a Politcal platform nor a Political … Continue reading

Sorry Day

Sorry Day, 13 February 2008, was a day of great happiness and hope for our Aboriginal brothers and sisters. On that day our new government said sorry for many of the atrocities inflicted upon Aborigines by previous administrations.

   

Readers might be interested in Fr Frank Brennan’s piece Stolen Generations apology ‘about right’ or the item Speech gets standing ovation in Redfern in the Sydney Morning Herald.

   

It is hard to imagine what the Redfern Neocat clergy made of all this.

 

 

Continue reading

Update

How many parishes have to live with the constant threat of having their Masses terminated?

 

The following notice is displayed prominently in the vestibule of St Vincent’s church:

 

     

 

It first appeared in the church bulletin for two weeks after Sunday December 16 2007, when the Neocats, their travesty of a “Liturgycal Committe” in tatters, attempted to stifle the Community’s input to the liturgy with the bully-boy tactics … Continue reading

The last straw?

A couple of weeks ago, on Sunday December 2, the Saving Word (Parish Bulletin) issued an "invitation". Beneath the heading "NEW LITURGYCAL COMMITTE"[sic] it suggested that “Anyone interested in being part of the new liturgical committee please contact Fr Clesio". In all, some thirteen applicants responded from the long-term community and of these, the committee was initially made up of the two priests, two neocatechumenal lay persons and three members of the long term community.

The community was acutely aware that no person of Aboriginal descent had been accepted onto the committee. The two that applied have been integral … Continue reading