BROADCASTER and columnist Fr Brian D'Arcy has said
his censure by the Vatican "destroyed" him "as a human being and as a
priest" and almost caused him to leave the priesthood.
In his new book, 'Brian D'Arcy's Food for the Soul', the
68-year-old said it has been "the most devastating faith crisis of my
life".
Recalling the events that led to his rap on the knuckles
from the Vatican, Fr D'Arcy said that in 2010 he was formally censured
by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF).
The
then head of the CDF wrote to the Superior General of his religious
order, the Passionists, accusing him of being "a source of great
scandal".
Fr D'Arcy received a formal warning that he must cease
being critical of the Vatican and stop questioning its rules on
celibacy, homosexuality, divorce and remarriage or face excommunication.
He
makes no apology for criticising the church leadership over the child
sex-abuse scandals, saying: "I was absolutely correct to do so. I am a
survivor of clerical sex abuse myself.
POWER
Father
D'Arcy told the Irish Independent that he would quit the church if he
is censured by the Congregation of the Faith over his new book.
"That would be it," he said. "The
fact is, there is nothing in it that Pope Francis hasn't said. I don't
believe there would be any grounds for censuring me again or any attempt
to shut me up. Pope Francis knows there is too much power and wealth in the Vatican; he's said all his life what I have said all of mine."
Last
February, when the Fermanagh-based cleric was at his "lowest ebb
physically and spiritually, something "quite literally unbelievable
happened" with Benedict XVI resigning.
Now, Pope Francis is proposing changes remarkably similar to those put forward by Fr D'Arcy, he writes.
The book is available from Columba Press.