Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options

The Irish Association of Catholic Priests said it is “disturbed” that the group’s founder, the Redemptorist priest Tony Flannery, is under investigation by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In a statement on April 9 , the priests’ association—which represents about 20 percent of Ireland’s 4,000 priests—affirmed “in the strongest possible terms our confidence in and solidarity with Father Flannery.” The group said that the Vatican’s “individual focus on Father Flannery and inevitably, by implication, on the members of the association, is an extremely ill-advised intervention in the present pastoral context in Ireland.” In the past, Father Flannery has called for reconsideration of the church’s teachings on a variety of issues, including the ordination of women, the ban on artificial birth control and mandatory priestly celibacy.

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

The latest from america

In this exclusive interview with Gerard O’Connell, the Gregorian’s American-born rector, Mark Lewis, S.J., describes how three Jesuit academic institutes in Rome will be integrated to better serve a changing church.
Gerard O’ConnellApril 22, 2024
Speaking at a conference about the synod in Knock, County Mayo, Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary-general of the synod, said that “Fiducia Supplicans,” will not affect the forthcoming second session of the Synod on Synodality.
Speaking with Catholic News Service before formally taking possession of his titular church in Rome April 21, Cardinal Christophe Pierre described the reality of the church in the United States as a “paradox.”
Listen to Gemma’s homily for the Fifth Sunday of Easter, Year B, in which she explains how her experience of poverty in Brazil gave radical significance to Christ’s words: “Make your home in me as I make mine in you.”
PreachApril 22, 2024