IRELAND
Irish Times
Patsy McGarry
Sun, Sep 15, 2013
In a homily delivered in Drogheda this morning Augustinian priest Fr Iggy O’Donovan criticised the role of right-wing Catholics and career-oriented clergy in persecuting Irish priests recently silenced by the Vatican.
The Drogheda-based priest who has been offered a sabbatical by his superiors offered his support to Redemptorist priest Fr Tony Flannery during his final homily at St Augustines in Drogheda.
“I cannot leave here today without making some reference to a distinguished colleague of mine in the priesthood. I speak of Fr Tony Flannery. If I had not been made aware first hand of the details of this case I could not have given it credance,” he said.
“Even hardened veterans are shaken by the murkiness of the devious world of ecclesiastical politics. How has it come to this, that a great and good priest like Tony, who has dedicated his life to the preaching of the Gospel, is persecuted with a zeal that is as pathological as the paranoia that feeds it?”
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