When the South Brisbane parish of St Mary's made public its response to Archbishop Bathersby's letter of 22 August 2008 asking them to reassure him on some matters of faith and practice, I found myself very disappointed, in spite of being sympathetic to at least some of their concerns.
Since then surprisingly little thought has been given to the parish's written response to the Archbishop.
It seems to me to be badly put together, with no evidence of theological awareness; it has careless errors, including misspelling the name of a Latin document, strange ways of referencing documents, and the illusion that Galileo was excommunicated.
But I was disappointed by more substantial matters.
The letter seems to go out of its way to avoid claiming that baptisms are now fully orthodox: baptisms now 'include' the Trinitarian formula; and 'Rome's preferred words' are used 'at' Baptism' — not 'for' Baptism.
Regarding priesthood, the parish claims they 'focus not on what, if anything, is different between priest and lay'; this absolutely disparages the ancient distinction (reiterated in Lumen Gentium, which they cite in this context) between the ordained priesthood and the priesthood of the laity. (The question is not whether St Mary's is right, but whether they share Rome's position.)
The letter defends the parish's liturgical practices on the grounds that preserving any distinction between priest and people is to be non-accepting. This sets the bar rather high, as if all distinctions imply rejection. One hopes the crowd at a cricket international don't feel rejected because they aren't invited to lunch with the teams or to join Richie Benaud in the commentary box.
It seems to me that the appeal of St Mary's, as a mark of their membership, to the things they do well (about which there is much admiration and no concern) is an insult (unconscious, no doubt) to other people of good will and good works who would spurn the title Roman Catholic.
Moreover, it is an implied criticism of every other Catholic parish in the country to insist that liturgy according to the Roman rite (especially where it touches belief) is so deficient that the present debacle is a price worth paying.
The most disappointing aspect of all, however, is a naïve or cynical approach to evidence.
The parish is making much of the words Pope Benedict used at Lourdes, speaking to the bishops of France: 'Everyone has a place in the church. Every person without exception should be able to feel at home and never rejected.' The immediate context was his encouragement of the Latin Mass, and his next topic was marriage and family, which included the statement that 'initiatives aimed at blessing irregular unions cannot be admitted'.
It would be hard to find a clearer example of disregard for meaning or intention, unless it is where Cardinal Newman's support is claimed regarding the many channels of Apostolic tradition; he is prevented, mid-sentence, from continuing: 'granting at the same time fully that the gift of discerning, discriminating, defining, promulgating, and enforcing any portion of that tradition resides solely in the teaching Church'.
Similar comments apply to the appeal to Lumen Gentium regarding the priesthood of all believers, ignoring the insistence of paragraph 10 that the priesthood of the faithful and the ministerial priesthood 'differ from one another in essence and not only in degree'. (One could add, from Benedict at Lourdes, 'Where their specific missions are concerned, priests cannot delegate their functions to the faithful.')
In the light of all of this, the letter's reference to the parish's 'in-depth consideration' of Archbishop Bathersby's letter looks very thin. It seems to me that whoever wrote the letter, and Father Kennedy who signed it, found they had little to say to defend their orthodoxy.
I think it is tragic that the Church has refused to countenance ongoing discussion about homosexuality, women priests, and a host of other issues; and, worse, that it has tried to say the Scriptures are definitive on these things. I can't see how Rome is not undoing the work of Vatican II. But neither can I see how the stance taken by St Mary's over the words of Baptism and these other matters can advance the causes of religion or reason.
Since the parish letter, the secular press has done much to muddy the waters: it is their muddling that makes one hope that some statements recently attributed to Father Kennedy have been equally badly reported.
More than anything else, however, the parish letter remains for me the key reason why I believe the Archbishop is right to object. Earlier, I had hoped that compromise could be reached: since reading the published letter, I fear that the point of no return has been reached. I hope I am wrong.