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- Articles - The whole story 27/11/2006 On Monday May 8 I received a telephone call from Mr. Gerry Keane, a Melbourne Catholic layman who has earned a name for himself internationally with over 30 years study on evolution/creation and the Origins debate. He has to his credit two books: “Creation Rediscovered – Evolution and the Importance of the Origins debate" (1) published by TAN Books, and “Special Creation Rediscovered - Catholicism and the Origins Debate" (2) published by the Kolbe Center for Creation Research of which he is a foundation member. Mr. Keane had written to the Most Reverend Geoffrey Jarrett DD, Bishop of Lismore, asking his permission to do a speaking tour of the Diocese of Lismore, in order to bring to those interested in the Origins debate the latest up to date information on the issue, from the scientific point of view and from Church’s teachings. Mr. Keane received a very positive response from the Bishop:
3 May 2006 Dear Mr. Keane, I thank you for your letter of 20 April seeking permission to speak on Catholic premises in the Diocese of Lismore on the subject of creation / evolution / origins, and for the enclosed copy of your booklet “Special Creation Rediscovered”. I am happy to grant the authorization required, and to assure any parish priest whom you approach for the use of church premises that you will be speaking from within the parameters of Catholic teaching on this subject. With kind regards, and wishing you every blessing in the joy of the Easter season. Yours sincerely in Christ, (Signed) +Most Rev. Geoffrey H Jarrett, Bishop of Lismore With permission granted, Mr. Keane began to make contact with people he thought might be prepared to be involved in setting up meetings. I was one of those persons, and having had the pleasure of hearing Gerry Keane speak on two occasions, I assured him that I would certainly do my best to promote his visit. He sent me a copy of the Bishop’s letter of approval as well as his curriculum vitae. I gave advanced notice of the approved proposed visit (details had not yet been arranged) of Gerry Keane in our June newsletter. http://www.apostlesforlifesite.org/2006_06_newsletters.htm Meanwhile, although most of my previous communication with Father Dennis Carroll, Administrator of St Carthage’s Cathedral, had been by email, (my email happened to be down at the time), I wrote him a letter, which contained a request for permission to use St Carthage’s Cathedral Parish Centre for a talk by Gerry Keane, along with a copy of both his curriculum vitae and the letter of approval from the Bishop. I hand-delivered the letter. Almost a month went by and there was no reply; so I decided to ring Fr Dennis Carroll to ask him for an answer. He asked me “What letter?” I explained the letter I had hand-delivered and he told me that when he gets letters he throws letters in the bin. After answering his question or two about Gerry Keane, I told him that, now that my email was back on line, I would email the curriculum vitae, and await his answer. Thus began a series of emails going back and forward between us: From: Angela Martello Sent: Wednesday, 7 June 2006 11:39 AM To: Fr Dennis Subject: Gerry Keane
Dear Father Dennis, Here is Gerry's CV. Is it OK for us to arrange a meeting at the Parish Centre. No date yet set. God bless Angela ======== From: Dennis Robert Carroll To: 'Angela Martello' Sent: Wednesday, June 07, 2006 6:55 PM Subject: RE: Gerry Keane Dear Angela, I do not approve of Mr. Keane’s views. I can’t allow a meeting at the Parish Centre. The Apostles For Life group will also lose my support, therefore its ability to exist in the parish, if it starts to promote very doubtful ideas like Mr. Keene’s. All the best, Fr. D. Carroll. ====== From: Nadir & Angela Martello Sent: Wednesday, 7 June 2006 8:41 PM To: Dennis Robert Carroll Subject: Re: Gerry Keane
Dear Father Dennis,
In the letter that I wrote to you I included a copy of the letter to Gerry from the Bishop dated 3 May 2006 which reads in part: I am happy to grant the authorisation required, (to speak on Catholic premises in the Diocese of Lismore on the subject of creation / evolution / origins) and to assure any parish priest whom you approach for the use of church premises that you will be speaking within the parameters of Catholic teaching on this subject. I am always very careful to ensure that Apostles for Life always stays faithful to Catholic teaching, and would never consider hosting anyone who compromises the Catholic Faith. I'd be grateful if you can explain to me what it is about Gerry Keane's views that you do not approve? Can you tell me what he is teaching that is doubtful? God bless, Angela ====== From: Dennis Robert Carroll To: 'Nadir & Angela Martello' Cc: Geoffrey Jarrett ; Charles Kakumanu ; Peter Padsungay ; Peter Slack PP ; Michael Brady ; Colin Reinhard ; Rex Hackett ; Paul McDonald Sent: Thursday, June 08, 2006 7:42 PM Subject: RE: Gerry Keane Dear Angela, I really think you need to approach Bishop Jarrett again, if you are using his Episcopal authority to promote Mr. Keane’s views. Until I am absolutely convinced by the Bishop that Mr. Keane is “kosher”, then he is not permitted to promote his very very dubious views in the Cathedral parish. The Apostles For Life group of the Cathedral parish is not permitted to promote Mr. Keane’s personal views. The group must stick to pro-life orthodox issues. Yours in JMJ, Fr. DC ======= From: Nadir & Angela Martello Sent: Friday, 9 June 2006 5:16 PM To: Dennis Robert Carroll Cc: Gerry Keane; Paul McDonald; Rex Hackett; Colin Reinhard; Michael Brady; Peter Slack PP; Peter Padsungay; Charles Kakumanu; Geoffrey Jarrett Subject: Gerry Keane Dear Father Dennis, I have not approached Bishop Jarrett about Gerry Keane. All I know is that I have a copy of the letter Bishop Jarrett wrote to Gerry which he says: I am happy to grant the authorisation required, (to speak on Catholic premises in the Diocese of Lismore on the subject of creation / evolution / origins) and to assure any parish priest whom you approach for the use of church premises that you will be speaking within the parameters of Catholic teaching on this subject. The Bishop made the right decision in regard to Gerry. I have no need to "use his Episcopal authority to promote Mr. Keane’s views" and the thought would never occur to me to do so. This insinuation is insulting to say the least. Have you heard Gerry speak, read his books, or any of his articles? If you know about him teaching some falsehood, I am waiting to hear from you. I need to know where he is teaching wrongly. When I have that pointed out to me I will stop immediately to promote his work. I merely asked your permission to use the Parish Centre and you have refused. I respect your right to do so. It is one thing to refuse permission, and quite another to take away his good name by saying that his views are "very very dubious" and broadcasting that to other priests, without a skerrick of evidence to back up your statement. Gerry Keane has right to his good name. You say Apostles for Life "must stick to pro-life orthodox issues". It is our intention and spelled out in our mission statement. You will remember nutting out and advising me on it: http://www.apostlesforlifesite.org/aboutus1.htm The first two aims are: • To promote the truth and beauty of Church teaching, especially the Gospel of Life, and the sanctity of all human life. • To inform, train and equip Catholics for pro-life activity. I would see Gerry's message as not only relevant and orthodox; but an understanding of the Church's teaching on origins is essential to effective pro-life activity and I am very grateful for his contribution to exposing the Truth. Without it we are groping in the dark. One huge factor in the growth in the killing industries, such as the abortion, euthanasia, IVF, ESCR industries is the loss of faith due to the teaching of evolution, which contradicts Church teaching on sin and redemption. You must not have made the link yet between evolution and abortion. Is it any wonder that Catholic school girls are popping their Pills on a regular basis, then going off for abortion, when it fails, as it inevitably does. Is not evolution part of the belief system of almost every child in Catholic schools? I suggest you have a look at http://www.kolbecenter.org/church_teaches.htm and http://www.kolbecenter.org/abortion1.pdf Enough from me! God bless, Angela ====== From: Dennis Robert Carroll To: 'Nadir & Angela Martello' Sent: Friday, June 09, 2006 8:34 PM Subject: RE: Gerry Keane
I repeat, J. Keane is not to be promoted in the diocese. DC ====== I took no further action. I noted his bullying tactics, but as I told Father
Dennis, I respect his right to refuse the use of the Parish facilities for Gerry
Keane, but that he had no right to defame and cast aspersions on Gerry’s
Catholicity and his credibility in the eyes of other priests. Obviously, Father
Dennis had taken it on himself to alienate and defame Gerry Keane, as well as
overruling the decision of the Bishop. Meanwhile I was delaying the publication of our August newsletter http://www.apostlesforlifesite.org/2006_08_newsletters.htm in the hope of getting an answer from Fr Dennis Carroll as to why he had said Gerry views were doubtful and very, very dubious. If I was promoting a “very, very dubious” person with “doubtful views” I needed to know what it was that was “very, very dubious” and “doubtful” about his “views”. After all I did not want to lead them astray and Father Dennis has some responsibilities as shepherd of a flock. I stood to be corrected but he never would nor could come up with any answer. Eventually, I made an appointment to see Fr Dennis Carroll in person on Thursday August 10th. I could not get a sensible answer from him in person any more than I could by email. On asking him what I could tell our readers about what is wrong with Gerry Keane, he replied that “he’s a hillbilly”. When I asked him what he meant by that he said that “his religion is a hillybilly sort of religion”. I pressed him further asking him what exactly did that mean in terms of Catholic Teaching. At that point he flew into a rage, and began to berate me; he shook his finger in my face and told me not to dare to question him. I was a bigot, he told me, and that Apostles for Life were a group of bigots, and on and on. We were barred from using parish facilities. Knowing that he had the right to bar us from using parish facilities and seeing that nothing positive could be achieved, shaking the dust from my feet, I took my leave. There was no further communication until an email arrived: From: Dennis Robert Carroll To: 'Nadir & Angela Martello' Sent: Tuesday, November 07, 2006 6:32 PM Subject: RE: AFLNews October 2006 Dear Angela, Please remove all references (text, pictures) to St. Carthage’s Cathedral Parish from your website. As you know, The Apostles For Life are no longer a group recognized by the cathedral parish. Yours faithfully, Fr. Dennis Carroll. This is what appeared in the Cathedral parish bulletin of 19th November:
Actually it had slipped my attention that on the ABOUT US page it said that we meet 3rd Saturday at the Cathedral. If Father Carroll had pointed this out, I would have removed it immediately. As can be seen in the article “Stormy Times!” http://www.apostlesforlifesite.org/2006_08_newsletters.htm I had already acknowledged the fact that we Apostles for Life are banned from using Lismore Parish facilities. This was sent out to all Apostles for Life, either by email or in hard copy and there was no reason to make any announcement in the parish bulletin as all those concerned had already been notified. Father Dennis Carroll’s statement “Parishioners should be wary of the anti Jewish views expressed in Apostle's (sic) for life website” is a “red herring” to distract from his own inability to answer even basic questions that have arisen in relation to Gerry Keane and the Origins debate, and his prejudice and denigration of him. The issue is EVOLUTION-CREATION! As Father Dennis Carroll said in his email of June 07, 2006 6:55 PM “The Apostles For Life group will also lose my support, therefore its ability to exist in the parish, if it starts to promote very doubtful ideas like Mr. Keene’s (sic). ======= I wrote of June 09, 2006: If you know about him teaching some falsehood, I am waiting to hear from you. I need to know where he is teaching wrongly. When I have that pointed out to me I will stop immediately to promote his work. ======= Of course, I have kept Gerry Keane informed about developments. He has written emails on several occasions to Father Dennis Carroll, sending copies to the Bishop and those priests to whom Father Carroll had broadcast his slurs on Gerry’s reputation. In his usual gentle and respectful manner Gerry has challenged Father many times. One can only guess why Father Dennis Carroll is unwilling or unable to respond as a matter of justice and fairplay.
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amartello@apostlesforlifesite.org
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