Brendan Hoban finds that the surveys conducted on school patronage reveal that most parents are happy with having their children educated in Catholic schools. He believes the the Church should take a firm stand with the Minister for Education.
Mary O. Vallely shares an Easter reflection on Mary Magdalene, a saint she believes to have been badly treated by the official Church down through the centuries (reflection composed by Fr James Martin SJ).
Padraig McCarthy reports that the meeting scheduled between ACP members and the church leaders of the Holy Land has been cancelled by the organisers.
Jimmy McPhillips, an ACP member in Clogher diocese, critiques the ACP and its website, and regrets that so few of priests’ real concerns are raised: frustration, absence of real leadership, low morale, depression and all the burdens of pastoral ministry. He suggests that ACP members meeting at local level in dioceses and Religious communities might help keep the leadership in touch with these core issues.
Tony Flannery shares some of his hopes and dreams for the Church after the election of Pope Francis (article written for the Connacht Tribune).
Eddie Finnegan asks why so few priests in the northern dioceses engage with the ACP
Eddie Finnegan probes the non-participation of the vast majority of Ireland’s parish priests on their ACP website, and ponders if a fear of clericalism is at its heart
Eddie Finnegan analyses postings to the ACP website (articles and comments) and finds ordinary diocesan priest-members in Ireland almost absent from its pages.
The New York Times profiles Father Helmut Schüller, the ‘mild but rebellious priest’ who was part of the 2011 ‘Appeal to Disobedience’ by 400 priests in Austria. This initiative began with a small group of priests, talking about the problems faced by their parishes, about the lack of successors to take their places, and about the fusing of congregations.
(A version of this article appeared in print on March 23, 2013, on page A8 of the New York edition with the headline: With New Pope, Spotlight Returns to a Mild but Rebellious Priest.)
Mary Cunningham outlines the CDF’s controlling role in the silencing of Fr Sean Fagan, undermining Archbishop Charles Brown’s recent assertion that such actions are a matter for a religious priest’s superior
Padraig Haran, (Chairperson), Joe Connolly, (P.P.), Deirdre Meyler, Angela O’Sullivan, Pat Hannon, (P.C.), Mary Bond, Ken Spratt, Pat Reilly, (C.C.), Deborah McArdle and Alain Rochecouste, all members of Donabate Pastoral Council, deplore the CDF’s treatment of Fr Tony Flannery
Tony Flannery takes issue with Archbishop Charles Brown, the papal nuncio to Ireland, responding to an interview conducted by Mary Wilson on the RTE programme, ‘Drivetime’ on 15 March 2013
Brendan Hoban identifies the positive features of the new pope, suggesting he might be a new John XXIII — an unexpected appointment, who might surprise us all (first published in the Daily Mail of 14/3/2013).
Sean McDonagh highlights Patrick’s experience of forced migration and slavery, which would give the saint an understanding the plight of Ireland’s migrants today.
Pádraig McCarthy notes the extreme inequality now visible in Irish society, where 1,200 people died as a result of fuel poverty last winter, yet the nation’s 300 wealthiest individuals saw their wealth increase massively in 2012. He finds church leaders almost silent on the matter and asks if the ACP should take it up, in line with the our consitiution.
Tony Flannery raises the questions over the protection of child abuser Maciel Degollado which remain unanswered — a major issue that the new Pope will need to deal with if he is to attempt to reform the Curia (article first published in the Irish Times on 11 March).
Brian Fahy shares the lesson of accepting people as they are, which he learned from his late wife Margaret. He wishes the church would learn to accept all its gay members as they are — drawing on the story of the Prodigal Son to illustrate his message.
In a BBC interview, Cardinal Keith O’Brien, the Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, speaks of the need for a debate on priestly celibacy. And he believes it may be time for a pope from the developing world.
Mattie Long (a priest of Tuam diocese) admires the courage of Pope Benedict in retiring when he could no longer provide effective ministry. He hopes this act might embolden Irish dioceses to face the dramatic reduction in priest numbers with more visionary solutions than the clustering of parishes.
Alan Hilliard (a priest of Dublin diocese) wrote this open letter to Fr Tony Flannery as a response to a talk given by Tony at the meeting of ACP priests in Athlone.
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