68 Comments

• eiriamach | Jan 23, 2013, 01:29 PM EST

  Gearoid, you're preaching the Dark Ages. Bishop Fellay is himself anti-Semitic, as seen in his recent diatribe against the Vatican (available on You Tube and the IC article "Traditionalist Catholic leader calls Jewish people ‘enemies of the Church’--Video"). He and his SSPX tribe have rejected the consummate authority of a Church Council, along with its core constitutions and doctrines. There is little ambiguity in those documents although, in deference to ultra-conservatives, some documents allude confusingly to papal power while advancing the royal priesthood of all the faithful and the collegiality of bishops. The pope has tried his best to read such documents as re-affirming the papal supremacy that Vatican I Council promulgated in the 1870s along with anti-modernism, but he is rowing against the tide of history, blind to the signs of the times. Vatican II made a definitive break with the Church's medieval understanding of authority and, recognizing progress in universal education and civil liberties, placed the sensum fidelium at its center, just as papal encyclicals that claim infallibility have done! Bishop Fellay and SSPX, along with other priestly societies that reject Vatican II, are in de facto schism, whether or not the Vatican acknowledges the schism. Fr Flannery, by contrast, is in the Vatican II tradition of questioning and debate *within* the sensus fidelium, without which the Magisterium lacks moral authority.

• warlocks | Jan 23, 2013, 01:23 AM EST

  what do i think ? I Think the Vatican is afraid the truth is starting to leak out and become a Flood of Covered up Information about Pedophiles that are still within the Catholic Church.and also how corrupt the church has become. anyone who has a Brain and can Research history can see the Dark History of the early Church Fathers. the slaughter Hundreds of thousands in the Name of God and his Church.The real fault is not the Church. its the Leaders of the Church that need to be weeded out. and new healthy seeds planted the people are the Church and they should Rebuild the church. best way to do it is to stop the flow of money for a year or two then the Vatican might get the message.

• warlocks | Jan 23, 2013, 01:19 AM EST

  what do i think ? I Think the Vatican is afraid the truth is starting to leak out and become a Flood of Covered up Information about Pedophiles that are still within the Catholic Church.and also how corrupt the church has become. anyone who has a Brain and can Research history can see the Dark History of the early Church Fathers. the slaughter Hundreds of thousands in the Name of God and his Church.The real fault is not the Church. its the Leaders of the Church that need to be weeded out. and new healthy seeds planted the people are the Church and they should Rebuild the church. best way to do it is to stop the flow of money for a year or two then the Vatican might get the message.

• seanomelb | Jan 22, 2013, 06:25 PM EST

  Gearoid I reccomend you read "James the brother of Jesus"(Robert Eisenman

• stanJames | Jan 22, 2013, 06:24 PM EST

  All one needs to do is read the book by DAvid Gibson, a catholic writer "Pope Benedict and his battle with the modern world" Try www.bookfinder4u.com for best price - its a search engine................ Of course this is the pope who in 2009 UNexcommunciated Bishop Williamson, a holocaust denier.....Wiiilamson was kicked out of Argentina in 2009 and in 2010 Argentina became the first of 4 laTIN american nations to put in gay marriage. And now has a law on the books to give basic protections to trans people................Pray for a long life for this pope -------the longer he rules the sooner freedom from this absolutist church will come to the western world.

• Gearoid4 | Jan 22, 2013, 01:35 PM EST

  The Catholic Christian religion is based upon the solid rock of history, religion, anthropology and tradition of over 2000 years and no "fairytale" (as you sarcastically describe the story of Christianity, merefalow) would realistically last so long. The first hand accounts as related in the gospels of this life of an Man called Jesus are vivid and are hardly stuff of an hallucination. The fact that men like Peter(formerly called Simeon) were prepared to give up their lives to spread the message of this Man that they knew first hand speaks volumes about His reality. We have also evidence from contemporary extra-biblical sources like the Jewish historian Josephus and the Roman historian Tacticus that Jesus existed. I think that you should do a bit more reading and research before you come out with such idiotic expressions as a "2000 year fairytale".

• merefalow | Jan 22, 2013, 11:36 AM EST

  my post also has not been published,i b..... hate censorship,not the first time on here.lets water it down a bit and see what happens.the gist off it is that i after a lifetime of trying to glean the truth from every religion across the christian spectrum have never been able to obtain any validity that stood up to any scientific or logical examination,so i welcomed this priests sceptasism,and i welcome an objective microscope to be put on this whole 2,000 year fairytale.

• seanomelb | Jan 22, 2013, 01:41 AM EST

  Father Flannery a priest for the future. The pope a man of the middle ages.

• SingleDonald | Jan 21, 2013, 11:20 PM EST

  Sorry about the 2 posts. I clicked 2ce, when it didn't go through right away. I should have noticed what is written below: "It may take several minutes for your comment to appear"!

• SingleDonald | Jan 21, 2013, 11:15 PM EST

  I can't understand why my post of earlier today was deleted. To be more concise than before, I agree with eiriamach (who I often disagree with) that Father Tony Flannery should not be "excommunicated" over his beliefs that : 1) Women should be ordained; Divorced people should be given the sacraments, 3) Contraception is legitimate, and 4) Gay people are mistreated in the Church. Consider that one "60 Minutes" correspondent said that the Church has apparently become a "Gay Men's Club". It is high time that the Catholic Church stop preaching against homosexuals, and start acknowleging the dominance of gays, in its own clerical ranks today.

• SingleDonald | Jan 21, 2013, 11:15 PM EST

  I can't understand why my post of earlier today was deleted. To be more concise than before, I agree with eiriamach (who I often disagree with) that Father Tony Flannery should not be "excommunicated" over his beliefs that : 1) Women should be ordained; Divorced people should be given the sacraments, 3) Contraception is legitimate, and 4) Gay people are mistreated in the Church. Consider that one "60 Minutes" correspondent said that the Church has apparently become a "Gay Men's Club". It is high time that the Catholic Church stop preaching against homosexuals, and start acknowleging the dominance of gays, in its own clerical ranks today.

• Bryp | Jan 21, 2013, 10:34 PM EST

  I spent many years in a religious order being harangued by Redemptorists brought up in the old style. How refreshing to see one looking forward and trying to refresh the Church's image. If we get away from reliqious mumbo-jumbo and relook at the humanity of Jesus we might come close to being Christian again.

• Woodman | Jan 21, 2013, 05:55 PM EST

  Oh that's right he liar and fraud who can't even keep the solemn vows he took. The jokes on us if we listen to this clown. But we don't have to. Why doesn't the bum get a real job.

• Gearoid4 | Jan 21, 2013, 05:38 PM EST

  The Catholic priesthood, Eiriamach is pre-configured on the Holy person of Christ, who was and remains the perfect culmination of all previous sacrifices and is the ultimate High-Priest. So it is not accidental that the Christian priesthood in the Church universal(Catholic and Orthodox) has been reserved for the male gender. Jesus was not susceptible to the politically-correct thought of His time and picked 12 men to be his closest associates and the progenitors of the apostolic lineage for Churches around the world. These realities do not eclipse the indispensable roles that women have played in the Church down the centuries beginning with Mary, the Blessed Mother of Our Lord, her sister Martha etc. Women have been named Doctors of the Church e.g. Therese of Lisieux, and innumerable saints are females. The Church recognizes the innate and equal worth of both men and women but also realizes that each have different but equally valid roles to play in the promulgation of the Gospel. The Church's attitude is not based on modern sociological or gender studies but on anthropological and theological studies over centuries that recognize the unique but different qualities of men and women. The SSPX certainly contains within it's ranks members such as Archbishop Williamson(he has since been removed from his post) who outrageously hang onto extremist attitudes which have been denounced by Church authorities. But on the other-hand there are well-meaning and decent individuals whose only concern is the Church remains true to Herself regarding her liturgy and mission in the world. Men like Archbishop Fellay have honest reservations about the liturgical reform and certain doctrinal ambiguities which sprang from Vatican 11 and are continuing discussions with Rome on this. The Vatican quite rightly has laid down tough conditions on them before they are admitted fully back into the ecclesiastical fold again

• eiriamach | Jan 21, 2013, 03:50 PM EST

  Gearoid04 says, "Catholic doctrine and tenets in relation to the priesthood and sexual matters are not influenced by relativist secular currents but are in accordance with the will of Christ." Sure, the equal worth of women and men is simply a "relativistic secular current," nowhere to be found in the Gospel, LOL! Christ never expressed his "will" to exclude anyone. Self-serving men do that. They presume to find a "will" -- where? In words that Christ never uttered! That's mind-reading the Savior, and getting it wrong, hummmmm! The burning question is not why the Vatican is disciplining Fr Flannery now, but why, because of dissent from a Church Council -- the ultimate RC authority -- the pope has not silenced Bishop Fellay, who rejects RC teachings on religious liberty, the non-culpability of Jews for Christ's death, the validity of the new Masses, the authority of Vatican II Council itself: "We definitely are opposed to these errors that we find in the [Second Vatican] Council," Fellay says -- on YOU TUBE -- talk about "mainstream media"! The pope lifted SSPX excommunications, even from Holocaust denier Bishop Williamson. And now the pope is about to excommunicate Fr Flannery?? The hypocrisy would be appalling. There can be only one motive: Tony Flannery is one Irish priest, while excommunicating SSPX would mean a schism in the Church.

• christinao't | Jan 21, 2013, 01:00 PM EST

  Fr. Flannery is just another useful idiot. The media (such as this) prop him up so as to seem important. He is not. But I do agree the Church has some major pruning to do!

• christinao't | Jan 21, 2013, 01:00 PM EST

  Fr. Flannery is just another useful idiot. The media (such as this) prop him up so as to seem important. He is not. But I do agree the Church has some major pruning to do!

• christinao't | Jan 21, 2013, 12:59 PM EST

  Fr. Flannery is just another useful idiot. The media (such as this) prop him up so as to seem important. He is not. But I do agree the Church has some major pruning to do!

• Gearoid4 | Jan 21, 2013, 12:26 PM EST

  Fr Flannery is acting according to his conscience in rejecting the Catholic teachings on the priesthood and contraception and homosexuality. He was allowed to advocate his positions since the 1960's/70's without being admonished or disciplined. Yet he complains now that the relevant Vatican congregation has put him under scrutiny after so many years being unchallenged. Playing the martyr does not hold water here and he must appreciate that Catholic doctrine and tenets in relation to the priesthood and sexual matters are not influenced by relativist secular currents but are in accordance with the will of Christ. He cannot really complain too much if disciplinary proceedings are enacted.

• Gearoid4 | Jan 21, 2013, 12:24 PM EST

  Fr Flannery is acting according to his conscience in reject the Catholic teachings on the priesthood and contraception and homosexuality. He was allowed to advocate his positions since the 1960's/70's without being admonished or disciplined. Yet he complains now that the relevant Vatican congregation has put him under scrutiny after so many years being unchallenged. Playing the martyr does not hold water here and he must appreciate that Catholic doctrine and tenets in relation to the priesthood and sexual matters are not influenced by relativist secular currents but are in accordance with the will of Christ. He cannot really complain too much if disciplinary proceedings are enacted.

• kubs | Jan 21, 2013, 10:32 AM EST

  Wonder what Mary would say?

• hoax buster | Jan 21, 2013, 08:17 AM EST

  Fr Flannery raises legitimate questions about the oddball exclusion of women from the priesthood, a practice that violates gender discrimination laws in the US, and he raises questions about homosexuality. One has to wonder about an institution that won't let women in the door, that simultaneously claims it objects to homosexuality while priests have been prosecuted for sexual abuse of boys at stunningly high rates. Does anyone think the priesthood attracts homosexuals? If the Catholic Church had been investigated with the same zeal that was put into going after the miscreants at Enron, the Catholic Church would have met the same fate as Enron.

• EditorCT | Jan 21, 2013, 06:33 AM EST

  Sorry, I see my post has gone up three times. I know I repeat myself in verbal conversations but only on this blog does it happen in writing! Apologies.

• EditorCT | Jan 21, 2013, 06:30 AM EST

  I note that so many bloggers here do not even know the name of the Church. It is NOT the "Roman" Catholic Church - that was added by the Protestant Reformers to support their "branch theory" that the Catholic Church headed by the Pope on earth, is only one branch. That legitimised their creation of brand new man-made "churches". This is underlined by the Protestant blogger here to keeps putting "Roman" in capital letters. So, let the Catholics, however weak in their understanding of the Church as many here clearly are, who do not understand the divine constitution of the Church and its authority, at least call it by its correct name - the Catholic Church. Still no resposne from 'Father' Flannery to my debate challenge. Wonder why? She said, tongue in cheek...

• EditorCT | Jan 21, 2013, 06:30 AM EST

  I note that so many bloggers here do not even know the name of the Church. It is NOT the "Roman" Catholic Church - that was added by the Protestant Reformers to support their "branch theory" that the Catholic Church headed by the Pope on earth, is only one branch. That legitimised their creation of brand new man-made "churches". This is underlined by the Protestant blogger here to keeps putting "Roman" in capital letters. So, let the Catholics, however weak in their understanding of the Church as many here clearly are, who do not understand the divine constitution of the Church and its authority, at least call it by its correct name - the Catholic Church. Still no resposne from 'Father' Flannery to my debate challenge. Wonder why? She said, tongue in cheek...

• EditorCT | Jan 21, 2013, 06:30 AM EST

  I note that so many bloggers here do not even know the name of the Church. It is NOT the "Roman" Catholic Church - that was added by the Protestant Reformers to support their "branch theory" that the Catholic Church headed by the Pope on earth, is only one branch. That legitimised their creation of brand new man-made "churches". This is underlined by the Protestant blogger here to keeps putting "Roman" in capital letters. So, let the Catholics, however weak in their understanding of the Church as many here clearly are, who do not understand the divine constitution of the Church and its authority, at least call it by its correct name - the Catholic Church. Still no resposne from 'Father' Flannery to my debate challenge. Wonder why? She said, tongue in cheek...

• mreinhar2001 | Jan 20, 2013, 10:31 PM EST

  Sorry about the multiple posts. As others have written, posting is weird and mixed up tonight.

• mreinhar2001 | Jan 20, 2013, 10:30 PM EST

  As Yves Congar and Thomas O'Meara have written, "The church is more than its bureaucracy; it is a church in action—in teaching, worshiping, serving. That church survives while the actions of administrators are soon forgotten."

• mreinhar2001 | Jan 20, 2013, 10:28 PM EST

  As Yves Congar and Thomas O'Meara have written, "The church is more than its bureaucracy; it is a church in action—in teaching, worshiping, serving. That church survives while the actions of administrators are soon forgotten."

• mreinhar2001 | Jan 20, 2013, 10:28 PM EST

  As Yves Congar and Thomas O'Meara have written, "The church is more than its bureaucracy; it is a church in action—in teaching, worshiping, serving. That church survives while the actions of administrators (and popular dissenters) are soon forgotten."

• markday | Jan 20, 2013, 10:04 PM EST

  Anyone with a minimum degree of theo theological literary and a knowledge if recent church history will remember another great Redemptorist priest and theologian, Fr. Bernard Haring. He served in the ambulance corps in the German army in WWII. His book, The Law of Christ, revolutionaized moral theology at Vatican II. Basically, he said the greatest law is the law of love, that all the casuistry of this sin, that sin, is balderdash, and that if love is not there, it is all for naught. Thata is a lesson that the boys in the Vatican have forgotten or never learned. So, Tony, keep up the great tradition of your brother, Bernard. Your love and sincerity for the church will win out in the end, and the Vatican crowd will be memorably forgettable.

• pilib04 | Jan 20, 2013, 08:09 PM EST

  Father Flannery is the Irish version of Maryknoll Father Roy Bourgeois.

• kilkee91 | Jan 20, 2013, 07:04 PM EST

  I remember Fr. Flannery fondly from "the Reds" in Limerick and he was always a great Preacher and writer. He is spot on now but must surely realize that in this head to head confrontation, he will be stripped of his Priesthood. "To thine own self be true" Tony. Force them to take the ultimate step and then campaign from without......you have many supporters and you're not the first and won't be the last to leave the Institution and serve humanity better by doing so....

• MarybethC.P. | Jan 20, 2013, 06:03 PM EST

  It is a matter of history, perhaps more recent history of the Eastern bloc countries, that women were ordained and served as Roman Catholic priests in those Communist countries until the late '80's. Rome was then happy to dispense with them, once practicing that religion was no longer suppressed by the Communists. It hardly matters what the Roman hierarchy, or even dear Father Flannery believes now - that was a fact for several decades! As always, male structures will use women as they need them, and say, "That will be all, Ladies" when they have served their purposes for them!

• seanomelb | Jan 20, 2013, 05:54 PM EST

  When people are muzzled it's usually out of fear for what they have to say.

• anglo-norman | Jan 20, 2013, 05:47 PM EST

  Smyrnian- maybe so but it gets too much at times.

• Smyrnian | Jan 20, 2013, 05:25 PM EST

  Anglo - the theme is always ANTI-Catholic. That's why IC brings it up all the time.

• anglo-norman | Jan 20, 2013, 04:36 PM EST

  It's catholic this & catholic that on this site ffs.... do you realise Niall that there are Irish-born & people of Irish descent who happen NOT to be catholic in the world??

• EphraimKibbey | Jan 20, 2013, 04:14 PM EST

  Sorry about the double post! What's with the long lag-time for posts to appear today?

• EphraimKibbey | Jan 20, 2013, 04:12 PM EST

  I agree with Markday. It seems naive of RCC leaders, in the face of all the historical evidence to the contrary, to ask people to continue to accept that Christ set up His (their) church hierarchy just before his crucifixion but that it was not implemented until after Constantine declared Christianity the ROMAN STATE religion.

• EphraimKibbey | Jan 20, 2013, 04:10 PM EST

  It seems really naive of RCC leaders, in the face of all the historical evidence to the contrary, to ask people to continue to accept that Christ set up His (their) church hierarchy just before his crucifixion but that it was not implemented until after Constantine declared Christianity the ROMAN STATE religion. Please read about the early (pre-Rome) Church, its FEMALE leaders and how it changed after Constantine, before you pass judgment on this priest.

• markday | Jan 20, 2013, 04:06 PM EST

  The report says that in the article the Redemptorist priest, wrote that he no longer believed that ‘the priesthood as we currently have it in the church originated with Jesus’ or that he designated ‘a special group of his followers as priests’. He wrote: “It is more likely that some time after Jesus, a select and privileged group within the community who had abrogated power and authority to themselves, interpreted the occasion of the Last Supper in a manner that suited their own agenda." Anyone who has studied theology in a Catholic seminary (I am one of them) knows that what Fr. Tony says is good theology. Christ did not establish a clerical priesthood nor a rigid institution to carry out his wishes. The apostles were not "priests" in the sense we have them today. They were apostles, and Mary Magdalene was one of them. If Christ were alive today he would cast the Vatican crowd out of the temple. Tony, we are behind you. Ad multos anos! ”

• EphraimKibbey | Jan 20, 2013, 03:59 PM EST

  What connection to Christ or God does an organization have that says that a priest may go back to his ministry if he LIES about his faith? The Vatican knows what this priest believes and has publicly professed. If he doesn't fit in with their good ole boys club's rules, the honorable thing to do would be to kick him out. To say that he can stay IF he LIES shows just how far they have wandered from Christ's teachings. They are saying he can only stay if he breaks one of God's commandments. The RCC does much good in the world today but, as all humans are prone to do, its leaders have become ensnared in an ever widening web of lies that their forbearers began long ago.

• EphraimKibbey | Jan 20, 2013, 03:57 PM EST

  I agree 100% with katiemac that "truth" is either THE truth or it is a lie told by someone who has something to gain by deluding others. When masses were said in Latin and when most people could barely read their own vernacular let alone Latin, the ROMAN Catholic Church could con Christians into believing that their hierarchy was ordained by Christ. Things are very different now. Everyone now knows how Christ's Church was organized BEFORE the ROMANS got their hands on it and it was nothing like that of the current ROMAN Catholic Church.

• EphraimKibbey | Jan 20, 2013, 03:54 PM EST

  katiemac - I agree 100% with you that "truth" is either THE truth or it is a lie told by someone who has something to gain by deluding others. When masses were said in Latin and when most people could barely read their own vernacular let alone Latin, the ROMAN Catholic Church could con Christians into believing that their hierarchy was ordained by Christ. Things are very different now. Everyone now knows how Christ's Church was organized BEFORE the ROMANS got their hands on it and it was nothing like that of the current ROMAN Catholic Church. What connection to Christ or God does an organization have that says that a priest may go back to his ministry if he LIES about his faith? The Vatican knows what this priest believes and has publicly professed. If he doesn't fit in with their good ole boys club's rules, the honorable thing to do would be to kick him out. To say that he can stay IF he LIES shows just how far they have wandered from Christ's teachings. They are saying he can only stay if he breaks one of God's commandments. The RCC does much good in the world today but, as all humans are prone to do, its leaders have become ensnared in an ever widening web of lies that their forbearers began long ago. It seems really naive of them, in the face of all the historical evidence to the contrary, to ask people to accept that Christ set up His (their) church hierarchy just before his crucifixion but that it was not implemented until after Constantine declared Christianity the ROMAN STATE religion. Please read about the early (pre-Rome)Church, its female leaders and how it changed after Constantine before you pass judgment on this priest.

• CitizenWhy | Jan 20, 2013, 03:43 PM EST

  It never ceases to amaze me - although it shouldn't - to see how many begrudging "faithful" Catholics spew such bitterness. Thos who want the Catholic church to lose its influence can thank the nasty lot commenting here for driving away more people because there is such a contradiction between the words of Christ in the Gospels and what "our club" Catholics have to say.

• EditorCT | Jan 20, 2013, 03:41 PM EST

  Oddly, my comment of a few minutes ago went straight up. What is going on here? I'll try again. Fr Flannery says his accusers are afraid to face him. Not me. I'll debate with him any time, any where. In case my previous post did not go up because I included a link to our website and email address, won't do that again but this challenge comes fromt he Editor of Catholic Truth and if he Googles Catholic Truth, we are up there on page one. He won't email of course - he's never once answered any of my emails (dissenters/heretics never do) so I won't hold my breath. But at least you lot know it is a falsehood to claim that his accusers are afraid to speak to him face to face. I'll be on the next plane over there, in a jiffy. Just say the word "Father" Flannery. But you won't. Because you cannot defend being a schismatic and expecting to get away with it, any more than a quack doctor can expect to collect his pay cheque indefinitely. Sooner or later, the game is up!

• EditorCT | Jan 20, 2013, 03:37 PM EST

  Well, my goodness, you have suppressed my challenge to Fr Tony Flannery. Unbelievable. Attacking the Church for what you are blatantly doing yourselves. Bye folks!

• Pat Young | Jan 20, 2013, 02:33 PM EST

  God Bless Fr Flannery. We are called to be witnesses to truth as Catholics and he is expressing the truth as he sees it. The people undermining the future of the Church are those who want to ensconce gender bigotry within a wall of theological convenience. Our young people would never join a club that excluded women or gays and for the same reasons of justice they will turn their backs on a church that requires bigotry as an article of faith.

• Happyhippo | Jan 20, 2013, 01:12 PM EST

  Hey you join the club,you abide by the rules,if you dont like the rules,you find another club,either way theres not much difference,the basic fundamentals never change,just the man made rules.

• Gearoid4 | Jan 20, 2013, 01:05 PM EST

  So it seems Fr Flannery does not believe in the priesthood as so constituted by Christ and with it's vocational appeal to be another "Alter Christus". I would agree with him insofar as it should not be an elitist body, but this does not mean that the priesthood does not have it's own unique qualities which confers on it's holder a mission to confirm the flock in the Faith and save souls. Once you lost faith in the priesthood, then it follows that your belief in other matters of moral and theological importance starts to ebb. The Church must be true to Herself and hold on to those timeless teachings as bequeathed by Christ. Popular opinion is fickle and is often built on shifting sands which are in contrast to the solid foundations of those particular teachings.

• barneyjo | Jan 20, 2013, 01:01 PM EST

  We shall see!!! It remains to be seen just exactly who (if anyone) is yanking Fr Flannery's chain!!

• barneyjo | Jan 20, 2013, 01:00 PM EST

  We shall see!!! It remains to be see just exactly who (if anyone) is yanking Fr Flannery's chain!!

• mreinhar2001 | Jan 20, 2013, 12:38 PM EST

  The article is a bit slanted. It might be helpful in knowing that there are stages of being silenced and only those in religious order--especially those who teach and writ--are subject to being silenced. Flannery is a priest in the Redemptorist order. If this upsets him so very much, he should become laicized and then speak out about his beliefs, while still engaging in the Holy Liturgy and carrying that to everyday social justice in which he is interested, without fear of retaliation. When one takes a vow of obedience, one is restricted by that vow. Flannery is not the first priest to be silenced in history, nor will he be the last. The leading theological advisors at Vatican II had been silenced at one time or another.

• katiemac | Jan 20, 2013, 12:19 PM EST

  I know two things about this man. 1) He has no honor or he would be holding to his viw of obedience; 2) He likes attention, hence calling the press conference. Actually I also know he is consistent, because I expect he will be continuing in his error at the press conference. Here is what this priest and the media do not understand. Truth is not relative. Truth is either Truth or it is Lie. There is nothing in between. So asking the Church to compromise its' positions to match with YOUR relativism, well, it is just not going to happen. If you cannot live with that, you belong with a different denomination.

• olovely | Jan 20, 2013, 12:10 PM EST

  Let the shadowy conservative cabal that truly run the place send him packing. He's a good man, it's what they live for. And let them tighten their grip on the church until the only one's permitted to attend are the clerics themselves. The thing about purges is that they empty the pews.

• shamrockdonna | Jan 20, 2013, 11:46 AM EST

  I think this priest is representative of many of us in the Catholic family that believe MANY things need to be changed....the free hand to rule is over!! I believe in God's original laws but all the church rules since the beginning need some serious overhauling or the Catholic faith will lose many followers.

• Padraig8 | Jan 20, 2013, 11:37 AM EST

  it is a matter of faith ,is it not?why then can not the good father believe as he wishes. having been brought up catholic i soon came to the conclusion that the church was perpetuating a myth and therefore i used my god given mind to decide that no proof of the Catholic (or any other) Church came from Christ and if it did so what/? he was just another preacher of his time not the son of god.

• dallas75216 | Jan 20, 2013, 11:31 AM EST

  Yeah Martin Luther, John Calvin and John Knox had similar ideas. If people "abrogated" rights they did not have and grabbed auhtority why did it last 2000 years at one location. Flannery can join a bi-a-ble church. They sprout up all over the place in Texas. He could start Flannery's olde tyme bible church. Have Jimmy Swaggart as guest preacher or Ian Paisley. Ironic we are getting all these protestant theologians becoming priests and we have priests like Flannery going in the other direction.

• patrickesq | Jan 20, 2013, 11:26 AM EST

  The Catholic Church has always claimed to be the one true church and no one was ever allowed to question their authority. But being wrong at times is very human and the Church hierarchy are no exceptions. But their doctrinal superiority wears thin when anyone with an open, intelligent, curious mind suggests that they do not have all the correct answers to life's questions. So I commend Father Flannery for his audacity to stand up to the absolutists bullies at the Vatican.

• Meekster | Jan 20, 2013, 11:11 AM EST

  Three Cheers for Tony Flannigan!! No Church was ever established by Christ. Despite its wishes to appear so, the Vatican has no direct affiliation with Christ other than a self-proclamation. As another commenter pointed out, it is more like a corporation. Follow Christ, not the corporation, Father.

• katieherk | Jan 20, 2013, 10:40 AM EST

  SHAME, TONY!!

• Gearoid4 | Jan 20, 2013, 10:32 AM EST

  So it seems Fr Flannery does not believe in the priesthood as so constituted by Christ and with it's vocational appeal to be another "Alter Christus". I would agree with him insofar as it should not be an elitist body, but this does not mean that the priesthood does not have it's own unique qualities which confers on it's holder a mission to confirm the flock in the Faith and save souls. Once you lost faith in the priesthood, then it follows that your belief in other matters of moral and theological importance starts to ebb. The Church must be true to Herself and hold on to those timeless teachings as bequeathed by Christ. Popular opinion is fickle and is often built on shifting sands which are in contrast to the solid foundations of those particular teachings.

• PhlutiePhan | Jan 20, 2013, 10:03 AM EST

  The Catholic Church has a responsiblity to affirm religious principles. The Church is not a democracy. Dissidents are trying to "crack the rock".

• CitizenWhy | Jan 20, 2013, 09:27 AM EST

  Liberal Catholics need to face up to the fact that the Catholic Church is run as a top down corporation/monarchy (in contrast to the early church) and that the vatican is the boss and can never admit it is wrong, like any other close minded organization. Time to get out. Perhaps this priest should speak with the Dean of Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin (Church of Ireland), an ex-Catholic priest who seems to be bringing new life back to that cathedral parish.

• EamonnDublin | Jan 20, 2013, 09:12 AM EST

  In the same way as Tony Flannery professes to be "a Catholic", I am a Communist - but I don't believe in sharing what I've got. Éamonn, Dublin.

• EamonnDublin | Jan 20, 2013, 09:12 AM EST

  In the same way as Tony Flannery professes to be "a Catholic", I am a Communist - but I don't believe in sharing what I've got. Éamonn, Dublin.

• markday | Jan 20, 2013, 08:58 AM EST

  I'm glad to see Tony Flannery get his Irish up. We can't stnd idly by as the Vatican mafia attacks the best and the brighest, leaving only the sniveling Quislings and Uriah Heaps to worship them and their princley ways. It's time to fight back. Go, Tony, Go!!! get his