I am saddened but not surprised that Tony Flannery has been silenced and Gerry Moloney and Reality Magazine reined in.
The attempts by Rome to suppress any discussion about issues such as ordination of women and compulsory celibacy are surely a sign of fear.
Jesus questioned the religious institution in which he had been brought up, its attitudes, laws and practices, and the understanding of God which those attitudes and practices revealed, a God whose passion was the observance of the Law.
He revealed, instead, a God of compassion, who required different attitudes and practices.
The God of compassion is incompatible with the God of the Law.
He too incurred the wrath of the religious authorities of his time.
Perhaps young people today are leaving the Church because they no longer find God there.