DUBLIN, Hundreds Participate in Vigil outside Holy See's Nunciature

By Gerard O'Connell
Vatican Insider
April 30, 2012

http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/homepage/world-news/detail/articolo/irlanda-ireland-preti-priest-14778/

Dublin, the protest (copyright Irish Times)

More than 200 people participated in a silent vigil outside the Holy See’s Nunciature in Dublin on April 29 to protest the silencing or censuring of several Irish priests by the Vatican and to ask for the revocation of these disciplinary measures and their replacement by dialogue.

This large crowd of committed Catholics, which included several priests and many nuns, braved icy-cold weather conditions to publicly protest their strong feelings against the silencing of five Irish priests whose names have been made public and others whose names are still being kept secret.

Brendan Butler, a spokesman for the Catholic lay group We are Church Ireland which organized the vigil said, "So many Irish Catholics are expressing their anger at this heavy-handedness by the Vatican against Sean Fagan, Tony Flannery, Gerry Moloney, Owen O’Sullivan and Brian D’Arcy — all outstanding priests of the Irish Church."

He claimed that there are at least four other priests, not yet publicly identified, who have had censorship imposed on them by the Vatican.

Dressed in anoraks and overcoats, the protestors walked up and down, in silence, for one hour, in front of the Nunciature on Navan Road that is also the residence of the papal nuncio, Archbishop Charles J. Brown.

Many wore yellow and white Vatican colored gags over their mouths to symbolize the silencing or censuring of the priests by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF). Others walked up and down carrying placards that bore such statements as “God has no voice but ours”, “Justice for our theologians”, “Vatican is silencing Christ”, and “Is Vatican II dead or alive?”

The group handed in a letter for the Nuncio calling for the revocation of the silencing of the priests by the CDF which, it said, "punished these men without due process and through secretive procedures with no right to appeal".

It requested a meeting with Archbishop Brown to discuss the recommendation of the 1971 Synod of Bishops that everyone’s right to freedom of expression and thought should be recognized.

Butler said the group had received messages of support and solidarity from the international We are Church movement and other groups in many countries, even from as far away as Brazil. Many Irish people too sent apologies for not being able to join them,

An elderly nun dressed in a red anorak, Sister Kay Mulhall told Ireland’s RTE television, that she considered the silencing of the priests “absolutely disgraceful” because all they had done was “spoken the truth out of love for the Church”. She said she had come to the vigil “out of love for the Church, but I know the dogs in the street are talking about the reforms that the Church needs, and they are not even allowed on the agenda.”

An older nun, Sister Siobhan Ni’ Mhaoilmhichil, a member of the Dominican Order for almost 50 years, told The Irish Times that she was angered by the way the priests had been treated. “These are all good theologians who have worked for the church for many years and we are here to show our solidarity with them”, she stated.

David Quinn, an Irish Catholic journalist and commentator, said the Vatican has a right to say what is and what is not Catholic doctrine, and what is up for discussion and what is not, but he wondered whether it was “prudent” to have acted in this way, saying it should have been left up to Church authorities in Ireland to deal with this.

Butler told Vatican Insider he was “very pleased” with the size of the crowd considering the bad weather. He said the “most significant fact” was “the presence of priests and of many sisters (women religious) from various religious orders, many of whom occupy senior positions”. All this “marked a watershed in Irish Catholicism”, he claimed.

He concluded by saying, “We await a response from Archbishop Brown to our request for a meeting, and we intend to continue and not allow this issue of silencing to fade away as I’m sure the Vatican would hope.”