Irish Redemptorists ask Vatican to reinstate priest barred from ministry over women’s ordination
Irish Redemptorists ask Vatican to reinstate priest barred from ministry over women’s ordination
04 Feb 2022 – From National Catholic Reporter by Sarah McDonald
DUBLIN — The Irish branch of the global Redemptorist religious order has called on the Vatican to reinstate a priest who was suspended from public ministry in 2012 primarily over his support for women’s ordination.
In a statement to NCR, the head of the Dublin province of the Redemptorists said he and his provincial council would like to see Fr. Tony Flannery — a member of the order who has been unable to minister as a priest for nearly 10 years — reinstated.
“It seems particularly disproportionate that sanctions imposed, as in the case of Fr. Flannery, for expressing theological and pastoral commentary in writing, are without time-limits,” said Fr. Dan Baragry, the provincial. “This disproportionality is multiplied by reason of a present-day Church context, under the leadership of Pope Francis, which encourages theological reflection and debate.”
Link to full article:
Irish Redemptorists…
In light of today’s NCR report by Sarah McDonald, and of the clear statement by Redemptorist Provincial, Fr Dan Baragry, I must retract my comment (in the neighbouring discussion on Kevin Hegarty’s article) about the silence of Tony Flannery’s Irish confreres. It is good to see now that Tony’s call for a review of his case has the support of his Irish superior.
Irish Redemptorists…
In the full Sarah McDonald article the Irish provincial Fr Baragry is quoted as saying that ‘the Redemptorists in Ireland have taken several initiatives in pursuit of this objective, all of which have faced various obstacles and barriers’. As one of the people involved in one of these confidential initiatives I can vouch for the fact that Tony has been supported by his Redemptorist colleagues in Ireland.
Irish Redemptorists…
THANK GOD! As a fellow Redemptorist from the United States I am glad some of my confreres are willing to take a risk and stand up for one of our own.
It puzzles me over the years how religious congregations of women faithfully stand up for their members while mens communities remain complicit or silent.
Kudos to my Irish confreres!!!
Irish Redemptorists…Tony Flannery:
We need to exhume the list of propositions Tony was asked to sign. They bring shame on the CDF.
Irish Redemptorists…Tony Flannery:
Here are the four ‘doctrinal’ propositions (which make a joke of the term ‘doctrine’):
DOCTRINAL PROPOSITION: According to the Tradition and the doctrine of the Church incorporated in the Canon Law (c. 1024), a baptized male alone receives sacred ordination validly.
(invitation to sign with a mental reservation: ‘yes, that is what the Tradition says, but it can change’.)
DOCTRINAL PROPOSITION: Since the homosexual practices are contrary to the natural law and do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity, they are not approved by the moral teaching of the Catholic Church (cf. CCC 2357).
(invitation to mental reservation: ‘Yes, not approved, but the teaching is capable to correction or development’.)
DOCTRINAL PROPOSITION: The Marriage covenant, by which a man and a woman form with each other an intimate communion of life and love, has been founded and endowed with its own special laws by the Creator (CCC 1660). Other forms of union do not correspond to God’s plan for marriage and family. Therefore, they are not allowed by the Catholic Church.
(invitation to mental reservation: ‘the other forms of union may soon be approved, as they are in civil society, whether or not as accordant with Catholic tradition on sacramental heterosexual marriage’.)
DOCTRINAL PROPOSITION: In so far as it contradicts the foundations of a genuine Christian anthropology, gender theory is not accepted by Catholic teaching (cf. Congregation for Catholic Education, Male and Female He Created Them, nn. 2-4; 19-23 and passim).
(invitation to mental reservation: ‘sure maybe some forms of gender theory contradict those foundations; but further study will surely bring nuance here’.)