The head of the Redemptorist fathers in Rome said he deeply regrets the actions of an Irish member of the order who accused the Vatican of subjecting him to “frightening procedures reminiscent of the Inquisition.” Michael Brehl, the Redemptorist order’s superior general, confirmed that Father Tony Flannery is under Vatican investigation for alleged ambiguities “regarding fundamental areas of Catholic doctrine.” In Dublin Father Flannery said on Jan. 20 that he was “threatened with excommunication from the Catholic Church for suggesting that, in the future, women might become priests and calling for this and other matters to be open for discussion.” An investigation of Father Flannery—a founding member of Ireland’s Association of Catholic Priests—was reportedly triggered by an article in a religious magazine in 2010. In the article, Father Flannery wrote that he no longer believed that “the priesthood as we currently have it in the church originated with Jesus” or that Jesus designated “a special group of his followers as priests.” He has declined to repudiate this and other positions.
Redemptorist Regrets
Show Comments (
)
Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
The latest from america
In Los Angeles, people stay for the movie credits. After the awful images of these fires are gone, they will stay to rebuild their city, too.
Catholic Charities USA is now accepting donations to its Los Angeles Wildfire Relief initiative, and the L.A. archdiocese has created a dedicated relief fund.
Warning of “the increasingly concrete threat of a world war,” Pope Francis called for “the diplomacy of hope” in his address to the ambassadors of the 184 countries that have diplomatic relations with the Holy See.
Pope Francis has appointed Cardinal Robert McElroy as Archbishop of Washington, D.C., and Sister Simona Brambilla, an Italian Consolata missionary, as prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.