'Let priests marry' bishop 'will escape sanction'

A bishop who called for priests to be allowed to marry will not fear any potential sanction from the Vatican, it was claimed today.

Bishop Willie Walsh of the Killaloe Diocese is the first senior clergyman to speak out on the issue since Bishop Brendan Comiskey in 1995 – who was subsequently summoned to Rome to explain himself.

But Redememptorist priest Fr Tony Flannery, said the Bishop never had displayed any interest the careerism that had forced other clerics to stay silent.

“One of the great strengths of Bishop Walsh is the fact that he has never sought power or wanted to cling onto power in the church. If Rome asked him to step down in the morning, it probably wouldn’t cost him a thought.”

Fr Flannery, who has known the bishop for many years, said he was not a man who was afraid to air his beliefs.

"He has that sense of closeness with his people. He’s very much in touch with them because he listens to them and then he has the courage to be the spokesperson to talk out without fear or without favour,” he said.

But he added that it was unlikely that any of the other Irish bishops, most of whom were appointed under the conservative reign of Pope John Paul II, would publicly support Bishop Walsh’s call for married priests.

Bishop Walsh is known for his liberal beliefs and was a surprise choice when he was chosen to head the Diocese of Killaloe in 1994. But he had received strong backing from his predecessor, Bishop Michael Harty, and the priests of the diocese.

Since then, he has attracted national attention for his campaigning stance on a number of issues.

He made a three-week pilgrimage of reconciliation in 1999 in which he personally visited every church in his diocese to apologise for the church’s failure to deal with clerical sexual abuse.

On three separate occasions, he has allowed traveller families to camp on the grounds of Westbourne Palace, his residence in Ennis, and has spoken out publicly about the shortage of accommodation for travellers.

Bishop Walsh told the Sunday Tribune this week that the rule of celibacy had led to many priests leaving the church to pursue relationships.

“I have known some very fine priests who have left the priesthood because they found the challenge of celibacy not life-giving for them. Men like that are a great loss to the ministerial priesthood.”

He said there was a need for a debate on celibacy and on the wider issue of the church’s whole understanding of sexuality.

In the last 25 years, more than 100,000 Catholic priests worldwide have married.