Tony Flannery

Frank Callanan, a highly regarded Senior Counsel, has died at the relatively young age of sixty five. I had the privilege of knowing Frank, and of benefiting from his wisdom and support.

When we launched the Association of Catholic Priests in 2010 it was a difficult time for priests in Ireland. The exposure of clerical sex abuse had done enormous damage; the morale of priests was on the ground; bishops, many of whom had covered up abusers, were often in a state of panic, terrified of the media, and had done the full circle and turned on their priests, hanging many of them out to dry.

The Synodal Process has been launched in the Irish Church. Though from what I have seen on the ground, nothing much is happening as yet. But it is early days. 

I have listened to a number of people speaking on the Synod, from different points of view, including Bishop Leahy of Limerick, who seems to be the main person from the bishops side who is involved. He was on the radio, Leap of Faith, the other evening with Derek Scally and Ursula Halligan.

My native diocese, Clonfert, is being joined up with Galway, with one bishop in charge of both. We are told it is not an amalgamation, or that the smaller diocese is not being subsumed into the larger one. Instead, we are assured that both dioceses will retain their diocesan structures. I am not sure what exactly that means. Both cathedrals will retain their status, we are told, with all the structures that surround cathedrals, chapters, councils, etc.