The always tedious Irish liberal Association of Catholic Priests have gone on the attack against Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan, disgracefully siding with the Gardai and members of the public who were reporting the bishop for alleged breaches of the arbitrary Covid ‘guidelines’.
Father Timothy Hazelwood has been reported in the Irish Examiner today as saying that,
‘When you're in a position of power, you're seen as a person of influence and every single thing we do is interpreted. There's consequences as a leader in what you do’.
The paper also reports that he said:
To me, it begs the question: does the Church still think it has privilege? Are we above the law? [In the past] privilege was used to control people and we could do what we want. That day is gone and the sooner we move on from it the better."
The pro government newspaper then stated:
Bishop Cullinan, who has repeatedly declined to address the matter, was seen in a screenshot from the Church online video of the mass flanked by priests without masks on a church altar in Tramore.
The ‘journalists’ at the Irish Examiner did not have such an indignant approach this week when the Taoiseach was videoed demanding that a woman beside him take off her mask.
Archbishop Cullinan no doubt provoked the ire of the ultra bougie ACP with his beautiful expression of faith on Good Friday.
There is a palpable sense of jealousy emanating from the ACP towards, the rigid boomers who want the entire church to resemble a Daniel O’Donnell concert taking place in a 1970s Community Hall have looked increasingly irrelevant in the current world. A number of weeks ago, Father Timothy joined Father Brendan Hoban on Midwest Radio’s Faith Alive show. The show discussed many of the rigid and outdated ideas of the ACP, speaking glowingly of the tired misanthropic rantings of Mary McAleese. On that show, Father Timothy claimed that the upcoming Synod would ‘give a voice to the marginalised’. By ‘the marginalised’ of course they likely do not mean young people. In a dark and depressing recent podcast by the ACP on the Synod (which they seem to be under the impression belongs to them) Bishop Fintan Gavin informed them that young people would not agree with what they had to say on it, but none of the rigid clerics listened, instead one individual bemoaned that the Synod would merely ‘manage the decline’ of the church and many others opined that women priests would solve all of the church’s problems.
Father Hazelwood also said that ‘there are parts of the world where gay is not acceptable at all’, before claiming that Pope Francis is ‘worried about a schism in the United States and maybe Africa’. Interestingly, liberal German icon Cardinal Walter Kasper laid blame for the interruption of ‘progress’ at the feet of the African Church in 2014. Both Fr. Hazelwood and Cardinal Kasper have been parts of national churches that are embarrassing failures, driving millions away from the faith with their attachment to rigid 1970s theology, turning the souls of their flocks into ecclesiastical experiments. On the contrary, Africa is a hub of deep faith, vitality and missionaries, even when facing persecution.
The conversation then turned very interesting.
The host asked Father Hazelwood if the church was just being ‘honest’ on what was happening with the church. Father Hazelwood replied ‘that’s what the Pharisees did’.
She then said that she heard a bishop saying that he did not support priest associations. Father Hazelwood replied:
‘He’d better get used to it that people will speak back. The day is gone when the bishop can think ‘‘I say it and that’s law’’ and expect you do it’.
Are the bishops going to allow these people to tell them what to do in this manner?
In an even stronger statement, the ACP wrote on their website:
The ACP believes that the CDF document is unfortunate and unwise, both in content and in timing. It is also contradictory. The content is negative, and condemnatory.
While it says that gay people are loved and valued by the Church, it then states that they are sinners, that their loving relationships are fundamentally opposed to God’s plan for creation The certainty with which they assume what God can and cannot do, is breathtaking. It seems fair to say that gay people, reading this document, will not feel loved and valued.
This divisive statement comes at a time when there is a major initiative, both in the Vatican and by the Irish bishops, to initiate a process of synodality, meaning a process where people will be asked for their views on all aspects of church life. It is emphasised that everyone’s voice will be heard, especially those on the margins of the Church.
Following on from this judgemental and discriminatory statement, it will be hard for gay people to believe that Church authorities will be open and welcoming of their views.
The leadership of the ACP is saddened and disappointed by this document. It is increasingly difficult to remain hopeful of an inclusive church.
Father Hazelwood better get used to the fact that the days when rigid priests stuck in the 1970s think that ordinary Catholics are going to let them ‘manage the decline’ of our church instead of optimistically creating a future for ourselves and for the next generation. They may have been incredible failures these past 50 years, but we have no intentions of repeating their mistakes.
The ACP’s straight faced efforts to convince us that they are ‘rebels’ facing expulsion for rooting for the little guy belies the fact that they have always been well connected in the political world, they are certainly not ‘rebels’ towards the establishment. Fine Gael General Secretary Tom Curran chaired their meeting in 2012. Founding member Father Tony Flannery is the brother of Frank Flannery, a former Fine Gael high level member. The ACP published positions on its website in both 2015 and 2018, supporting the same sex marriage referendum and the removal of the right to life referendum respectively. Officially, they didn’t take a side in 2015 , but they did publish articles from priests who did. Prior to the Removal of the Right to Life Referendum in 2018, the ACP abdicated all responsibility and stated , ‘ A vote cast in accordance with each person’s conscience, whatever the result, deserves the respect of all’, and they even called on priests to stop allowing prolife people to speak at Mass on the runup to the Referendum. Flannery himself admitted to voting to remove the Right to Life of unborn children that May. People who are rooting for the underdog do not do things such as that.
The bishops must not let this small bubble of middle class and perpetually negative and pessimistic clerics dictate the upcoming Synod nor allow them to be front and centre in ‘managing the decline’ of the Irish church. Young people of today deserve better as do the young people of tomorrow. The rigidity, misanthropy and self pity must come to an end, to be replaced by optimism, hope and inclusivity of people who do not read the Irish Times nor hang on Mary McAleese’s every word.
There is a young church in Ireland, it is optimistic, it knows nothing of the rigidity with which these men were formed in the 1970s and that young church deserves to have its voice heard now more than ever.
Young people have been faithful enough to hang on to the Irish church in her Passion, the Synod should reward their fidelity and bravery and make them feel welcomed, the rigid pro Fine Gael element of the church needs to show some humility and to listen for once.
We encourage everyone to send a message of support to Archbishop Alphonsus Cullinan, who is being attacked for his faith and for his love of Christ, and for the threat that he poses to the ACP’s friends in Fine Gael.
You can do so at his email:
waterfordlismore@eircom.net