Priest defends Flannery against bishops

The co-founder of the reformist Association of Catholic Priests has criticised the Irish bishops after one of its leading members was banned from speaking at a church event in Cloyne, writes Sarah Mac Donald.

Fr Brendan Hoban accused the Irish hierarchy of treating Fr Tony Flannery like “some kind of noxious virus” since the Redemptorist priest was suspended from ministry in 2012.

Fr Flannery, who has spoken out on women priests, homosexuality and contraception, was invited by the lay members of the Killeagh parish council, in east Cork, to give the keynote address at Spiritfest 2015 at the end of September.

However, last week, Bishop William Crean announced that the invitation had been withdrawn in line with Cloyne’s protocols on those who are out of ministry. The move followed a personal visit to the parish by the bishop.

In his weekly column for the Western People, Fr Hoban, who is a parish priest in Killala diocese, said the bishops should be “beating a path to Rome” demanding Fr Flannery’s reinstatement to ministry in view of his long and significant service to the Irish Church, instead of depicting him “as some kind of crazed radical”.

The County Mayo-based priest suggested that Fr Flannery’s position in the leadership of the ACP, which has a membership of more than 1,000 Irish priests, contributed to his “effective banishment” from the priesthood, which he described as “a terrible injustice to a decent man”.

According to Fr Hoban, the episode sends a strong signal to pastoral councils that unless they are in line with the bishop, they will be given no say in the running of their Church.