Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options

Speakers at a conference in Dublin, Ireland, on May 7, sponsored by Ireland’s Association of Catholic Priests, called on the hierarchy to open structures of dialogue with lay Catholics about the future of the church. The A.C.P. has called for a re-evaluation of the church’s teaching on sexuality and a “redesigning” of ministry “to incorporate the gifts, wisdom and expertise of the entire faith community, male and female.” The Rev. Gerry O’Hanlon said the crisis of sexual abuse by members of the clergy and its serious mishandling by church leaders have revealed deeper fault lines in the national and universal church. Participants pointed to the report from the recent apostolic visitation of the Irish church, which criticized a “fairly widespread” tendency among Irish Catholics to hold views contrary to the teaching of the church, as an indication that Irish Catholics are eager for reform.

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

The latest from america

Pope Leo said that if the teen “had come all the way to Rome, then (the pope) could come all the way to the hospital to see him.”
A Reflection for Tuesday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time, by Molly Cahill
Molly CahillAugust 04, 2025
As emergency workers searched for survivors and tried to recuperate the bodies of the dead, Pope Leo XIV offered his prayers for people impacted by the latest shipwreck of a migrant boat off the coast of Yemen.
Catholic News ServiceAugust 04, 2025
The Archdiocese of Miami celebrated the first Mass for detainees at “Alligator Alcatraz,” the Trump administration’s controversial immigrant detention center in the Florida Everglades.