Priests to create reform-driven group

UP to 150 priests are expected to gather in Portlaoise today for the inaugural meeting of the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) — a reform-driven organisation which is aiming to “stand for moral courage”.

Founding member, Fr Brendan Hoban, a parish priest in Ballina, Co Mayo, said the Catholic Church is 50 years behind current thinking and it needs to return to the wisdom of the Second Vatican Council.

Fr Hoban said the ACP will not be “striving to represent all priests”, as he knows from his time on the executive of the National Confederation of Priests, this would “prove ineffectual” and that the association will “become bland, never really saying anything”.