IRELAND
Irish Examiner
Monday, December 07, 2015
Nick Bramhill
Church leaders are to discuss a resolution from a group representing over 1,000 priests to restore Ireland’s ‘silenced’ clerics to full ministry.
The Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) overwhelmingly backed a proposal at their recent AGM, calling for censured members of the clergy to be reinstated to former roles.
Up to five Irish priests have been disciplined by Church authorities here for their outspoken views, including relaxing strict rules on celibacy and allowing priests to marry.
But the ACP has called for bishops to ask authorities in the Vatican to restore silenced members of the priesthood to “full and unrestricted” ministry.
The group has argued that returning censured priests to their former parishes would be in keeping with the spirit of Pope Francis’s Holy Year of Mercy — which begins tomorrow .
The Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference indicated members would be willing to debate the future for censured clerics.
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