UNITED KINGDOM
The Association of Catholic Priests (Ireland)
Michael Kelleher of Cork & Ross represented the ACP at the meeting of our English association last week. He sends this account of the meeting, and suggests that further information can be found on their website.
I attended the public meeting of the ‘A Call to Action’ group (see: acalltoaction.org.uk) at Heythrop College on Wednesday last, October 10th . By going to the website you will see the story of the development of this group. Having been part of the journey of the A.C.P. from its initial meeting at Portlaoise, through diocesan meetings in Cork, to the day in the Regency, I wondered what would be similar or different at this meeting.
Dialogue.
The meeting began with a now familiar experience. The attendance was much bigger than expected and we had to cross Kensington High St. to the welcome of the St. Mary Abbot Church. Instead of an anticipated 200 people over 400 turned up from all over England.
The introductions followed outlining the lead up to the meeting. We were told that the priests organising the meeting had visited Archbishop Nichols a few days earlier to brief him on their plans. He indicated to them that he agreed that there are many issues that need to be addressed. At the end of the meeting Fr. Tom O’Loughlin, of the organising group, made it clear that his years working at the Corrymeela Community had convinced him of the value of dialogue, of having safe, respectful places to speak and listen.
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