A priest has been sacked from a Brisbane church after a long-running feud with the Vatican. St Mary's Roman Catholic Church at South Brisbane has been accused of performing unorthodox mass and not respecting the church hierarchy.
The Archbishop of Brisbane, John Bathersby, previously warned Father Peter Kennedy to stop flouting church rules or face the sack.
In a letter received on Friday, Archbishop Bathersby said Father Kennedy and "the community have not budged an inch".
It says Father Kennedy's appointment will be terminated on February 21, unless he resigns first.
Father Kennedy says he is considering his options.
"I've been here 28 years and I know this community is solidly behind me, and so we could go elsewhere," he said.
In the letter, Archbishop Bathersby says parishioners cannot be stopped from breaking away but has warned them they will not be in communion with the Roman Catholic Church.
Around 700 people repeated the familiar Catholic rites at mass at St Mary's in south Brisbane this morning.
The letter visibly upset the congregation.
Parishioners at the Brisbane parish say will continue to celebrate mass in their own way.
Margaret Ortiz from the St Mary's leadership group says the congregation is staying put and Father Kennedy will continue to say mass.
"They would have to come a physically remove us," she said.
Vince Knauth, also from St Mary's leadership group, says it is not right that Father Kennedy is being singled out.
"Statistically this week 4,392 priests and deacons of the United States were subject to allegations of child molestation - that's between 1950 and 2002," he said.
"Two per cent of those were actually put behind bars.
"Peter [Kennedy] would be in better books with the Catholic church if he'd molested a child than what we're doing here."
Father Kennedy has appealed to the Archbishop to reconsider.
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(Source: ABC)