PRIESTS CONCERNED BISHOP BUCKLEY’S REPLACEMENT WILL BE AN ‘OUTSIDER’
IRELAND
Evening Echo
SATURDAY, AUGUST 20, 2016
A GROUP of Catholic priests is concerned that the next Bishop of Cork and Ross will be ‘an outsider’, and there has been criticism of the way the Church selects bishops.
The Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) has hit out at the Vatican’s diplomatic representative in Ireland, Papal Nuncio Charles Browne. The association says that since Browne’s appointment, in 2011, he has been recommending bishops who are not from the dioceses they are charged with leading and who do not match the philosophies of Pope Francis.
Bishop John Buckley tendered his retirement two years ago and his successor is expected to be announced in the coming months, but Cork-based priest, Fr Gerry O’Connor, a leader within the ACP, said that there has been no consultation with the diocese.
Fr O’Connor pointed to Kerry, where Bishop Raymond Browne was recommended, despite having spent his career in Roscommon and Sligo. By contrast, Bishop Buckley, appointed by Pope John Paul II, was born in Inchigeela and served in Farranferris and Turner’s Cross, before serving as an Auxillary Bishop of Cork and Ross, and then taking the top job.
This time, the diocese cannot be sure that its bishop will be someone who has experience in Cork.
Evening Echo
SATURDAY, AUGUST 20, 2016
A GROUP of Catholic priests is concerned that the next Bishop of Cork and Ross will be ‘an outsider’, and there has been criticism of the way the Church selects bishops.
The Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) has hit out at the Vatican’s diplomatic representative in Ireland, Papal Nuncio Charles Browne. The association says that since Browne’s appointment, in 2011, he has been recommending bishops who are not from the dioceses they are charged with leading and who do not match the philosophies of Pope Francis.
Bishop John Buckley tendered his retirement two years ago and his successor is expected to be announced in the coming months, but Cork-based priest, Fr Gerry O’Connor, a leader within the ACP, said that there has been no consultation with the diocese.
Fr O’Connor pointed to Kerry, where Bishop Raymond Browne was recommended, despite having spent his career in Roscommon and Sligo. By contrast, Bishop Buckley, appointed by Pope John Paul II, was born in Inchigeela and served in Farranferris and Turner’s Cross, before serving as an Auxillary Bishop of Cork and Ross, and then taking the top job.
This time, the diocese cannot be sure that its bishop will be someone who has experience in Cork.
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