Regional Gatherings to Follow Assembly Meeting

By Patsy Mcgarry
Irish Times
July 17, 2012

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0718/1224320307076.html

Two regional assemblies have been arranged by the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) as a follow-on from their Towards an Assembly of the Irish Catholic Church meeting in Dublin last May.

“Towards an Assembly for the West” will take place at Galway’s Clayton Hotel on Saturday, October 6th next, while “Towards an Assembly for the South” is scheduled for the Commons Inn, Mallow Road, Cork city, the following Saturday, October 13th.

Both are being organised on the same lines as the Towards an Assembly meeting which took place at Dublin’s Regency Hotel on May 7th last and was attended by more than 1,000 people, lay and clerical.

According to the ACP website, both new assemblies are being held with the intention of promoting “real dialogue, talking and listening, between those who are committed to the church, and wish to see a movement towards reform and renewal”.

There will be a number of speakers “painting the reality as they experience it, outlining a vision for the future, and trying to point some ways in which we can move forward” with “plenty of opportunity for contributions from the floor”. On each occasion the day will begin at 10am and end not later than 4pm.

It is open to all, but those likely to attend are asked to register on the website associationofcatholicpriests.ieso hotels can be informed of expected numbers. The ACP leadership recently met the steering group working towards setting up a new umbrella body for lay Catholics.