Congratulations to Alan Whelan (Irish Examiner, Letters, March 25) for rightly identifying the dereliction of duty inherent in the cowardly decision by the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP0 not to preach the Church’s teaching regarding the nature of marriage.

The Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) has lost all credibility in our household, and I suspect with many other Catholic families, by its unwillingness to speak out on the forthcoming referendum which seeks to change the meaning of both equality and marriage.

The Association of Catholic Priests has decided not to make a recommendation for or against the proposal in the upcoming marriage referendum on May 22.

While comments from three well-known and reform-minded priests (Frs Iggy O’Donovan, Brendan Hoban and Peter McVerry) in the media about the proposed marriage referendum are clearly their own personal views, and not on behalf of any order or diocese, or the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP), it certainly does the ACP or its concerns, no favours if leading figures in or sympathetic to it can be perceived not (a) as (rightly) opposed to enforcing Catholic canon law via the Constitution or law of this State, but (b) as unconcerned with maintaining what is the universal model of marriage as between male and female, a model which long pre-dates not only Roman Canon Law, but also the gospels and indeed the Hebrew bible.

Thousands of childcare workers are to gather outside the Dáil today in protest against cutbacks in the sector which they say make it impossible for them to earn a living wage.

A body representing over 1,000 Catholic priests has called on bishops to open up dialogue with their members to find a solution to the vocations crisis.

An influential group representing Ireland’s Catholic priests has warned that ordained clerics are facing the grim prospect of having to celebrate collective funeral Masses in the near future.

A lack of quality and inadequate policy continue to compromise the standard of service in early childhood care, it has been claimed.

Given the paramount importance of education in early childhood, it is worrying to learn that standards of care are still being compromised despite last year’s damning exposé of major flaws in the way some creches were run.

I was sickened to read of the meeting between the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) and the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland (Irish Examiner, March 8). Abusive priests have been shown too much compassion by their victims and the Irish public.

In spite of the Vatican’s stance, two thirds of priests here believe the availability of contraception is very important to their parishioners and three quarters admit the Catholic Church’s stance on family planning is not accepted.

A representative of the Association of Catholic Priests has welcomed comments from the former President Mary McAleese in relation to homosexuality within the Catholic Church.

The Association of Catholic Priests elected three new leading spokesmen yesterday as rebel priest Fr Tony Flannery admitted there had been “no change” on his ban on ministry.

The Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, has said children who were abused by priests must be remembered during any criticisms of the Murphy report.

The country’s bishops refused to meet with six Irish priests silenced by the Vatican claiming their predicament was not an issue for the Irish hierarchy as the priests were members of religious orders and not diocesan priests.

TV3’s religious show has been slammed by the Association of Catholic Priests as a vehicle for Vincent Browne to “coax a series of likely suspects into a studio and attack them for their beliefs”.

SO are we becoming a nation of pagans?

Most Irish bishops believe we have become a “nation of pagans” who bought in to the “evils of materialism and consumerism” of the Celtic Tiger era.

Yesterday’s report, coming as it did on the heels of the RTÉ exposé on rogue childcare businesses, that high rates of staff turnover in childcare settings are unsustainable, is another blow to the idea that this society prioritises the wellbeing of children.

High rates of staff turnover in childcare settings are unsustainable, it was claimed today.

An organisation representing 22,500 professionals is being launched today, following controversy in recent weeks over the standards of care in Irish crèches.

The Catholic Church has come under fire on several fronts for not supporting priests against whom false allegations of abuse are made.

Outspoken Redemptorist Fr Tony Flannery, who was threatened with excommunication under the reign of Pope Benedict, has paid tribute to the former pope for stepping down — because, whether he intended it or not, he had paved the way for open discussion within the Church.

Cardinals have set Tuesday as the start date for the conclave to elect the next pope.

There is “no question” of Fr Tony Flannery facing excommunication, senior Vatican sources have told The Irish Catholic newspaper.

The Redemptorist religious order has come out in support of one of its priests who is to risk excommunication rather than give in to Vatican demands to stop questioning Catholic church teachings on sexuality and women priests.

The Association of Catholic Priests has called for changes to be made to the guidelines on standing aside priests accused of abuse from ministry.

A new lay organisation which wants to articulate the views and opinions of mainstream Irish Catholics is being established.

The town of Ballina has been rocked by the sudden death of a local priest in what is believed to be the first case in recent years of a Catholic cleric in Ireland taking his own life.

A priest who was censured earlier this year by the Vatican has said he has not been warned about his future conduct ahead of two large regional meetings on the future of the Church in Cork and Galway.

The Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) has welcomed proposals by the bishops that lay people could yet hold services in this country if there are not enough priests for every parish.

The Association of Catholic Priests has accused the Archbishop of New York of destroying the reputation of priests “who had given lifelong service to the Irish Catholic Church”.

THE banter of the two men strolling into the conference hall spoke volumes.

Justice Minister Alan Shatter reiterated that everyone, including priests, were obliged to report child sex abuse and other offences, including white collar crime, to the gardaí, even if they hear about it in the confessional.

The Association of Catholic Priests has said the Vatican should remember that “it is not a totalitarian state dealing with dissidents” but a Church that needs to re-find its way.

The overwhelming majority of Irish practising Catholics want to see radical change in their Church, including the ordination of women, an end to compulsory celibacy for clerics, with permission for priests to marry, and a greater role for the laity.

What the survey reveals is a serious and growing divergence between orthodox Catholic Church teaching emanating from Rome and what the faithful in Ireland actually believe.

The Association of Catholic Priests has said it does not expect members of the Irish hierarchy to comment on the silencing by the Vatican of one of the group’s founders, Fr Tony Flannery.

If similar surveys were undertaken in other countries, the results would be pretty much the same, writes Fr Seán McDonagh

Catholic priests in Ireland were treated like imbeciles during a Vatican probe into the clerical child abuse crisis that rocked the country, it has been claimed.

New research shows that the vast majority of Irish Catholics believe priests should be allowed to marry.

A senior Irish cleric has launched a broadside at Pope Benedict XVI and his senior advisers, accusing them of attempting to row back on Catholic Church reforms initiated in the 1960s by Vatican II.

The public read with dismay the media accounts of Redemptorist priest Fr Tony Flannery being muzzled by the Vatican. He has done much good in his life.

An 800-strong group of Irish priests has said it is disturbed over the Vatican's silencing of one of its members for his liberal views.