Tony Flannery

Father Sean Fagan

I had mixed feelings today, when I heard of the death of Sean Fagan, sadness at his death, but relief that his sufferings were over. Not being part of the theological community, I had never met Sean until a couple of years ago, when I was editing a book on responding to the Ryan report, and I asked him would he write an article for it. It was then that I discovered that he was forbidden to write or speak publicly, and even worse, that if he disobeyed this order he would be dismissed from the priesthood.

The movement for reform, based on the teaching of the Second Vatican Council, is now widespread around the Church; and of course it has got great impetus from the papacy of Francis.
About four years ago a meeting took place in Bregenz in Austria in an effort to connect the different movements. This meeting was originally seen as a network for the various priests movements, in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Australia, U.S

The Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith’s current strategy of censuring priests and religious is out of step with church teaching and has been roundly criticized as “ridiculous and self-defeating” by an Irish priest who fell afoul of the Vatican in 2011.
Speaking for the first time publicly about his experience, Redemptorist Fr. Gerry Moloney warned that “imposing sanctions on people does not make them change their views.”

He was one of 15 signatories to the recent letter to Pope Francis and the CDF calling for reform of the Vatican’s investigation processes and for greater accountability and transparency in its methods which were deemed “medieval,” lacking in basic politeness and designed to wear those being investigated down.