Acp Priest Members to Meet in Athlone

Association of Catholic Priests
February 7, 2013

http://www.associationofcatholicpriests.ie/2013/02/meeting-of-acp-priest-members-in-athlone-february-20th/

Invitation to Meeting

Dear Fellow Members

As we approach the third anniversary of the first Portlaoise meeting which effectively founded the ACP, it may be a good time for us to take stock of where we are, what we have achieved to date and the goals we need to set for ourselves into the future.

Some new issues are emerging, like the ‘clustering’ proposal to deal with the ongoing decline in priest-numbers, and we need to agree a policy approach to it; some old issues remain like procedures for dealing with allegations against priests, and we need to maintain our focus on them; and the spectre of a Church without sufficient priests to sustain our parishes is fast approaching as we sleep walk towards an advancing precipice.

There is also the question of unfair and unjust procedures in dealing with the independence of the ACP and the actions of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith against Tony Flannery.

All priest ACP members are invited to a policy meeting in the Hodson Bay Hotel, Athlone on Wednesday, February 20 from 2.00pm to 5.00pm to assess present and future policies. We are well aware of how difficult it is for priests to get away from duty, even for an afternoon. But we encourage you to come, if you can at all. We are at a crucial time in the life of our Church here in Ireland.

The meeting will be private, is confined to priest-members and is not open to the media.

Brendan Hoban (on behalf of ACP Leadership)