We priests have earned right to say what needs to be said about state of church

[xchrom]

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2012/1002/1224324727327.html

***SNIP

A drip of vocations, a consistent bleeding of church members, a massive credibility problem, a leadership for the most part invisible, a priesthood demoralised and Rome at the great crossroads pointing us in the direction of the 19th century.

How did it all come to this?

Fifty years ago this October the Second Vatican Council met in Rome and for three glorious years devised a road map for the future: a people’s church, co-responsibility, collegiality and the other buzzwords that would be given flesh in structures devised to give energy, direction and purpose to the church in a different age.

The road map, we were told, would help to negotiate a changing culture, but we tore it up and threw it away. In a few weeks, when we commemorate the opening of that great council, they’ll be telling us how wonderful it all was. God forgive them.

[cbayer]

1. Well, he is stamping his feet but appears woefully short of solutions.

The priests in Ireland have a great deal of repair work to do. He could start with an apology and a stated mission of "Never again".

[pinto]

2. I get his point about the lost opportunities of Vatican II but the rest seems like a non-sequitor.

I'm unfamiliar with the ACP or ACI or their agendas but Fr. Hoban offers "we need more priests" as the big picture?