Tony Flannery

Association of Catholic Priests Statement
on the Permanent Lay Diaconate
Fri 11 August 2017

The Leadership of the Association of Catholic Priests fully supports Fr Roy Donovan (Cashel & Emly) in his statement on the decision by the Archbishop of Cashel & Emly to set up a group to investigate initiating the permanent lay diaconate in his diocese.

Roy’s objection is based on the fact that currently the Church confines the lay diaconate to men, even though Pope Francis has a commission working on the history of women deacons in the early church, with a view to possibly opening the diaconate to women also.

“You will listen and listen again, but not understand,
See and see again, but not perceive.
For the heart of this nation has grown coarse.”

That is taken from the prophet Isaiah, and quoted by Jesus in the gospel of today’s Mass readings. Reading it, I couldn’t help but feel how apt it is for Ireland at the present time.
Our public discourse has become increasingly coarse over recent years. This is very obviously so in our national parliament, so much so that a committee is now being brought together to see if there is any way of putting some rein on what is being said under privilege in the Dail chamber and in the committee rooms.

I wonder do many people, in their later years, stand back a little from their lives, from the way they lived, and they values and beliefs they espoused, and take a more objective look at them than they have done previously. In the traditional religious training that I got in my youth it would be seen as ‘losing your faith’, or so we were told. But then we were told a lot of strange and even daft things.