Fr Brendan Hoban also criticised a "religious media more anxious to protect its pockets than engage with the realities of faith in the world".

Fr Hoban is the co-founder of the Association of Catholic Priests in Ireland.

He made these criticisms in a local newspaper column.

He noted that Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin recently lamented the dearth of Catholic intellectuals in Ireland.

Fr Hoban warned of the consequences "if bishops or priests or intelligent ‘lay' Catholics are not prepared to reflectively engage in the public market-place".

In that case, "that space is left open to obsessive Catholic extremists who seek to psychologically bludgeon anyone who doesn't agree with them".

"[They] do untold damage to the Catholic faith in Ireland," he said.

The priest added that there is little institutional support for intellectual debate in the Catholic Church.

This is "as distinct from cheerleading".

He cited the Church's lack of support for several prominent theologians.

These include Enda McDonagh, Gabriel Daly and Sean Fagan.

On the other hand, the Church backs "others of whom great things were expected, but who now seem often to use every opportunity to ingratiate themselves with Church authorities, with an eye to promotion".

Fr Hoban also slated the Vatican silencing of five Irish priests.

The silenced five were "sacrificial lambs hunted down by the Catholic ‘stasi', the equivalent of the East German secret police, who wouldn't know their theological arm from their elbow".

The priests were condemned for effectively helping explain in ordinary words the insights of theologians and biblical scholars, he added.

Fr Hoban queried the lack of Catholic intellectuals in Ireland, given the huge investment in Catholic education.

Sources

• Irish Times
• Image: Irish Central

Fr Brendan Hoban of the Association of Catholic Priests said that there is a risk that old fashioned pastoral approaches by overseas priests could empty some Irish parishes in a decade.

Two Nigerian priests have recently started ministering in Kilmore diocese.

Two more are scheduled to start work in Clonfert diocese and there are plans to bring Indian priests to Waterford diocese.

"Priests are not like footballers who can be transferred for a given fee from Real Madrid to Manchester United and hardly notice the change, as what they do and how and where they do is exactly the same," Fr Hoban said.

"Priesting is different. Language matters. Culture matters. Tradition matters. History matters.

"Understanding is about more than knowing the words.

"Appreciating the weave and waft of Irish society is essential to ministering to people's needs at parish level," he said.

Fr Hoban noted the history of Irish priests going on mission to other nations, but said that missioning in Ireland now is completely different to past practices.

He expressed concern over the pastoral styles African and Indian priests might bring to Ireland, trying to replicate those from their homelands

If priests "are used to not allowing laity to be involved in worship, how long will they survive in an Irish parish?", Fr Hoban asked.

"If priests are used to not allowing women to be involved in parish life, except in a peripheral and patronising way, how long will they survive in an Irish parish?

"Or more to the point how long will an Irish parish survive them? They could empty our emptying churches in a decade," he said.

Last year, the ACP asked Ireland's bishops to forward a request to Rome that proven married men be ordained as priests.

Sources

• Irish Times
• Irish Times
• Image: Irish Independent

In a statement issued after a meeting in Limerick in Ireland, bishops were called on to "courageously and publicly" support the vision and programme of Pope Francis.

"A key issue will be to devolve authority away from the Vatican to local churches.

"Connected to this is the need to enhance the authority of the local churches, especially parishes," the statement noted.

The meeting was organised by Redemptorist Fr Tony Flannery, who had been silenced by Rome.

"With the resignation of Pope Benedict we are at the end of an era, and this is our best chance to renew the Church for a long time," Fr Flannery said.

He called on Ireland's Catholic bishops in particular to "put their shoulders behind Francis".

He was "personally disappointed" that this had not been the case.

A major topic of the three-day event was the need for "full equality of women in Church life".

The statement said that "during a very open and honest discussion, it became clear that there is much pain concerning the exclusion of women from governance, leadership and ordained ministry - and how that causes division and affects the entire life of the Church".

Such was the depth of feeling about women in the Church that a planned Eucharist at the conference did not happen and a prayer service was held instead.

Fr Brendan Hoban of the ACP said there was "grave dissatisfaction" among his 1000 members over the way the current nuncio in Ireland was operating in the appointment of new bishops.

He pointed to a lack of "real consultation", a restricted pool of possible candidates and he also objected to the practice of "parachuting" bishops from other parts of the country into dioceses.

The reform conference also called for full participation in October's synod on the family of Catholics who are LGBT, divorced and re-married, members of inter-faith families and other marginalised people in the Church.

Sources

• Irish Times
• Irish Independent
• Image: Catholic Ireland

Just 13 men from seven dioceses will enter studies for the priesthood at Maynooth this year, down from 20 last year.

Association of Catholic Priests co-founder Fr Brendan Hoban warned in The Tablet that "faith communities sustained over centuries will collapse".

Blame has also been levelled at most of Ireland's hierarchy for lacklustre efforts in promoting vocations.

The ACP is calling for the ordination of married men and the re-appointment of priests who have left ministry as countermeasures.

But critics have charged that the ACP's negative attitude itself discourages vocations.

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