Connacht Tribune
Outspoken priest risks excommunication to celebrate Mass
Redemptorist priest Fr Tony Flannery, who was suspended from public ministry by the Vatican five years ago, faces being excommunicated when he celebrates a public Mass in Killimordaly Community Hall on Sunday, January 22.
However, after five years in a ‘limbo state’, following the Vatican’s silencing, that threat holds no fear for him. His biggest concern at the moment is that the hall, which has a capacity of about 200, won’t be able to accommodate the numbers who intend to turn up.
The outspoken Redemptorist, who will turn 70 on January 18, says the Mass will celebrate his birthday and mark 40 years of his life as a working priest, during which time he gave missions and novenas as a member of the Redemptorist Order.
However, in 2012, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) forbade Fr Flannery from practising as a priest – he was no longer allowed to say Mass, hear confessions, conduct retreats or lead novenas, among other restrictions.
Fr Flannery – whose liberal views on issues such as women priests, celibacy, birth control and sexuality challenged traditional Vatican teachings – feels that the reason he was silenced was because of his involvement in setting up the Association of Catholic Priests with fellow clerics Fr Brendan Hoban and Fr Seán McDonagh.
“I’d be fairly certain the reason the CDF did what they did to me wasn’t because of what I’d written, it was to do with the Association of Catholic Priests. That was about giving an independent voice to priests, and priests are not supposed to have an independent voice.”
Fr Flannery doesn’t know why the CDF – the Vatican’s disciplinary arm – singled him out but says “maybe the idea was that ‘we’ll put manners on one of them and that’ll finish the organisation’”.
If that was the aim, it failed.
“The Association is still going strong, with more than 1,000 members.”
Fr Flannery says Pope Francis offers hope of change within the church, and has given the lead to bishops worldwide, asking them to contact him about the Church’s needs. But the Irish bishops have been unwilling to engage with either the Pope or their own priests.
“The bishops are not willing to have a discussion with us about the state of the Church,” he points out.
As for his own situation, while Taoiseach Enda Kenny did deliver a letter from Fr Flannery to Pope Francis, the Redemptorist feels it will have little impact.
“Pope Francis, whom I have great time for, has an awful lot more on his plate than the doings of an individual priest in the West of Ireland.
“I have been told that he doesn’t deal with individual priests. And he has problems too, with five cardinals openly and publicly accusing him of heresy.”
However, if Pope Francis visits Ireland next year, as is expected, there might be developments for Fr Flannery and five other priests who were also silenced and whose situation was referenced in his letter to the Pope.
Pope Francis has also “clipped the wings of the CDF”, which lessens the likelihood of Fr Flannery being excommunicated for saying Mass publicly.
“If I had done it five years ago, I have no doubt that I’d be informed I was officially excommunicated and the Redemptorists would be told they’d have to formally dismiss me. That’s based on priests with similar experiences. And it could still happen.”
However, he is not threatened by the “medieval concept of excommunication, which has no meaning in the modern world”, saying that his life has moved on in the last five years.
“I’m involved in the Church reform movement internationally and through that I’ve met a whole new range of people around the world.”
What upset Fr Flannery most about his dealings with the Vatican was the way in which he was treated.
“The Vatican wouldn’t even talk to me directly. They dealt with my direct superiors and gave them orders to give me orders. They showed none of the basic principles of human rights. The Church operates likes a 16th century institution, although it has very good individual people and advocates for human rights.”
At official level, Fr Flannery’s order has done exactly what the Vatican instructed it to do, and “acted as a messenger boy”, he says.
“The Redemptorists in Rome followed orders with the justification that they don’t have a choice because if not, they’d be removed. At a local level, I have received support and am still a member of the Esker community but I don’t live there. I live in Killimordaly in the family home.”
He is grateful to the committee of Killimordaly Community Hall which has granted him permission to celebrate the Mass in venue. It will take place at 2.30pm on Sunday, January 22, followed by tea and sandwiches in the Earl Inn.
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
Galway 3-18
Cork 1-10
NEW setting; new opposition; new challenge. It made no difference to the Galway minor hurlers as they chalked up a remarkable sixth consecutive double digits championship victory at Semple Stadium on Saturday.
The final scoreline in Thurles may have been a little harsh on Cork, but there was no doubting Galway’s overall superiority in setting up only a second-ever All-Ireland showdown against Clare at the same venue on Sunday week.
Having claimed an historic Leinster title the previous weekend, Galway took a while to get going against the Rebels and also endured their first period in a match in which they were heavily outscored, but still the boys in maroon roll on.
Beating a decent Cork outfit by 14 points sums up how formidable Galway are. No team has managed to lay a glove on them so far, and though Clare might ask them questions other challengers haven’t, they are going to have to find significant improvement on their semi-final win over 14-man Kilkenny to pull off a final upset.
Galway just aren’t winning their matches; they are overpowering the teams which have stood in their way. Their level of consistency is admirable for young players starting off on the inter-county journey, while the team’s temperament appears to be bombproof, no matter what is thrown at them.
Having romped through Leinster, Galway should have been a bit rattled by being only level (0-4 each) after 20 minutes and being a little fortunate not to have been behind; or when Cork stormed out of the blocks at the start of the second half by hitting 1-4 to just a solitary point in reply, but there was never any trace of panic in their ranks.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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GARDAÍ and the IFA have issued a joint appeal to all road users to take extra care as the silage season gets under way across the country.
Silage harvesting started in many parts of Galway last week – and over the coming month, the sight of tractors and trailers on rural roads will be getting far more frequent.
Inspector Conor Madden, who is in charge of Galway Roads Policing, told the Farming Tribune that a bit of extra care and common-sense from all road users would go a long way towards preventing serious collisions on roads this summer.
“One thing I would ask farmers and contractors to consider is to try and get more experienced drivers working for them.
“Tractors have got faster and bigger – and they are also towing heavy loads of silage – so care and experience are a great help in terms of accident prevention,” Inspector Madden told the Farming Tribune.
He said that tractor drivers should always be aware of traffic building up behind them and to pull in and let these vehicles pass, where it was safe to do so.
“By the same token, other road users should always exercise extra care; drive that bit slower; and ‘pull in’ that bit more, when meeting tractors and heavy machinery.
“We all want to see everyone enjoying a safe summer on our roads – that extra bit of care, and consideration for other roads users can make a huge difference,” said Conor Madden.
He also advised motorists and tractor drivers to be acutely aware of pedestrians and cyclists on the roads during the summer season when more people would be out walking and cycling on the roads.
The IFA has also joined in on the road safety appeal with Galway IFA Farm Family and Social Affairs Chair Teresa Roche asking all road users to exercise that extra bit of care and caution.
“We are renewing our annual appeal for motorists to be on the look out for tractors, trailers and other agricultural machinery exiting from fields and farmyards,” she said.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
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The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
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