Truth lost in controversy

As a 29-year-old lay Catholic I thought I might offer my own opinion on the Fr Flannery debacle.

The current wave of sympathy for Fr Tony Flannery and Reality magazine editor Gerard Moloney has brought to the forefront a certain misunderstanding about the essence and role of the Church.

Whatever one’s opinions may be on issues such as contraception, mandatory celibacy and the non-ordination of women, there is one pre-conceived notion of the Church that in my opinion forms the basis of all subsequent misunderstandings.