Church flexes muscle - Undermining its moral authority

On a weekend when the Catholic church flexed its muscles in the abortion debate, bringing an estimated 25,000 pro-life supporters from all parts of Ireland onto the streets of Dublin, its moral authority was quietly dealt a potentially damaging blow by an outspoken priest who openly defies the power of the Vatican.

Controversially suspended by Rome last year over calling for the ordination of women as priests, Fr Tony Flannery broke his silence yesterday and refused to accept a deal that would allow him return to the ministry on the condition he rejected his stance on women priests and accepted the rulings of the Church on other contentious issues such as contraception and homosexuality.

Measured in terms of its appeal to the faithful, who turned out in their thousands on a bitterly cold day to oppose government plans to legislate for the X case, the Church can rightly claim to have scored a major publicity coup.

In contrast, an estimated 100 people attended an event organised by pro-choice campaigners. While described as an intentionally low-key affair, that meeting will inevitably be compared with the huge attendance at the pro-life vigil.

Besides illustrating the hierarchy’s power to mobilise opposition to legislation for limited abortion where the life of the mother is at risk, the organisers also reiterated demands for a free vote in the Dáil and voiced political threats against TDs and senators who support abortion legislation. That will unnerve Fine Gael backbenchers who must now decide where they stand.

Adhering to his principles, Fr Flannery has refused to toe the Vatican line. Ironically, though he has the full support of the Association of Catholic Priests, of which he is a founding member, and is also supported by lay activists, he may face excommunication from the Church.

A member of the Redemptorist order, he has challenged the hierarchy to comment on his situation.

In terms of perception, the problem now confronting the Catholic Church in Ireland is that it is undergoing a process of major change.

Eroded by a series of sex abuse scandals which were covered up, the institution’s moral authority is being challenged to an ever increasing degree. Moreover, its relations with the Government have deteriorated since Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s forthright criticism in the wake of the sex abuse controversy and the dramatic closure of the Irish embassy to the Vatican.

Arguably, against this backdrop, the Church risks further undermining its waning authority, especially with the silent majority of people, if it persists in gagging priests who have the courage of their convictions and the honesty to speak out on burning topics of the day — issues that are on everyone’s lips.