Sir, – Fr Joe McVeigh, in his letter on women priests (July 2nd), gives the same opinion, in almost exactly the same words, that brought the heavy hand of the Vatican down on me.
Joe can expect a letter from Cardinal Muller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, any day now.
Except, of course, it won’t come directly to him and there will be no signature! – Yours, etc,
Fr TONY FLANNERY,
Athenry,
Co Galway.
Sir, – I have noticed in recent days that the issue of women priests in the Catholic Church has returned to this page.
The present position espoused by church authorities arose out of a mixture of fundamentalist interpretations of scripture, structures of society that were based on the superiority of the male, and attitudes that sexual needs were signs of human weakness. These positions are no longer acceptable to society and adherence to them amounts to blatant discrimination rather than theological insight.
However, I also believe that the use of scripture to oppose the present position regarding both women priests and married priests is an exercise in futility because the church authorities are not for changing and all the arguments in the world will not change that.
I should like to propose that insofar as church authorities continue to exclude women and married persons from the priesthood, they owe it to us to explain what their plans are for when they run short of priests to serve us.
Will our children who wish to have their marriages take place within the context of Mass be obliged, as in some countries, to marry in communal marital ceremonies at times allocated to suit the priests’ availability?
Do the church authorities plan that funerals will no longer be blessed during Mass but coffins brought to church will be given a simple blessing by a lay person or deacon appointed to do so?
I choose these two examples because I believe that the majority of Catholics in Ireland still take it for granted their marriages and funerals will take place within the context of Mass.
Let the bishops direct the priests to explain what they have planned for the faithful when they run short of unmarried male priests. Are Pope Francis and the bishops thinking ahead or are they just saying “so be it” to whatever happens? – Yours, etc,
BRENDAN KENNEDY,
Orchardville Gardens,
Belfast.