Sir, – The suggestion by Eric Conway (April 13th) that Fr Flannery leave the church is a typical and startling reminder of how the church deals with difficult issues – silence all dissenters, or move them elsewhere. It stops just short of asking “who will rid me of this turbulent priest?”
Surely there was never a more appropriate time than now to debate contentious topics such as married or women priests? An open debate involving those who are compliant and those who dissent can only reinforce the credibility of the church or change it for the better. I won’t be holding my breath, as the government of the church, being unelected and not subject to the fairness of democracy, can and will do what it wants anyway.
As for your correspondent’s contention that Fr Hans Kung enjoyed a lucrative career: I don’t recall seeing his name on the Forbes Rich List. Fr Flannery should be encouraged to stay inside the tent to provide healthy and intelligent debate, and not because it will give him a lucrative career. Rather, he will risk becoming a victim of the old Chinese proverb “man who raise head above crowd, bound to attract rotten fruit”. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – With reference to Tom Finnegan’s well-meaning admiration of Josef Fuchs, Stanley, Sullivan and Alfaro (April 13th) who all taught him how to “doubt and probe” in the context of scripture, then one could say that it was Pope Benedict’s admiration of St Augustine, St Therese, Cardinal Newman, Edith Stein, St Thomas Aquinas and above all Christ who taught him how to love and to proclaim the truth both in season and out of season.
Will Fuchs’s, Alfaro’s, Stanley’s and Sullivan’s names resonate down through history like the others? – Yours, etc,
Sir, – I am a 61-year-old practising Catholic who wonders has the primary function of the institutional Catholic Church become shoring itself up? Its members appear to have lost the capacity to empathise with, relate to, or have any spiritual relevance for their congregation.
The silencing of Frs Flannery and Moloney will prove utterly futile, apart from any hurt it may cause them.
Have the Irish bishops also been send away to “pray and reflect”? – Yours, etc,