{"id":1817,"date":"2005-06-06T08:40:00","date_gmt":"2005-06-05T22:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/church-mouse.lanuera.com\/IV\/?p=1817"},"modified":"2005-06-06T08:40:00","modified_gmt":"2005-06-05T22:40:00","slug":"priests-call-in-police","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/church-mouse.net\/?p=1817","title":{"rendered":"Priests call in police"},"content":{"rendered":"
Catholic priests in Redfern have called in the police in an attempt to quell disruptions to their services, only days after the funeral of the suburb’s much-loved priest, Father Ted Kennedy.<\/p>\n

Yesterday, parishioners were handed a letter from Bishop Anthony Fisher<\/a>, the Auxiliary Bishop of Sydney; warning them he had directed the parish priests to seek police help in the event of any further disruptions.<\/p>\n

Having to resort to police in­tervention was very disappoint­ing, Bishop Fisher said.<\/p>\n

“For a small inner city parish it’s a very distressing step to have to take but I wouldn’t imagine it’s unprecedented, ” he said.<\/p>\n

“It is rare, very sad and very disturbing for most of the parishioners.”<\/p>\n

The policy was put into force after yesterday’s morning ser­vice, when Father Gerry Prendiville spoke with police and passed on the bishop’s letter.<\/p>\n

The conflict began in 2003 when Father ‘Ted stepped down. The first priest who replaced him withdrew from the parish: the second, Father Prendiville, a member of the conservative grouping, Neocatechumenal Way, has sought to take the church in a new direction.<\/p>\n

The current conflict centres on a small wooden table, topped by a red, black and gold wooden cross. Bishop Fisher said he had been told the table had been used as an “additional altar” by dis­gruntled parishioners who he ac­knowledged remained pro­foundly upset over Father Kennedy’s death last month.<\/p>\n

“They have been pretending to say Mass at the same time as the priest is saying Mass. It is a very divisive thing to do.<\/p>\n

“They have also been calling out loudly through the homily and prayers,” he said.<\/p>\n

However, Peter Manning, a parishioner and friend of Father Kennedy; said the situation was most extraordinary.<\/p>\n

While his friend had opened the church up to the lives of the community it served, experienc­ing their suffering and poverty, the “current lot want to turn them into God-fearing Cath­olics”, Mr Manning said.<\/p>\n

The table, which stands only 50 centimetres high, had been smashed inside the church a week ago, Mr Manning said, but was returned, bandaged, to a position beside the altar yester­day. The parishioners who re­turned the table did not wish to speak to the Herald yesterday.<\/p>\n

“It seems pathetic that such a symbolic item should be bringing the wrath of the Sydney Diocese . down on a small church,” Mr Manning said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

­ Andrew Stevenson<\/span>
\nSydney Morning Herald Mon Jun 6 2005 P3<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

\nSee also Catholic News article: Police involved in subduing recalcitrant parishioners <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Catholic priests in Redfern have called in the police in an attempt to quell disruptions to their services, only days after the funeral of the suburb’s much-loved priest, Father Ted Kennedy.<\/p>\n

Yesterday, parishioners were handed a letter from Bishop Anthony Fisher<\/a>, the Auxiliary Bishop of Sydney; warning them he had directed the parish priests to seek police help in the event of any further disruptions.<\/p>\n

Having to resort to police in­tervention was very disappoint­ing, Bishop Fisher said.<\/p>\n

“For a small inner city parish it’s a very distressing step to have to take but I wouldn’t imagine it’s unprecedented, ” … Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/church-mouse.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/church-mouse.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/church-mouse.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/church-mouse.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/church-mouse.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/church-mouse.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1817\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/church-mouse.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/church-mouse.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/church-mouse.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}