IRELAND
Association of Catholic Priests
On September 18 last I travelled the long journey to Wexford. I was representing the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) at a meeting with the Bishop of Ferns and his Priests’ Council. It was part of an effort, on the part of the ACP, to make contact with bishops and priests around the country.
We had asked the Papal Nuncio for a meeting but he felt it was more appropriate if we met the Irish bishops. We had then asked the bishops for a meeting but they thought it was more appropriate that we should meet the Councils of Priests. It was, you could argue, an ecclesiastical version of Pass the Parcel but nonetheless we took the invitation at face value and travelled up and down the country for almost a year. Ferns, the Wexford diocese, was one of our final meetings.
I was very graciously received in Wexford and the discussion ranged over a wide area:
the dearth of vocations;
dealing with allegations of child abuse against priest;
the new English translation of the Mass;
the method of appointing bishops;
the ‘silencing’ of priests;
the decline in religious practice;and so forth.
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