Monthly Archives: August 2014

People of Conscience: Reforming the Church Today

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The NationalCatholic Tipping Point Tour 2014

is proud to announce Fr. Tony Flannery will speak in Syracuse, NY on Wednesday Oct 29, 2014.

This event on the national speaking tour is hosted by Upstate NY CTA.

People of Conscience: Reforming the Church Today

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Join us at the May Memorial Unitarian Universalist Society

3800 East Genesee St.,  Syracuse, NY 13214

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Time: 7:00pm

In February 2012 Tony Flannery, a Redemptorist and founder member of the Associ­ation of Catholic Priests in Ireland, bestselling author and regular columnist with Reality magazine, was informed that the Vatican watchdog, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), was unhappy with some of his writings relating to the priestly ministry in the Church. Tony was summoned to Rome and told that until he revised his views he would not be allowed to minister as a priest or have any dealings with media. He was to step down as leader of the ACP.

Although he offered a statement of clarification and it seemed as if the matter were closed, a few months later the CDF made further demands that were unacceptable to him. He was required to issue a statement that he accepted all the moral teachings of the Church and that women could never be ordained priests. The CDF forbade him to return to priestly ministry, or be involved with the ACP, until he agree to publish this statement. He was put under €˜formal precept of obedience€™ not to attend the AGM of the ACP (He did attend it.).

During the time in question, the greater part of a year, the CDF never communicated directly with Tony Flannery. Documentation came through Michael Brehl, leader of the Redemptorists. It was on typed A4 pages without heading, stamp or signature. The CDF warned him about the need for total secrecy and threatened with excommunication and dismissal from the Redemptorists.

Tony Flannery became convinced that he would never be allowed to return to ministry and that the real target of the CDF was his role in the Association of Catholic Priests. He went public on the matter in January 2013. A Question of Conscience (2013), which reproduces the CDF documentation relating to this case, provides conclusive proof of the Vatican’s determination to stamp out what it regards as dissent, no matter how unjust and devious the methods it uses.


All CTA members and friends are encouraged to attend this exciting talk at the May Memorial Unitarian Universalist Society in Syracuse.  Good will offering will be asked.  More information to come. 

 

 

Spring Thruway Tour with Diana Hayes

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Upstate NY Call To Action coordinated with local venues to bring Diana Hayes, noted theologian, now retired from Georgetown University, to members and friends across the state.  During the last week in April 2014 she spoke to a full house in Buffalo co-sponsored by the UB Newman Center and CTA of Western NY.

Her talk in Buffalo was the first in a series of talks in the new Women Wisdom Series sponsored by the Newman Center.  The title of her talk in that location was “Standing in the Shoes My Mother Made: The Making of a Womanist Theologian.”

More info available at https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.759147660784268.1073741835.129891673709873&type=1

Diana proceeded to Syracuse to speak at St. Lucy’s, back to Rochester to speak at the Church of the Transfiguration and then on to Albany where she spoke at the Hubbard Sanctuary at the College of St. Rose.  She reminded us that she prepared and delivered remarks at the Hubbard Sanctuary when it first was dedicated. 

“The Challenge of Renewing the Church: Pope Francis, Vatican II, and You” was her topic for the remaining three talks. 

Diana speaking in Albany.