Tony Flannery

This letter (below, and published on the ACP website) is a response from the ACP leadership meeting with the two bishops Martin earlier this year, and also the Papal visit in August.

In the eight years of our existence the ACP have tried constantly to get some worthwhile dialogue going with the Irish bishops. We have done this because we are passionately concerned for the future of our church, and since we represent a fair body of priests, we know that it would be much more beneficial to the church if we and the bishops worked together.

As I sit at Dulles Airport, waiting to fly back to Ireland, I am reflecting on my week here in the United States.

My first assignment was in Pittsburgh last Wednesday evening, where I was invited to speak to the Association of Pittsburgh Priests. This is an organisation founded back in the late nineteen sixties, after Humanae Vitae. That far back it was an independent association of priests, with an independent voice.

On Tuesday next, November 6th, I am traveling to the United States. It is a significant day, in that it is the day of the mid-term elections over there. Will there be a ‘blue wave’ to give the Democrats control of the House, and maybe also the Senate, and in that way put them in a position where they can clip the wings of the president?  Or will Trump pull off another victory?