TENNESSE
National Catholic Reporter
Mick Forgey | Nov. 21, 2014
MEMPHIS, TENN. About 1,000 progressive Catholics gathered here to discuss Catholic church reform at Call to Action’s 2014 national conference, and a popular speaker was Irish Redemptorist Fr. Tony Flannery.
Flannery drew such a large crowd for his Nov. 8 morning presentation that it had to be moved to a bigger space. CTA’s conference, which ran Nov. 7-9, was the 11th spot on Flannery’s 18-stop U.S. tour, sponsored by 12 Catholic reform movements.
In 2012, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith ordered Flannery to publish a statement saying he accepted both that there will never be women priests in the church, and that he accepted all Catholic moral teachings, including those against contraception and homosexuality. Flannery refused, and was forbidden to practice as a priest.
“I’m getting an extraordinarily broad picture of the church in the United States, and of the sort of issues that are relevant here, and the reform movements and how they operate,” Flannery said in an interview with NCR Nov. 7. Flannery said his experience would be useful in Ireland, where Catholics are also dealing with parish closings and decline in priestly numbers.
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