St Mary’s South Brisbane

St Mary's South Brisbane

It’s been more than a year since the departure of Peter Kennedy and his followers from St Mary’s Catholic Church South Brisbane. The following article discusses the issue that ultimately brought the dispute to a head.

BY WHOSE AUTHORITY?...A BISHOP HAS ULTIMATE AUTHORITY IN A DIOCESE

The following article was written by Rev Dr David Pascoe, Associate Professor of St Paul's Theological College at the ACU National Brisbane Campus:

The Second Vatican Council is one authority that has not been questioned in the sad division within the Catholic Church around the standoff between the parish priest of St Mary’s, South Brisbane, and Archbishop John Bathersby of Brisbane.

On the one hand, Fr Peter Kennedy publically appeals to Vatican II for how St Mary’s is an expression of the council’s teaching.

On the other hand, Archbishop Bathersby grounds his assessment that St Mary’s is not in communion with the Catholic Church on the council’s theology of communion.

For some, of course, the above opposition might be all too easily resolved. My side is in the right; the other is in the wrong! But going beyond this all too simplistic view one way toward some resolution is to go back to the sources and ask the question: what does Vatican II teach on the legitimate authority for the ongoing formation of the Church?
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