OUSTED Catholic priest Peter Kennedy says the forced retirement of one of the church’s most senior men in Queensland is "appalling".
Bishop William Morris announced his shock retirement at the weekend after falling out with the Vatican and Pope Benedict XVI.
Fr Kennedy said the situation was “appalling’’ and parishioners were walking away in droves because of Rome’s totalitarian control.
“Bishop Morris is a man of an amazing amount of compassion … people generally in the diocese know the compassion of this man and the goodness of this man,’’ he told The Courier-Mail.
Fr Kennedy was ousted from the church two years ago following his controversial views preached to his then-parish of St Mary's at South Brisbane.
Bishop William Morris distributed a letter at the weekend in which he claimed he was forced into early retirement after a five-year investigation sparked by a "disaffected" group that disagreed with his progressive views.
Bishop Morris said he was denied natural justice during the investigation, which he claimed had made his position in charge of the Toowoomba diocese "untenable".
The investigation included an apostolic visitation and ongoing discussions with the Vatican-based congregations for Bishops, Divine Worship and Doctrine of the Faith and even the Pope.
The investigation was sparked by a 2006 letter to parishioners in which Bishop Morris raised the prospect of the Church considering the ordination of married men and women to help counter a looming shortfall in priests.
Bishop Morris said the 2006 letter had been "misread and I believe deliberately misinterpreted" by a "small group (which has) found my leadership and the direction of the diocese not to their liking".
He said his resignation would have meant that "I accept the assessment of myself as breaking communio which I absolutely refute and reject and it is out of my love for the Church that I cannot do so".
He said early retirement was then the only option open to him.
The retirement comes two years after the Catholic Church ousted priest Peter Kennedy following his controversial views preached to his then-parish of St Mary's at South Brisbane.
It was thought Fr Kennedy's departure was also sparked by strict Catholics upset at his teachings.
Bishop Morris had been among a handful of Queensland bishops considered to contain the frontrunners for the role of archbishop of the Brisbane Archdiocese, to be vacated later this year by the retirement of Archbishop John Bathersby.
Archbishop Bathersby said that he had not seen an official statement from the Holy See regarding Bishop Morris's termination of employment.
Sister Eileen March said the congregation was "stunned and shocked" by the decision.
"He's such a good bishop and he's very good-hearted and personal," Sister Eileen said.
Bishop Morris apologised on behalf of the Church to five families whose children had been sexually assaulted by a teacher at a Toowoomba primary school in 2007-08.
He revived the role of the Social Justice Commission and employed of a full-time social justice officer.
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