Tony Flannery

My latest two reflections on aspects of Church doctrine have had some interesting responses. `I am not referring to social media, which I indulge in very sparingly. Letters in the Irish Times, and emails to myself, varied from those who were very supportive to those who, in the case of some emails, were quite abusive and condemnatory. After a good few years in the public domain, due to my work with the ACP and my writings, I am used to all this, and it doesn’t cause me any great concern.

As a result of my recent piece about certain Church doctrines I have had a lot of correspondence, most of it very interesting and informative. One person wrote to me with the following question:

I would be very interested in your views of the consecration which is the bedrock of a lot of catholic teaching and the resurrection. Is the resurrection like the virgin birth another Myth?.

Below is my attempt at an answer:

Myths are important in helping us to define who we are.

It is now over five years since the Vatican first got their claws into me. Most of the time I believe I have moved on, that my life has been interesting for those years, that I have moved into a different world, got to know many interesting people. But once in a while a wave of anger comes over me. I know that anger, if it gets a grip on a person, is destructive, so I usually manage to let it go.