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The life of a Galway Redemptorist priest who was suspended by the Vatican for his support of many liberal positions is the subject of a TG4 documentary.
Misneach: Tony Flannery is a personal insight to the life of Redemptorist priest Tony Flannery who was suspended from public ministry by the Vatican in 2012 for expressing his support for women’s ordination, optional clerical celibacy, same sex marriage and his liberal views on homosexuality.
Ordained in 1974, Tony Flannery is a well-known priest and missionary and native of Attymon, Co. Galway.
Eleven years ago, in 2012, he was summoned to Rome by the Superior General of the Redemptorists to find his writing in Reality magazine had been the subject of complaint to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
He was handed an unsigned piece of paper, which instructed that he be suspended from ministry. What followed was a long process, the result of which means that to this day, Tony is forbidden to speak in any Catholic Church property.
Tony has never known who his accusers were and has been given no right to appeal this decision.
Despite being offered a chance to return to ministry if he were to sign a statement renouncing his views and agree with the Church’s moral teachings and their stance of female ordination – Tony has not waivered.
Featuring heartfelt contributions from Tony’s friends and family, Misneach: Tony Flannery gives a voice to a priest who has been side-lined by the church he has devoted his life to.
The documentary by Midas Productions will air on TG4 next Wednesday, October 18 at 9:30pm
