Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Priest group criticises silencing of liberal cleric

The Association of Catholic Priests has said it does not expect members of the Irish hierarchy to comment on the silencing by the Vatican of one of the group’s founders, Fr Tony Flannery.

The Redemptorist priest is facing potential disciplinary measures over his liberal views on celibacy, contraception and women’s ordination.

Fr PJ Madden, another founding member of the ACP, acknowledged that it would be inappropriate for the Irish bishops to comment on the controversy.

He said it was really a matter for Fr Flannery and his religious order, which is based in Rome.

However, he criticised the disciplinary process being taken against Fr Flannery, which, he claimed, lacked due process as the priest was not provided with any information about the nature or the source of the complaint against him.

Fr Brendan Hoban, another ACP spokesman said that the organisation remained disturbed by the decision of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to instruct Fr Flannery to spend six weeks in a monastery to reflect on his situation.

"We think it is not the way for the Church to go about its business," said Fr Hoban. He claimed the way to address problems within the Church was not "by silencing the messenger".

Fr Hoban also expressed concern at the Vatican’s "blunt reaction to questions we are asking".

Speaking at a press conference in Dublin to announce the results of a survey on the attitude of lay Catholics in Ireland to a range of Church teachings, Fr Hoban said ordinary members of the clergy had earned the right from decades of ministry to raise issues which need to be addressed for the future of the Church.

He acknowledged that the Church is not a democracy but added: "Neither is it a dictatorship or autocracy.

"It is a communion of the faithful who follow the teachings of Jesus."

Fr Hoban said the ACP was formed two years ago to see reforms recommended by the Second Vatican Council being introduced.

He claimed the Church in Ireland was in a critical situation following recent clerical sex abuse scandals

"We believe that in Irish parishes there is a hunger for this kind of change. Irish Catholics, as this survey is making clear, want change."

He warned there will be very few priests left in Ireland in 20 years due to the age profile of existing clergy and predicted the Church will face major difficulties if it does not face up to that reality.

The ACP stressed it was not a group of dissident radicals but priests who had no difficulty with the fundamental teachings of the Catholic faith. Fr Hoban said it was wrong to represent the organisation as a breakaway group. He said the ACP had had a preliminary meeting with the hierarchy which he described as positive as it granted the ACP formal recognition.

However, the ACP expressed disappointment at the response of Irish bishops to its call last year for a deferral of the introduction of the new missal, whose language it criticised as sexist and impenetrable.

Fr Seán McDonagh of the ACP said some of the processes within the Church for dealing with complaints about priests were "appalling".

The ACP said it funded research and other activities from a €20 membership fee and a €22,000 donation from another representative body of priests which disbanded a few years ago.