Posted on 01/22/2013 3:15:50 PM PST by NYer
A prominent Irish priest has announced that he will reject a directive from the Vatican and refuse to sign a statement affirming Church teachings on the nature of priestly ordination.
Father Tony Flannery had been silenced by the Vatican last year because of his statements supporting the ordination of women and questioning Church teachings on contraception and on homosexuality. At a January 20 press conference in Dublin he said that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) had ordered him to sign a statement of support for Church teaching, and threatened further disciplinary action if he refused.
“Either I sign a statement, for publication, stating that I accepted teachings that I could not accept, or I would remain permanently banned from priestly ministry, and maybe face more serious sanctions,” Father Flannery said. He claimed that his disagreements with the Vatican involved “not matters of fundamental teaching, but rather of Church governance.” Actually his published writings have questioned fundamental Catholic doctrines; he has not only opposed the ban on ordination of women but also said that he does not believe that "the priesthood as we currently have it in the Church originated with Jesus."
Father Flannery complained bitterly about the Vatican handling of his case, charging that the CDF had refused to meet with him to discuss his views and that the Vatican routinely punishes critics “because they would not toe the line.” He said that although “I find myself forbidden to minister as a priest, with a threat of excommunication and dismissal from my congregation hanging over me,” he would not accede to the Vatican’s demand.
The Association of Catholic Priests, a dissident group that Father Flannery had helped to found, issued a strong statement of support for the embattled priest, denouncing the Vatican for “a callousness and even brutality” in its handling of his case.
Father Flannery’s Redemptorist community expressed regret that talks between the Vatican and the priest had broken down. Without endorsing Father Flannery’s unorthodox views, the community voiced concern over the Vatican’s handling of the matter. The Redemptorist statement said: “It is of immense regret that some structures or processes of dialogue have not yet been found in the Church which have a greater capacity to engage with challenging voices from among God's people, while respecting the key responsibility and central role of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.”
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s process is slow and patient and respectful, to a fault, when certain people and their odd theological notions come under study. It takes a lot to get scrutinized by the CDF in the first place, but once you are in their system, they go over and over what you write and give you chances to explain and correct. If it gets to a point where someone refuses to be corrected, unpleasant things result.
Don’t let the door hit ya the back side on the way out Father
A queer priest is not unheard of... it happens...
Hasta la vista, baby...
I believe the Church will survive without this dissident priest, and it can do just fine with those who agree with him too.
I am not a RC but if he doesn’t believe what the RC Church believes, he should be removed.
Hmmm ... So, he supports multiple forms of sodomy ... I wonder what his view of abortion might be.
Oh, this priest is a big hero to all those Catholics who THINK they are more Catholic than the Pope and the Church, because they believe that not allowing women to be priests is an injustice, and by the way, homosexuals should be allowed to marry in the Church as well, because Jesus loved everybody, and anyway He didn’t say homosexuality was wrong. (Channeling the liberal Catholics)
As members of a religious congregation Redemptorists embrace the evangelical counsels, taking the three traditional religious vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Poverty means that all possessions are held in common and that no member may accumulate wealth. Chastity means more than abstaining from sexual activity and its purpose is to make the religious totally available for service; it is also a sign that only God can completely fill the human heart. For a member of a religious congregation, obedience is not slavishly doing what one is told by the superior but being attentive to God’s will by prayerfully listening to the voice of the person in charge. For the Redemptorist, the three vows challenge those values presented as being important by modern day society. Recognising that the living out of the three traditional vows can be truly challenging, each Redemptorist takes a fourth vow, that of perseverance.
Wisdom dictates one does not take, or violate, such vows lightly.(Matt 5:33-37). Good luck with that, Tony.
Eventually I hope the church creates something like an Anglican ordinariate, a personal ordinariate but in reverse.
It would be an acknowledgement that because they have embraced liberal Anglican doctrines, they are no longer Catholic, but effectively Anglican. The mildest form of excommunication, I suppose, but on as friendly terms as possible, just as long as they no longer identify themselves as being Catholic.
There are plenty of Anglican priests heading in the direction of Rome. Maybe he should hit the road and head toward that rainbow flag.
We get all the remaining orthodox Christian Anglicans -- the Anglicans get Fr. Flannery, ex-Father Roy Bourgeois, the "nuns on the bus" and a heretic to be named later.
Earlier this week, she posted a sympathetic article about Fr. Bourgeois, and her son commented that Catholics need to get more 'radical'. I responded that I would settle for them to get more 'catechized'. He didn't respond. ;o)
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