The Association of Catholic Priests (ACP), in responding to the announcement that the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Charles Brown, has been transferred to Albania, wish him well in his new appointment.
Statement from the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) on the Tuam Babies revelations and the resignation of Marie Collins from the Vatican Commission on Clerical Sex Abuse
Those who attended the AGM last Autumn, or read the text of the talk given by Marie Keenan, will know that she suggested it might be a good idea for the ACP to offer some ‘Healing Circles’ to priests.
The ACP Leadership has decided to offer this service to priests who may be interested.
Sean McDonagh, on behalf of the ACP, wrote to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland and RTE protesting at the disrespectful language used recently about the Eucharist on RTE’s Late Late Show.
Updated 2/3/17 with reply from the BAI
A number of regional meetings for priests are being arranged by the ACP.
The first of these will be held in the MacWilliam Park Hotel, Claremorris, Co Mayo on Wednesday, 08 March at 2.00pm.
All priests of Killala, Elphin, Achonry and Tuam dioceses are invited to attend.
Update:
A meeting for the Southern Region has been scheduled for 15 March in The Parish Centre, Ovens from 3.00 pm to 5.00 pm.
On January 25th 2017, Frs. Brendan Hoban, Tim Hazelwood and Sean McDonagh from the Association of Catholic priests (ACP) met with Teresa Devlin CEO of The National Board Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland and Peter Kieran who is a Director of Safeguarding. .
Sean McDonagh and Tony Flannery spoke today with Miriam O’Callaghan on RTE Radio 1.
Tony said that the Church in Ireland is “in a state of utter collapse”, with people “leaving the Church in droves”, and action is needed to change this. They said the Catholic Church also needs to apologise for how it has treated women and give them more power in the Church.
Updated 26/01/2017 with video link and further media coverage
Tony Flannery shares some thoughts on his Mass of Celebration, marking the occasion of his 70th birthday and 40 years of priesthood.
“The Mass, for me, was emotional, but beautiful. I have celebrated many big Masses over the years, at missions and novenas, but nothing that touched me to the core like this one.”
Also included is some of the press coverage of the celebration.
ACP Website – (Information from Google Analytics)
The leadership team of the ACP have issued a strong response to comments made about the state of the catholic church in Ireland by Archbishop Eamon Martin. They say that the Archbishop’s ‘ad limina” comments ‘bear little relationship to the realities of Irish Church life today’.
They have also commented on the letter received from the Irish bishops’ conference. The letter is seen as an attempt to ‘pull the plug’ on engagement with the ACP and ‘to still the voice of an association that represents over a third of Irish priests (1000-plus) who are prepared to name important and difficult truths at a critical time for the Irish Church.’
Tony Flannery, on his own web-site, announced his decision to say a Public Mass in Killimordaly Community Centre on Sunday, 22 January, at 2.30pm to mark the occasion of his 70th birthday.
Continuing press coverage of our AGM – care of priests, increasing workload, risk of depression and suicide, need for change of rules.
Audio recordings of ACP events available from eist.ie
Sarah Mac Donald reports on our recent AGM in the National Catholic Reporter.
The stark, and all too real, picture painted by Brendan Hoban is extensively quoted. We can only hope that this article and other media coverage will encourage all to conduct ‘a reasonable conversation’ and consider the “right to consideration, acknowledgement, support, encouragement and, above all, respect,” that priests are entitled to.
Brendan is further quoted; “Priests who have served the church for so long deserve no less and it’s time to start a reasonable conversation about this.”
Statement of the Association of Catholic Priests welcoming the proposed visit of Pope Francis
The issues with the ‘new’ Missal are ongoing for us in the ACP. Difficulties continue to be experienced by so many people with the “new translation” of the Roman Missal. The ACP has decided to highlight the fact that there was, and is, a ready alternative available.
The ACP is making available the prayers for the Advent and Christmas seasons along with the Order of the Mass from the 1998 Missal in a printed format. The opening prayer, prayer over gifts, prefaces and prayer after communion are also available at the weekly ‘Liturgy Preparation’ page on our site.
The editorial in today’s Irish Times, following the Annual General Meeting of the ACP, is interesting and is to be welcomed, even if it is, to be honest, somewhat of a surprise.
A Priesthood Imprisoned:
Presentation by Marie Keenan to the AGM
“I am not sure whether we are Killing our Priests as is the title of this AGM but I am sure that we are imprisoning them in a prison of invisibility, silence and to a great extent impotence.”
“most of all I urge you to take care of yourself in this time of uncertainty and challenge.”
A Lost Tribe: priests at risk:
Address of Brendan Hoban to the AGM
Coverage in the media, RTE and The Irish Times of the AGM in Athlone
Select a category in the sidebar for more posts
Select a category in the sidebar for more posts
