Cardinal snubs plea by liberal priests for meeting

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Breda Heffernan

Wednesday October 31 2012

CARDINAL Sean Brady has refused to meet a group of reforming priests in the latest snub from the church hierarchy to its own members.

The Association of Catholic Priests (ACP), which has more than 1,000 members, has published correspondence it sent to the cardinal seeking a meeting with bishops to discuss the future of the church.

In response, the Bishops’ Conference executive secretary Fr G Dullea said the hierarchy had decided that engagement with the ACP should happen at local level.

The council is organised on diocesan level and involves priests meeting several times a year to discuss issues and then report to their local bishop. It does not allow for the ACP as a group to meet face-to-face with bishops.

It is the latest snub to the ACP after bishops in the west of Ireland refused to attend an assembly of priests and lay people in Galway last month and signals that relations between the hierarchy and the ACP are at a new low.

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