THIS EVENING!!! TG4 Documentary on Tony Flannery, Wed 18 Oct @ 9.30pm
Here’s a clip that’s on YouTube:
Fr Tony Flannery airs Wednesday 18th October at 9.30pm on TG4. The programme should also be available worldwide on the TG4 player, both live and after broadcast on this link:
(It could be good people overseas know that they can watch.)
There are two lines at the end of the documentary that say:
Iarradh ar Dhiacaistir Theagasc an Chreidimh (An Chuallacht um Theagasc an Chreidimh roimhe seo) freagra a thabhairt ar an méid a mhaígh an tAthair Flannery sa chlár seo. Ní bhfuarthas aon fhreagra.
The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (formerly known as the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith) was invited to respond to the claims made by Father Flannery in this programme. No response was received.
Iarradh ar Ord an tSlánaitheora freagra a thabhairt ar an méid á mhaígh sa chlár seo.
Ní bhfuarthas aon fhreagra.
The Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer was invited to respond to the claims made in this programme. No response was received.
Misneach: Tony Flannery
A new documentary by Midas Productions
Wednesday 18th October 2023 @ 9.30pm on TG4
A personal insight to the life of Redemptorist priest Tony Flannery who was suspended from public ministry by the Vatican in 2012 for expressing his support for women’s ordination, optional clerical celibacy, same sex relationships and his liberal views on homosexuality.
Ordained in 1974, Tony Flannery is a well-known priest and missionary and native of Attymon, Co. Galway
11 years ago, he was summoned to Rome by the Superior General of the Redemptorists to find his writing in Reality magazine had been the subject of complaint to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF).
He was handed an unsigned piece of paper, containing instructions from the CDF that he be suspended from ministry.
Tony has never known who his accusers were and has been given no right to appeal this decision. Despite being offered a chance to return to ministry if he were to sign a statement renouncing his views and agree with the Church’s moral teachings and their stance of female ordination – Tony has not waivered.
Featuring heartfelt contributions from Tony, his friends and family, Misneach: Tony Flannery gives a voice to a priest who has been sidelined by the church he has devoted his life to.
———
I see that Sr Jeannine Gramick who was “silenced” by the CDF under Cardinal Ratzinger for her ministry to LGBTQ + people and who did speak up and out, choosing “not to collude with my own oppression” has been received by Pope Francis. And with her members of NewWays Ministry.
https://www.newwaysministry.org/2023/10/17/pope-francis-receives-sr-jeannine-gramick-at-vatican/
So let’ s hope Tony Flannery gets vindicated too.
After all Sr Jeannine Gramick advocates for same-gender marriage and women priests…
Letter to new head of DDF
SEP 18
A priest, whose name I am withholding from this publication, has written this letter to the new man in the DDF. I am very grateful to him.
Dear Cardinal Fernandez:
I am a retired priest…… First, I’d like to congratulate you on your new assignment and on your elevation to the cardinalate. I’m of the opinion that Pope Francis only picks the best. So, I have the highest regard for you at the outset and trust that you will make a lasting contribution to the Church.
In the years prior to the current papacy, quite a few priests and theologians ran afoul of the Holy Office and were punished in various ways for their controversial positions. Now, the ecclesiastical climate has changed considerably, and for the better. The current thinking laid out by the Holy Father has to do with making theology relevant and accessible, and less of a closed book. In a word, to be an open, developing enterprise, engaged in dialogue aimed at greater understanding among people, both inside and outside the Church.
To this end, I ask you to re-visit the case of the Irish Redemptorist, Father Tony Flannery, and remove his suspension. When I was a pastor in Arizona, I met him on two occasions and heard him speak. He is a gifted communicator, a man of integrity, and an inspiring priest. As he shared his troubles with the Vatican, I couldn’t help but think: Why are they doing this to him? It is obvious to me and other clergy that he has said nothing that we haven’t heard from various bishops.
So, please, esteemed Cardinal-Designate, investigate this injustice and set it right. If you met and heard Fr. Flannery, you would realize that he is no threat or danger to the Faith. On the contrary, he is a beacon of light and hope to many of us.
Most grateful for your kind consideration, I wish you good health in your new ministry.
Yours in Christ,
Letter to new head of DDF
SEP 18
Wonderful!!
Let’s hope common sense at last prevails and justice to Tony will finally happen.
Totally agree with you – huge injustice needs to be addressed. I was very upset to hear the FACTS of his case last night on TG4… How can I be involved in such a cruel church? I’m a minister of the Eucharist. How can I actively help to make the powers in the Vatican release this priest from such a horrible ban?
I can only agree 100% with what Tony has shared regarding letter written by retired pastor from the States, and also comments from Paddy and Soline.
I watched the two recent documentaries Misneach – Scéal Tony Flannery (TG4 October18) and the one on Dan Breen (TG4 October 13). The documentary on Breen recalled how towards the end of his life he had a silver tea service, a wedding present, melted down and formed into a chalice for the altar in Kilcroney chapel as told by Joe Ambrose on page 190 in his book Dan Breen and the IRA.
Both documentaries got me thinking about the day of my ordination when the bishop in a symbolic act put a chalice and paten into my consecrated hands and said to me “Accept from the holy people of God the gifts to be offered to him. Know what you are doing, and imitate the mystery you celebrate: model your life on the mystery of the Lord’s cross.”
The documentaries also got me thinking about Parsifal and The Grail Legend with its many symbols which has had a profound impact on our western civilization and culture and sheds light on our search for the supreme value of life; for that which makes life most meaningful.
In his book, Balancing Heaven and Earth, the Jungian analyst Robert A. Johnson commenting on the quest for the Grail says “This story is not only about a personal quest, it is also about the evolution of consciousness for all humankind. The Grail Castle, which brings the greatest joy that a human being is capable of, is that visionary, mystical, interior world that is always just down the road. It is never very far away. But it must be earned. It isn’t just what you do in life, but the attitude by which you live. This is epitomized in the question “Whom does the Grail serve?” Each modern person must ask himself or herself this question.”
Pope Francis is renowned for his many symbolic acts on his apostolic journeys.
I think a symbolic gesture from Rome would answer many unanswered questions raised in Misneach – Scéal Tony Flannery – about a priest who is ‘legend’ in his own lifetime and servant of the Mystery that is greater than all of us.
If the once excommunicated Dan Breen turned a tea-pot into a Grail shortly before he died and on the eve of the Northern Ireland troubles I’m sure someone in the Holy City could try to match its symbolism.
Yours
Peadar O’Callaghan
Galileo Galilei was treated miserably by the Roman Theologians who have always had a direct route to God. It only took four hundred years for the Church to apologise for that disgusting put down of a fine man who had more brains and creativity than a host of theological ‘experts’. His crime was to discover truths about the solar system that did not fit in with the narrow interpretations of their creation story. As we speak in 2023, an agenda for discussing many topics including the role of women, ordination of women, optional celibacy for priests and a welcome for members of the LGBTQ family…etc is put before an Episcopal committees in Rome. I wonder how the heroic priest, Fr Tony Flannery, feels when he reads that news after his silencing over a decade ago for holding such opinions. Maybe in a few hundred years…..???