Fr Flannery and the Vatican

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.

Many would prefer if the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith confined their antics and meagre energy to chasing down those clerics who have raped children. The CDF was formerly known as the Roman and Universal Inquisition. The speciality of that house was mutilation, torture and burning at the stake those who held different opinions.

Three items in Fr Flannery’s writings seem to have been particularised. There is a perception among an exponential number of people that asking questions and seeking explanations is more reprehensible than sexually abusing children in the eyes of too many senior clerics.