CRISIS IN the Catholic priesthood will be the main theme of the first annual general meeting of the Association of Catholic Priests which begins at the Green Isle Hotel at Dublin’s Newlands Cross tomorrow evening. It will be open to the public and the media.
At 7.30pm, association founder member Fr Brendan Hoban will present a report on its first year of existence, during which it has held meetings in most Irish Catholic dioceses. He will be followed by Fr Kevin Hegarty who will speak on Priestly Ministry Today, An Insider's View.
Then a special presentation will be made to moral theologian Fr Seán Fagan, whose recent books What Happened to Sin?and Does Morality Change?have been censured by the Vatican. Making the presentation to him will be another eminent Irish theologian, the retired professor of moral theology at Maynooth, Fr Enda McDonagh.
The association said the presentation to Fr Fagan was in recognition of his “many years of services to Irish theology, especially his contribution to spreading the message of the Second Vatican Council throughout the church in Ireland and elsewhere”. It continued “we hope that those who have admired and appreciated Seán’s ministry down through the years will join us for the evening. People who are concerned about the future of the Catholic Church in Ireland are also most welcome.”
At 9am on Wednesday there will be a 90-minute business meeting for members only, at which priorities for the coming year, the association's structure, its effectiveness and its financial report, will be discussed. At 11am, psychotherapist Dr Marie Keenan will speak on Challenges for Priestly Ministry in Ireland Today, detailing how clerical child sexual abuse has affected the ministry.
