Which bishop excommincated Mary Mackillop

Answer 1

The Josephite sisters worked in the schools and aided the poor at Adelaide, and the local prelate, Bishop Sheil, disagreed with the way the Sisters went about their lives. He excommunicated their leader, Mary MacKillop, in September of 1871, for "inciting disobedience". Sheil lifted the censure in February, 1872, shortly before his death. The church had conflicts not only with MacKillop, but also with Father Julian Woods, who came to the area in 1866 to establish church schools.

AnswerRecent research has shown that Mary MacKillop was excommunicated because one of the Josephite sisters, for whom she was responsible, reported a priest, Father Keating, for paedophilia, molesting children at the local church school in Kapunda. Before his death, Bishop Shiel said that MacKillop had "done no wrong" wand revoked the excommunication. AnswerLocal bishops had conflicts with Mary MacKillop. It is not fair to say "the Church" had conflicts, for two reasons: firstly, the Church denotes the sum of the People of God, and Mary was never that isolated; secondly Mary always had the confidence of the Holy See. The conflict stemmed from political power plays. Mary wanted an order centrally governed - much like Canberra would one day govern all Australia. Many local bishops wanted to be unchallenged rulers in their dioceses, and were unwilling to have sisters who were subject to a central Mother House rather than themselves. Right, however, was on Mary's side as Rome granted her Institute central government. A great many local bishops were either ignorant of Church law, or knowingly acted against it in their dealings with Mary. Her illicit excommunication is the most notorious example.

We know that a contributing factor to Shiel's quite illegal and invalid excommunication of Mary was indeed the animus between the Sisters and the Bishop's Vicar General over the reporting and subsequent exiling of an abusive priest. The nature of the abuse is unknown. It may have been paedophilia, it may have adultery, it may have been Alcoholism. It is a peculiarly modern bias to immediately assume the Sisters had detected and reported child abuse.

Answer 2

In 1871, Bishop Laurence Sheil excommunicated Mary MacKillop, an Australian nun, due to disputes within the Sisters of St Joseph order. However, the excommunication was later lifted by another bishop in 1872.

Answer 3

she was wrongly accused of insubordination

Answer 4

Bishop Sheil excommunicated Mary MacKillop but lifted it on his deathbed.