IRELAND
Irish Independent
By Colm Kelpie
Friday April 13 2012
SENIOR church figures were last night trying to come to terms with the stark findings of a report which lays bare massive alienation among huge numbers of Catholics.
The survey, for an 800-strong group of priests, found most Catholics are at odds with the hierarchy over several issues.
The vast majority of those surveyed disagreed with the Vatican’s thinking on women clergy, homosexuality and celibacy for priests. …
Monsignor Brendan Byrne, the diocesan administrator of the Kildare and Leighlin Diocese, said: “I’m sure the bishops will look at it seriously. They will take a serious view of it, will reflect upon it and try to respond to it.”
Yesterday the Catholic hierarchy issued a short statement in which it recognised that there was a “rapidly changing social and cultural environment in Ireland today”.
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