[Oe List ...] The Death of a Champion of Aboriginal Justice.

[Isobel & Jim Bishop]

Dear Colleagues,
Father Ted Kennedy, who was a man with the indigenous people of Redfern, 
died in Sydney last week. The Requiem Mass was held on the sacred ground of 
the Redfern community today. A large tent, holding over 1000 people from far 
and near, was used to cater for all the congregation. The Service was a 
wonderful mixture of indigenous symbolism, and an Irish/ Australian Ceilidh.
In the Sydney House, in about 1970, Father Ted and two of his colleague 
young priests attended  a PLC. They were already part of an "underground" 
movement of dissenting priests in the Sydney Diocese. The priests were 
ecstatic at the tools they gained from the PLC. They were stirrers from 
within, and one of them was sent back to Ireland as a result of his actions.
Father Ted went on to serve the poorest of the poor in Redfern for over 
twenty years-  although most of the hierarchy frowned on his compassionate 
and inclusive ministry to all people. No one was ever left out. At the 
service one of the speakers was a Moslem cleric.
The Telfords and I were present to mourn this man ( maybe there were other 
colleagues there I did not see,) on behalf of us all.
Grace and peace,
Isobel Bishop.