Yesterday, in the Killimordaly Community Centre, I celebrated a public Mass for the first time in five years, since I was forbidden to minister publicly. I chose to do it to mark my seventieth birthday, and in the Centre because I would not be allowed to do it on Church property.
I thought a good bit before I made this decision, sometime in late November. (See an earlier blog for my reasons).
A nice piece by Joshua McElwee in the National Catholic Reporter
Irish priest Tony Flannery to violate suspension from ministry to celebrate birthday Mass
Joshua J. McElwee | Jan. 11, 2017 NCR Today
A popular Irish priest who was suspended from public ministry by the Vatican’s doctrinal office five years ago primarily because of his support for women’s ordination is planning to violate his suspension in order to celebrate the Mass for his 70th birthday.
Redemptorist Fr. Tony Flannery says in a Jan.
I am celebrating a Public Mass on January 22nd: You are welcome to come if you wish.
This January marks a significant milestone in my life; the eighteenth of the month is my seventieth birthday. I have wondered how best to mark it. I am not by nature a ‘party person’, so that option did not greatly appeal to me. Having spent forty years of my life ministering as a priest, I am now into my fifth year when I am forbidden by Church authorities to minister publicly.
