catholic rebels v the vatican | Herald Scotland

catholic rebels v the vatican | Herald Scotland

HE certainly doesn't see himself as an apostate priest or a heretic, but Edinburgh's Father Mike Fallon is taking a quietly strong stand against the power of the Vatican by asking for a debate on two of the most dearly held principles in the Catholic Church: the vow of celibacy and the ban on ordaining women.

"My fundamental disagreement would be that there is no discussion allowed on either of the issues," says Fallon, whom some might see as being at the forefront of a simmering progressive rebellion against Rome within the priesthood. "Whether there is change or not is another matter, but there has to be debate."
Fallon is not alone in his views. Last week Fallon attended an unprecedented meeting of more than 1000 priests and churchgoers in Dublin to discuss the future of the Catholic Church. As revolutions go, it was a relatively sedate affair, but the gathering sent a spasm through the church after attendees called for debate on controversial topics such as married priests and the ordination of women.
The challenge to the Vatican's authority by the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) in Ireland comes against a backdrop of disintegrating respect for the Church – particularly in Ireland – over child sex-abuse scandals. The issue of paedophile priests has been reignited by accusations that the head of Ireland's Catholic Church, Cardinal Sean Brady, failed to act on abuse allegations when he was a priest in the 1970s.
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