The congregation gathered ten years since the death of Father Ted Kennedy, and 10 years since the crowd of hundreds gathered at The Block to send him off. Worshipers recalled his powerful Redfern ministry and celebrated his continuing but mysterious presence among his friends and parishioners.
Fr Ted was much loved by the poor and oppressed, by the locals and the drifters, and respected, perhaps even feared by the church establishment. He was a fierce critic of Canberra and the Cathedral, and a fierce advocate for the Aboriginal peoples. Now he’s among the black angels in heaven.
The faithful gathered – old friends, old faces, true believers. Fr Ted is still remembered and honoured. The scene was set for the celebration of the feast of Pentecost – a day for justice and truth, renewal and energy.
The day opened with a smoking ceremony. Uncle Max (Eulo), a proud elder, wandered among us with his Pentecostal tongues of smoke hovering in the air, preparing the sacred site of St Vincent’s for our sacred songs and dance.
The haunting sounds of Michael Waites’ didgeridoo summoned the spirits of the many black angels Fr Ted had buried from St Vincent’s. A generous descendent of the original owners of the land, Ralph Townsend-Ridgeway, offered an elegant welcome to country.
A bishop (Terry Brady); two friends of Fr Ted – Ed Campion, who wrote Ted Kennedy: Priest of Redfern, and Frank Brennan, who as a young seminarian had served in Redfern as the driver and dog’s body for the notorious Mum Shirl and who Fr Ted said had been the most insightful theologian he had had the honour to meet; and Melvin Llabanes, the Filipino parish priest, all joined in a celebration of prayer and thanksgiving.
A generous blessing was sent and joyfully received from friends and fellow travellers at South Sydney Uniting Church in Waterloo. The songs of Fr Ted’s friend, Peter Kearney, filled the sacred space inside the church where memories of a loving pastor and fierce prophet were circulating.
