Catholic and Loving it!

There's a scene in the Lord of the Rings, the Two Towers. At Helms Deep, King Theoden stands upon the walls and looks out over an army of orcs who are arrayed for battle. The situation looks hopeless and Theoden asks...

"How did it come to this?"

By this point in the book the answer has already been given. King Theoden was asleep at the wheel. He allowed his snivelling advisor, Wormtongue, to convince him that a few orcs on the border weren't a problem. A few more? Better not to make a fuss. A few more? It's hardly an army. Then one day he finds himself looking over a sea of orcs. How did it come to this?

I'm reminded of that story when I read about a parish in Australia in Brisbane.

It started with a few minor bits and pieces. Editing of prayers, dodgy theology from the pulpit. The Bishop received complaints from "conservatives" and asked the priest to stop. He didn't. Things got worse, lay lead services, the laity joining in the Eucharistic Prayer. The Bishop asked the priest to stop. He didn't. During world youth day young pilgrims complained that the priest had an altar to Buddha. The Bishop did nothing.

Brisbane Archbishop John Bathersby is considering whether the controversial St Mary's parish at South Brisbane "is in communion with the Catholic Church" after a parishioner protested to the Vatican over a Buddha-like statue.

A member of St Mary's South Brisbane Church told The Courier-Mail that it was understood Archbishop John Bathersby was weighing up the future of the church, after complaints were forwarded from the Vatican.

"A very right wing parishioner came and was offended by some of the artwork in the church, including some indigenous art, and an image of a praying monk which they mistook as a Buddha," the parishioner said.

"That person took photos and sent them to Rome and Rome wrote to the bishop."

However, the statue - which was about 1 metre tall - had since been taken out of the church by a disgruntled person and smashed.

Parish priest Fr Peter Kennedy, who has headed St Mary's for nearly 28 years, said he was unable to comment until he had heard further from Archbishop Bathersby.

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Notice that - people had to write to Rome before the Bishop acted, and even then he did nothing. He was weighing it up.

Eventually things came to a head with an invalid Baptismal formula...

A baptism at St Mary's Church, South Brisbane, that was videoed and uploaded on Youtube, may be invalid, commentators say.

The priest then added: "That's good, nice and cool" and invited "everyone to put water on him".

Catholic commentator and editor of Annals magazine, Fr Paul Stenhouse, told the paper that he doubted the baptism was valid "because the form of the Sacrament cannot be varied".

"It sounds like green theology to me," Fr Stenhouse said.

The legitimate form of baptism is: "I baptise you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."

The two priests at St Mary's, Father Fitzpatrick and Peter Kennedy, were ordered to revert to the correct form of baptism in 2004 after it emerged that hundreds of children had been baptised using the wrong formula.

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Notice - it had to be on YouTube before anything happened. In 2004 he was told to stop. 2004! That's years ago.

Eventually, a new Bishop. The Bishop has finally written (pdf) to the Parish Priest and ordered him to sort things out. The Priest is now threatening to set up his own Church... um, I mean, ecclesiastical community.

According to the Courier Mail, Father Kennedy said he didn’t have faith in the Pope but wanted to remain an active Catholic priest.

“You've got to be relevant to people's lives - Jesus broke the rules all the time for the sake of the people,” he claimed.

In a Friday letter, Archbishop Bathersby responded to Fr. Kennedy’s Jan. 12 letter asking to meet for further discussion.

“I see no reason to do so. I have repeatedly asked for changes but you and the community have not budged an inch,” the archbishop wrote. “Moreover South Brisbane’s instant disclosure of my letters and comments in the media gives me no reason to enter into discussion.”

The archbishop said there is doubt about the validity of many baptisms performed at the parish and announced that he would name a special day at St. Stephen’s Cathedral to perform and certify baptisms for parents or adult converts who are concerned about the validity of St. Mary’s Church baptisms.

Father Kennedy said he is prepared to be arrested at the church and claimed a few dozen parishioners may try to be arrested as well.

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A special day at the Cathedral to fix baptisms...

How did it come to this?

Here's an idea: Don't leave dodgy priests in the same place for twenty eight years to build their own personality cult based on how wonderful Father Fun is for doing what Jesus did which was mainly breaking the rules.

Rocket science it isn't.