SYDNEY, September 16, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Cardinal Pell of Sydney has banned dissident Catholic groups from speaking in his diocese and has prevented two priests and a bishop from speaking at the annual conference of the organization Australian Reforming Catholics (ARC).
The group calls itself an organization of lay people “seeking reform in the Catholic Church in Australia.” The group’s website complains that in spite of what it calls achievements in the ‘renewal’ of the Church, “in recent decades reactionary forces within the traditional male structures of the Church have inhibited true reform.” Pell has told the organization that they may not use Mary MacKillop Place in North Sydney for their meeting next month. He made a political analogy that makes it clear that the group is not a part of the Catholic Church or represents its teachings. “The Liberal Party does not hold its conference at a Labor Party branch office,” he said. The two priests, Father Peter Maher and Father Gerald Gleeson as well as Bishop Pat Power of the Canberra and Goulburn archdiocese have agreed not to appear at the conference. On its website ARC calls for the standard litany of demands that the Catholic Church dismantle its structure, ordain women, adopt left-leaning economic policies and environmentalism. The website also reveals the group’s opposition to Church teachings on homosexuality and other moral issues. The Australian coverage: https://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,10779353%5E2702,00.html Australian Reforming Catholics: https://www.e-arc.org/index.htm ph