Peter Kennedy : The Man Who Threatened Rome

As you may know, Father Peter Kennedy, of Saint Mary's Catholic Church in South  Brisbane, was sacked by his bishop in February of 2009 - essentially for being too good a parish priest, and stretching the bounds and definitions of community to include non-Catholics, gay and divorced souls, and etc.

Peter, understandably enough after many years of devoting himself to his congregation, refused to be removed, which set off an uproar. But the story is fascinating and revelatory in ways far beyond mere headlines and religiopolitical joust - it cuts to the heart of what being Catholic means, and what congregations and spiritual communities are, and how the genius of Christ's message is both elevated and muddled by organizational structure and seeming authority.

One Day Hill publisher Bernadette Walters is gathering a crew of writers to think aloud about these matters - writers of all sorts and stripes. The book will consist of a biographical article about Peter by Martin Flanagan, parishioners' stories by Michelle Gierck, and a collection of essays from theologians and other cultural commentators that reflect on the situation regarding Peter Kennedy and St Mary's South Brisbane, and the Catholic church today.

These include Father Peter Norden, Sr. Veronica Brady, Michael Morwood and Professor Hans Kung.

About the Author

Martin Flanagan writes for the Age newspaper and is the author of twelve books, among them "The Call", an imaginative re-construction of the life of Tom Wills, a founder of the game, and "The Last Quarter", a trilogy of his football books.