WASHINGTON (DC)
National Catholic Reporter
Maureen Fiedler
Oct. 23, 2014
It was a cool, rainy night Wednesday at Augustana Lutheran Church in Washington, D.C. But the drizzly weather did not keep more than 150 people from coming out to hear Fr. Tony Flannery, a priest from Ireland who has been ordered by the Vatican to sign a statement of orthodoxy and to remain silent. But Flannery — unlike many theologians before him — did not sign and won’t keep quiet. In fact, this was the first stop in an 18-city speaking tour of the United States, sponsored by a coalition of U.S. church reform groups.
The evening began when the Rev. John Kidd, the Lutheran pastor, welcomed this congregation of “modern Catholic reformers” to his church and offered quotations from Martin Luther on the significance of conscience. Both he and Flannery were grinning from ear to ear.
I interviewed Flannery the day before for “Interfaith Voices” and found him an absolutely delightful human being who has been deeply hurt by his treatment at the hand of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican. He explained that they condemned him and his views without even a conversation with him. They communicated only with the leadership of his Redemptorist order. He had no opportunity to dialogue or answer the charges against him.
“Any institution which acts against human rights and human dignity has lost its legitimacy,” he said.
His reforming views include many that are held by majorities of Catholics today: welcoming LGBT people into church life and treating them with dignity, choice in the use of contraception, and the ordination of women. (Although he sounds like many feminist theologians I know who don’t think women should become part of the current “system.”) He believes that the role of women is the “elephant in the church,” the obvious issue that cries out for change.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.