Irish Priest calls for reform of Church attitudes

"An outspoken Irish priest has called for a radical rethink [of church policy] on relationships" writes reporter Andrea Byrne in the latest issue of the Sunday Independant. Fr. Tony Flannery, author of a new book 'Responding to the Ryan Report', has called on the church to "break the rigid connection between sexual activity and marriage, allowing for appropriate sexual relationships between people who are not married, when the quality of the relationship merits it". He offers the refreshingly honest admission that "church teaching has officially conceded now that sex has a purpose other than procreation, namely to nourish and develop a relationship of love between two people" and is scathing of the religious authorities' attitude to re-marriage, saying: "The failure of the church to respond to the many people who are getting married for the second time is scandalous. More often than not they are good, sincere people, and all we offer them is a blank refusal of any religious ceremony, even a blessing, coupled with a mostly unstated, but implied belief that they are living in sin and no longer pleasing God". He advocates a progressive approach to the relationship between church authorities and their parishioners, hoping that the "church leadership learns to trust the believing community, and develops its teachings in partnership with them, rather than handing it down to them in an authoritarian manner".

While Fr. Flannery's personally progressive thinking is certainly admirable, I can't see mainstream Christianity following suit any time soon - after all, dogma and authoritarianism are what separates religion from mere spirituality and it seems suspiciously like the latter that Fr. Flannery is indeed espousing, a personal understanding of god or the divine that differs from believer to believer, which would negate the need for organised religion at all. Still, it's always good to hear a voice of reason cry out in the wilderness, and Fr. Flannery's matter of fact honesty about the beauty and validity of loving relationships that exist outside the constraints of religious marriage is very touching.