Bishop William Crean of Cloyne said the goal of such people seems to be the elimination of the Church from public debate.

"Ireland through its political and media establishment seems determined to eliminate the engagement of the Catholic Church in the public sphere," Bishop Crean said.

He was speaking at the ordination of nine deacons at Maynooth.

"There are many in these systems who have developed a gratuitous cynicism towards the Catholic Church and desire its destruction, believing that it stands between the people and Ireland becoming a progressive society," he said.

He added "our response ought always to be positive".

Meanwhile, Archbishop Michael Neary of Tuam said last weekend that there are consequences for the Church being frequently dismissed and disregarded in Ireland.

He said that it is "not surprisingly in this situation greed overcomes gratitude while selfishness frequently displaces compassion".

Archbishop Neary said the real challenge facing modern culture in Ireland today is not atheism but idolatry.

This comes in the form of the worship of false gods ". . . whether it be money, a selfish and self-centred lifestyle or pleasure".

Speaking at Corpus Christi celebrations in Country Galway,Archbishop Neary warned against the "huge temptation to assimilate, to accept and conform to the dominant values which are at variance so often with our faith".

In such a situation, he said, "it is so easy to pick and choose between different aspects of our Christian faith, to acknowledge publicly what may be popular at a given time but to discard what is no longer regarded as ‘cool' in our culture".

The bishop warned that if people attempt "to separate faith from life then we do an injustice to both".

"Faith and life impinge on each other, influence each other, challenge each other," he said.

Sources

• Irish Times
• Image: Irish Times

Social Democrat candidate Ken Curtin was dropped as a reader at Mass in a County Cork parish at the order of the parish administrator Fr John McCarthy.

The aspiring politician then had a meeting with Bishop William Crean of Cloyne, which Mr Curtin described as "fruitful".

In a statement, the Diocese of Cloyne said a "cordial and fruitful meeting was held between Bishop Crean and Ken Curtin".

The encounter was described as "pastoral in nature".

Continue reading

Fr Tony Flannery was invited by the parish pastoral council in Killeagh in Cloyne diocese to give the opening address at Spiritfest 2015.

But Flannery's invitation was cancelled at the order of Bishop William Crean of Cloyne.

This came after meetings between the bishop and the parish priest, the Redemptorist provincial and a pastoral council subcommittee.

Bishop Crean stated that: "The reason being is that Flannery is currently out of ministry and the policy of the Diocese of Cloyne is that a priest who is out of ministry, for whatever reason, cannot exercise a public ministry."

In 2012, Flannery was suspended from public ministry by the Congregation of the Faith for his views on women priests, homosexuality and contraception.

In a statement on his website, Flannery said since his suspension he has given many talks in Ireland, England and the US.

"With one exception in the US, there had been no problem, and my talks mainly consisted of highlighting the message of Pope Francis," he said.

"To find an Irish bishop extending the notion of ‘silencing' to a talk in a community hall is very disappointing.

"How long and at what cost do these bishops imagine they can keep the lid on every boiling pot?"

He said Pope Francis has called for open discussion and respectful listening and asked how a bishop can justify extreme measures to silence people.

He said the incident was an example of a bishop using his episcopal authority to "lay down the law" to a group of committed lay people in a parish, and to "peremptorily overrule their decision".

"How can we seriously expect any lay person to put themselves forward for positions in the Church when they can so easily be brushed aside when the bishop does not like what they are doing?" he asked.

Flannery is scheduled to speak at the Women's Ordination Worldwide conference, in Philadelphia next month, just prior to Pope Francis's visit to the city.

Sources

• Tony Flannery blog
• Irish Times
• Irish Examiner
• Irish Times
• Image: Irish Independent