One of the three co-founders of the Association of Catholic Priests
(ACP) in Ireland is to step down from his leadership role while he
considers whether to remain in the priesthood. Fr Tony Flannery, who has been suspended from ministry and threatened with excommunication by Rome for expressing views at odds with church teaching, told The Tablet he would withdraw from the administrative team at the association's AGM next month.
He said the next six months may determine his future as a priest.
Speaking ahead of the launch this week in Dublin of his new book, A Question of Conscience, the first public account by a censured priest of how the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith deals with dissenting clergy, he said: "What does it mean to be a priest if you are not allowed to minister as a priest?"