Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Happenings in the Archdiocese of Sydney

Here are some interesting clerical appointments that I noticed in last Sunday’s Sydney Catholic Weekly:

Rev Dr Neil Brown: Appointed as parish priest of the parish and shrine of St Anne, Bondi Beach, from October 4, 2008, for six years.
It will be interesting to see what kind of relationship Dr. Brown cultivates with the Traditional Mass community, which has used his church on a couple of occasions.

[…] Fr Paul Hilder: Appointed dean and administrator of the parish of St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney, for six years. …
Does anyone know anything about Fr. Hilder? How well-disposed is he towards the Traditional Mass?

[…] Fr Anthony Percy: Appointed rector of the seminary of the Good Shepherd, from January 1, 2009, for three years.
I had thought that Fr. Percy had already taken over, but clearly not.

[…] Fr John Speekman: Reappointed administrator of the parish of St Joseph, Camperdown, from July 21, 2008, for one year.
I did not even know that Fr. Speekman had left his old Diocese. If I recall correctly, there was a controversy in that Diocese over Father declining to distribute Holy Communion to children whom he knew not to be properly disposed to receive It. Fr. Speekman has a blog: http://homiliesfromaustralia.blogspot.com/

If anyone has any more information on these priests then please let me know.

Reginaldvs Cantvar
9.XII.2008 A.D.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Greetings Cardinal Pole. I am not a regular follower of your blog, but was asked to come here by a reader of Into the Deep, the monthly Catholic newsletter I edit (www.stoneswillshout.com). I was asked to have a look at your reference to Fr Speekman and help you along ... ITD has been covering this issue since its early days. Regarding your 2 points: he has been administrator at Camperdown parish in Sydney since 2005 (while waiting for his case to be resolved in Rome); and it is not true that he declined Holy Communion to children not properly disposed - rather he stopped saying class Masses and proposed Liturgies of the Word instead, to AVOID the problem of giving Holy Communion to children who don't go to Sunday Mass. All the gory details can be found in various issues of ITD over the years, including his removal from his own parish in July 2003 and the various Vatican decrees in his favour. A time-line summary appears in Dec 2006 issue.

Cardinal Pole said...

Thank you for that correction, Janet.