Irish bishops are in thrall to the Vatican and show no capacity to think for themselves, according to Redemptorist priest, Fr Tony Flannery. ''There is no indication that they are a cohesive national body with a shared vision,'' he said, in the introduction of his new book Fragments of Reality.
Fr Flannery said the Church was suffering from the ''disastrous appointments policy'' pursued by the Vatican under the reign of Pope John Paul II.
''Orthodoxy rather than ability was the guiding principle for the choices that were made and as a consequence we have had many men in positions of authority who had neither the aptitude nor the capacity for the job.''
He said this authority structure and clericalism in the Catholic Church had led the laity to become disillusioned with parish involvement.
''Extensive lip service has been given to the involvement of the laity, but in practice very little is being done, and priests are still allowed to act in a dictatorial fashion without any repercussion from, and indeed in some cases with the approval of, their bishop.''
''I have met with numerous instances where enthusiastic lay involvement in a parish was summarily scattered by a new parish priest among the laity, who increasingly did not see the point in giving of their time and expertise when all the power remains in the hands of the priest who can ignore them as he chooses.''
Fr Flannery's book, which is a collection of articles written over ten years, covers the issues facing the modern day Church including homosexuality in the priesthood, contraception, celibacy, women's ordination and child abuse.
On the issue of the ordination of women, Flannery takes an equally hard stance: ''We must be the last institution in the Western World that contuinues to uphold such blatant discrimination against women. I don't have any doubt that there is no theological or scriptural basis for this position, but that it is purely a social and institutional construct hiding a fairly barefaced and primitive desire for male domination. At the moment the Irish Church is introducing lay deacons, of course restricted to males. I hope this is not supported by the people. No man should allow his name go forward for a position that excludes women.''
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(Source: IC)