IRELAND
Irish Times
Patsy McGarry in Athlone
The diocesan priest in Ireland today was “often pitied, patronised, reviled, insulted, disrespected, ignored and resented,” Fr Brendan Hoban said at the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) annual meeting in Athlone on Wednesday.
“A gale-force wind is now in our faces, it’s the middle of the second half and we’re 6-0 down,” said Fr Hoban, a co-founder of the association.
Priests were “the equivalent of Plymouth Argyle, struggling to stay in the third division.”
They were being bullied and were prone to depression with an increase in suicide rates over recent years, he added.
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