Irish Priest Silenced by Vatican to Speak Saturday in Independence

Plain Dealer
October 31, 2014

http://www.cleveland.com/religion/index.ssf/2014/10/irish_priest_silenced_by_vatic.html

Rev. Tony Flannery speaking last week in Philadelphia. (FutureChurch)

A well-known Irish priest who was suspended and muzzled by the Vatican is visiting Cleveland this weekend on an 18-city speaking tour.

The Rev. Tony Flannery, who is marking 50 years as a member of the Redemptorist order in County Galway, was suspended from public ministry in 2012 for suggesting that "the priesthood as we currently have it in the church" did not originate with Jesus.

He began to speak publicly on the need for church reform after refusing a year later to sign a statement saying that women can never be priests and that he accepted all the stances of the church on contraception, homosexuality and refusal of the sacraments to divorced and remarried Catholics.

He will speak on "Repairing a Damaged Church" at 7 p.m. Saturday at Independence Middle School, 6111 Archwood Drive, Independence. He is being sponsored by a nationwide coalition of reform and progressive Catholic groups including Lakewood-based FutureChurch.

Flannery said in an interview this week that he will put some focus on the ordination of women, which he sees as both a matter of justice and equality and a practical issue.

"Within 20 years in Ireland, there will be only a handful of priests left," he said. "Rigid adherence to the tradition of an exclusively male, celibate priesthood is bringing about a Eucharistic famine and causing the destruction of local faith communities.

"I see the tour of America as an opportunity to examine the essence of priesthood and to consider how it must be adapted and reformed."

Flannery, 67, was threatened last year with excommunication for heresy by the powerful Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith because of his views. He said he was never contacted directly, only through his order, and did not have the opportunity for defense.

"They operate out of a system and mindset that would be more at home in the 16th century than the 21st," he said. "The only way to combat that is to expose it to the light of day, and through the power of public opinion to make it impossible for the Vatican authorities to continue this type of behavior."

Flannery chronicles his dealings with the Vatican in "A Question of Conscience," the latest of his nine books.

Ordained amid the openness brought by Vatican II, Flannery likes the change of emphasis brought by Pope Francis, and his call for a more welcoming and merciful church.

"With four to five years of good health, he may make significant changes for the better. I think he has already made very significant progress. Whether that'll make any difference for me personally, I don't know," Flannery said.