IRELAND
Irish Times
JOHN FALLON and DECLAN ROONEY
CATHOLIC BISHOPS declined to attend a conference at the weekend organised by priests who want reform of the church.
About 400 people attended the assembly in Galway on Saturday which was organised by the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP).
Fr Tony Flannery, one of the founding members of the ACP two years ago, which represents 800 priests in Ireland, was silenced earlier this year by the Vatican because of his liberal views.
Fr Flannery, a Redemptorist priest based at Esker in Co Galway, incurred the wrath of the church hierarchy when he publicly backed criticism of the Vatican by Taoiseach Enda Kenny.
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