IRELAND
Limerick Leader
By Nick Rabbitts
Published on Monday 16 April 2012
LIMERICK City North councillor Tom Shortt has spoken out in favour of under-fire priest Fr Tony Flannery.
Fr Flannery – who was rector in Limerick for six years during the 1990s – has been asked by the Vatican to go to a monastery and “reflect on his situation” for a six week period.
This came after Fr Flannery publicly expressed opposition to the Church’s ban on artificial birth control and its refusal to ordain women.
Speaking at this week’s sports and culture committee meeting, Cllr Tom Shortt said: “I would like to express my support for Fr Tony Flannery. I really feel for him at present. He is suffering from the repressive way of the Catholic Church in Rome. It is sad to see people who would still resort to these bad ways.”
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