IRELAND
Irish Examiner
By Dan Buckley
Saturday, April 07, 2012
Dan Buckley profiles a priest at odds with some dogmas of the Church
If Fr Tony Flannery lived 300 years ago, it is almost certain he would have been burned at the stake as a heretic. But the Vatican — and Catholic Church teaching in general — has come a long way since then.
Or has it? The Vatican retains a tendency to view unfavourably any Catholic — particularly a priest — who has the temerity to question its dogma. A group of priests acting in consort is bound to come in for particular scrutiny.
As part of his crackdown on so-called dissident clerics, Pope Benedict has ordered an investigation into Fr Flannery, one of the founders of the Association of Catholic Priests, an independent organisation that provides a forum for members to discuss issues affecting the Church in Ireland and Irish society in general.
The association shares some of the views espoused by the more radical Austrian organisation, the Austrian Priests’ Initiative, which last year issued a public ‘call to disobedience’ in relation to a number of Catholic Church teachings. The public letter, issued in June 2011, demanded “reform” on priestly celibacy, men-only priesthood, and the proscription on giving Holy Communion to divorced and remarried Catholics.
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