IRELAND
The Irish Catholic

by Greg Daly
August 11, 2016

A senior figure in the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) has said that current high-profile tensions about the national seminary have become a stumbling block for ordinary Catholics.

Anonymous allegations of inappropriate sexual behaviour at St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, have led to Dublin’s Archbishop Diarmuid Martin withdrawing his seminarians from Maynooth to send them to the Irish College in Rome.

Calling for greater leadership on the issue, Cork-based Redemptorist Fr Gerry O’Connor told The Irish Catholic that “every parishioner you speak to is asking ‘what is going on in the Church?’”

Fr O’Connor, who is a member of the ACP leadership team, said this summer should be a prime opportunity for “a Church that is celebrating the Year of Mercy when we have an inspiring Pope and have just had a fantastic World Youth Day” but that stories…