Flannery Heresy Case "Is Shaky"

By Sarah MacDonald
Irish Independent
August 12, 2014

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/flannery-heresy-case-is-shaky-30500151.html

Fr Tony Flannery. Picture: Frank Mc Grath

The Vatican's heresy case against Irish priest Fr Tony Flannery is built on shaky ground, according to a new book by a leading Irish theologian, who also accuses the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith of being "tyrannical".

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'The Church: Always in Need of Reform', by Augustinian Fr Gabriel Daly, is due to be published by Dominican Publications before Christmas.

It deals with the need for reform of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), Rome's doctrinal watchdog which was formerly known as the Inquisition.

Discussing the plight of Redemptorist priest Fr Tony Flannery, who was silenced by the Vatican in 2012 and threatened with excommunication, as well as the treatment of three other censured Irish priests, Fr Daly accuses the CDF of being "theologically inept".

He focuses on an article Fr Flannery wrote for the journal 'Reality' which was cited by the CDF as one of the reasons for its decision to censure the Redemptorist.

Attackers

In the course of his article, the 66-year-old priest wrote: "Whatever Jesus intended, I don't think anyone can credibly claim that he intended the type of system we now have in the Church."

He added: "I no longer believe that the priesthood, as we currently have it in the Church, originated with Jesus."

According to Fr Daly, these views "are both theologically and historically unexceptionable. His attackers have simply failed to reckon with his qualification 'as we currently have it in the Church'."

Speaking to the international Catholic weekly, 'The Tablet', Fr Daly said the CDF's view seems to be that everything we have in the Church today can be attributed to the authority of Jesus, which the theologian claimed "is palpably untrue".

"I can do no more than point out that this cannot be historically true. There is a huge difference between the situation as it was two thousand years ago and the situation as it is today. Much will depend on your interpretation of development."