Irish priests are to form a union, the first of its kind ever. The aim will be to have their voices heard and to help reform within the church which has suffered from a massive crisis because of the pedophilia issue.
The plan is to invite all of Ireland's 6,500 priests the three leading movers said last night.
"It is based on reforming the Irish church along the spirit and vision of the church as the people of God," Mayo priest Fr Brendan Hoban told the Irish Independent newspaper.
"This was the reform policy that was called for by the Second Vatican Council when the world's bishops met in Rome from 1962-65, but it has not been put into practice in Ireland," Father Hoban stated.
They also want to address the crisis in vocations. Estimates are that there will be only 1,200 priests by 2028 if the current shortage of vocations continues
The group say they will provide a more liberal voice to the hard-line conservative approach of the Vatican and Irish church leaders to the child abuse crisis.
Organizers say there has been a very positive response so far to the organization.The three main organizers are Father Hoban, along with Redemptorist priest Fr Tony Flannery, and Columban missionary Sean McDonagh.
A statement from the trio has invited all interested clergy to a meeting scheduled to take place on September 15 in Portlaoise,County Laois about fifty miles from Dublin.
The statement follows a recent meeting in Athlone which was attended by six other concerned priests, who included the Benedictine Abbot of Glenstal, Patrick Hederman, Fr Bobby Gilmore a pastor known for his work with immigrants in London and a retired Dublin priest, Fr Padraig McCarthy. The Athlone meeting mandated Frs Hoban, Flannery and McDonagh to draft a set of prospective aims.
The organizations states there is need for priests and bishops to communicate better especially in the heated atmosphere of recent times where dozens of priests and several bishop have been forced to resign.
Father Flannery explained that one aim would be "to heal divisions between bishops and priests over how bishops were no longer father figures to their priests".
Father McDonagh said it was astonishing that the clergy was the only professional body in Ireland that did not have "a corporate voice".
Catholic Communications Office spokesman Martin Long stated he did not think there would be any opposition in the church to an association to represent priests. "It is a good thing if priests wish to organise themselves in order to voice their opinions and this would be important at this challenging time for clergy and lay Catholics alike," he said.
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.myriamdom | Aug 04, 2010, 10:03 AM EDT
Oh yeah? Unionized for their own sake and benefit, and eventually win back the lay faithfuls' trust and abuse their powers again. So will go the cycle.
jacersisityourself | Aug 01, 2010, 06:07 AM EDT
On the topic above, I agree it’s a good thing for Irish priests to form a united body to speak out on matters that individual priests can only utter from their parish altars. It will let the people who do not attend Mass and other church services to hear what the priests really want everyone to know about how they feel on matters of concern to everyone. Ignorant presumptuous non-Catholic people should therefore no longer have grounds to attack a great institution working for Christ.
jacersisityourself | Aug 01, 2010, 05:57 AM EDT
Carroll09 is correct. Attacking the Catholic Church is common because it is the ‘biggie’- the equivalent of terrorists nuking the Pentagon. Carroll is also correct in stating that pedophiles are present in every religious organisation and stratum of society, even in your own local neighborhoods. Statistically, they form about 2% of the population at large. Depending on countries, the %-age of priests found to be pedophiles varies from 1.5% to 3% of the total numbers.
Carroll09 | Jul 31, 2010, 05:18 PM EDT
My previous comment should have read "...the facts do not support the view that the Catholic Church is any more 'infested' with paedophiles who abuse children than any other institution, ecclesial community, or society generally." I do not say that to try and downplay the wrongs done by some in the Church, but rather to give some perspective and facts, which it appears you could do with, Southernpride.
Carroll09 | Jul 31, 2010, 04:37 PM EDT
Southernpride - I am not in the least bit in denial. I prefer to deal with the facts, and the facts do not support the view that the Catholic Church is any more "infested" with paedophiles who abuse children. On a point of information, the majority of cases of abuse were not acts of paedophilia. Secondly, NEVER have I once (either on I.C. or elsewhere) defended the actions of criminals in any shape or form...any comments I have made on this issue have been balanced, fact-based and I have never expressed any wish to "help" or protect criminals within or outside the Church - I will not hang my head in shame for that.
Southernpride | Jul 31, 2010, 09:44 AM EDT
Carroll09, you are so in denial that the Catholic church is infested with homosexual, paedophiles who sexually abuse young childern. It's people like you who are helping those homosexual paedophiles. You should hang your head in shame
Carroll09 | Jul 30, 2010, 05:16 PM EDT
Southernpride & catmann - your comments are nothing less than disgusting. I wonder why you only see fit to direct these comments at Catholic priests... I presume you don't refer to teachers' unions, social workers' unions, unions of the medical profession, or any other profession as groups of paedophiles - why not, I wonder...could it be that none of these professions have ever been disgraced by paedophiles in their midst? Or is the Church simply an easy target? If, by any chance, it's the former, I'd love to know what planet you're living on.
Searlit | Jul 30, 2010, 10:42 AM EDT
As soon as I read the headline, I thought it was about protecting themselves, again.
Southernpride | Jul 30, 2010, 05:39 AM EDT
The paedophiles are forming a union
catmann | Jul 29, 2010, 07:24 AM EDT
Got to protect those Pedophiles,or there want be any priest left.