IRELAND
Association of Catholic Priests
At the invitation of Theresa Devlin, a meeting took place on 5 March between three members of the NBSCCC and two members of the Leadership Team of the ACP, Sean McDonagh and Tony Flannery.
The following items were raised by the ACP members:
1. Audits of dioceses and Religious Communities. We stressed that this put the members of the NBSCCC in a very powerful position, since, because of the publicity each tranche of audits receives, they amount to a public rating of the bishop or superior. And the content of the audit can have major impact on the lives of individual priests. We attempted to impress on them the seriousness of their role, and encouraged them to act with compassion.
2. We raised the difficulties around historical allegations, and the fact that many older priests are excluded from ministry because of a mistake or mistakes they made in their earlier life, and where there was no pattern of re-offending. We questioned the justice of this, and the witness it gives from a Church, one of whose core teachings is mercy and forgiveness.
3. We brought up once again the reality of false allegations, as we are experiencing them in our work with the ACP.
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