{"id":521,"date":"2003-09-24T13:35:51","date_gmt":"2003-09-24T13:35:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lanuera.com\/cmwp\/?p=521"},"modified":"2003-09-24T13:35:51","modified_gmt":"2003-09-24T13:35:51","slug":"sydney-priest-still-struggling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/church-mouse.net\/?p=521","title":{"rendered":"Sydney priest still struggling to win congregation&#8217;s loyalty"},"content":{"rendered":"<div align=\"justify\"><span class=\"dropcap\">T<\/span>he recently-appointed parish priest of inner-city Redfern has had to stand over a female parishioner to demand she &quot;swallow&quot; the communion wafer.<\/p>\n<p>Press reports indicate growing hostility between Fr Gerry Prindiville and parishioners of the largely aboriginal St Vincent&#8217;s Parish.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this month, Fr Prindiville provoked the ire of congregation members by removing a photograph of the late Mum Shirl Smith that he claimed was inappropriately placed behind the altar. A co-founder of the first Aboriginal medical service, Mum Shirl is a mother figure to many local Aborigines. \n<\/div>\n<p><!--more--><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div align=\"justify\"> On Sunday, members of the congregation staged walkouts throughout the service. Sister Dominique, a nun who has attended the church every day for decades, placed a note on the altar and walked out of the church in tears. <\/p>\n<p>Her protest was in response to Fr Prindiville&#8217;s refusal to distribute the Eucharist to non-Catholics. <\/p>\n<p>Fr Prindiville, a member of the Neocatechumenate Way is attempting to &quot;clean up&quot; the Church by demanding more respect for the Church&#8217;s sacred ritual and practices. It is common for dogs, the homeless, and people affected by drugs and alcohol to wander in, as they were made welcome by long-time parish priest Fr Ted Kennedy.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;I come from a completely different background and I am trying to be faithful to the practices of the church,&quot; Fr Prindiville said. <\/p>\n<p>&quot;I asked that they consume communion in front of me because I became aware people were going down the back of the church with the eucharist and I don&#8217;t know what goes on down there,&quot; he said. <\/p>\n<p><strong>SOURCE<\/strong><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.sundaytimes.news.com.au\/common\/story_page\/0,7034,7335588^421,00.html\">Sunday                            Times<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>LINKS<\/strong><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cathnews.com\/news\/307\/117.php\">Pell                            acts to resolve Redfern priest crisis (21\/7\/03)<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.sydney.catholic.org.au\/html\/media_release\/mr_180703_background.htm\">Background                            to Neocatechumenal Way<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cathnews.com\/news\/305\/141.php\">Estranged                            priest removed from Sydney parish (26\/5\/03)<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cathnews.com\/news\/305\/redfern_statment.html\">Message to the St Vincent&rsquo;s Catholic Parish Community, Redfern (Fr Bob Irwin MSC, Provincial, Missionaries of the Sacred Heart<\/a><br \/>\nCongregation                            rejects priest&acute;s disruption of Aboriginal ministry (19\/5\/03)<br \/>\nAboriginal                            Catholic Ministry, Redfern<br \/>\nPope&acute;s                            message of support for Sydney aboriginal medical centre                            (7\/1\/02)<br \/>\nThou shalt not covet: a frail fighter puts his plea to the Pope (SMH 3\/12\/01)<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www3.sympatico.ca\/truegrowth\/society7.html\">Australia:                            Confessions of a dying priest. Our savage moment of                            truth <\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.sydney.catholic.org.au\/\">Archdiocese                            of Sydney<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sydney.catholic.org.au\/html\/parishesmasstimes\/parishmasstime_index.php?option=com_content&amp;task=view&amp;id=466&amp;Itemid=745\">St                            Vincent de Paul Church<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em><font size=\"2\">This story is available at: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cathnews.com\/news\/309\/141.php\">http:\/\/www.cathnews.com\/news\/309\/141.php<\/a><\/font><\/em><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The recently-appointed parish priest of inner-city Redfern has had to stand over a female parishioner to demand she &quot;swallow&quot; the communion wafer.<\/p>\n<p>Press reports indicate growing hostility between Fr Gerry Prindiville and parishioners of the largely aboriginal St Vincent&#8217;s Parish.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this month, Fr Prindiville provoked the ire of congregation members by removing a photograph of the late Mum Shirl Smith that he claimed was inappropriately placed behind the altar. A co-founder of the first Aboriginal medical service, Mum Shirl is a mother figure to many local Aborigines.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-our-pastors-appointed-by-george-pell"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/church-mouse.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/church-mouse.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/church-mouse.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/church-mouse.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/church-mouse.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/church-mouse.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}