Tony Flannery

It is good to see that the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmaid Martin, has taken his lead from Pope Francis, and raised the issue of the ordination of married men. It seems to me now, presuming Francis stays alive and healthy for a few more years, that it is only a matter of time until this begins to happen. A degree of sanity has entered the debate on priesthood and making sure that local Christian communities has access to the Eucharist.
But what really interested me in what Dr. Martin said was his reference to the ordination of women. He said this was ‘not on the table for now’. That is very significant. It would seem to imply that he recognises that it will have to come on the table in due course.
All of this is inclined to make me a bit angry and disillusioned. I was dismissed from priestly ministry because I wouldn’t sign and publish a document saying that women would never be ordained in the Catholic Church. As time moves on, and Francis continues to push out the boundaries, it is increasingly difficult for me to see why I am in the position that I find myself in. And I still wait, with increasing impatience, for some authority in the Church, either bishops or Redemptorist superiors, to take up the earlier challenge of Francis that issues like mine be dealt with at local level. Are they all going to sit around and do nothing, waiting for me to either disappear off the stage, or keel over an die?