And another liberal priest is brought to account by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith…
It is understood that his column is now run past a church censor, though none has been changed as a result. The disciplining of Fr D’Arcy brings the number of Irish priests censured by Rome to six. The action against the priest was taken by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) last year after an anonymous complaint.
Fr D’Arcy has spoken out against mandatory celibacy for priests, church teaching on contraception and has been a vocal critic of the handling of clerical sexual abuse. In the wake of the Murphy Report into clerical abuse in the Archdiocese of Dublin Fr D’Arcy called for reformation of church structures and accused the Holy See of using legal procedures to shield itself from criticism over its handling of abuse.
Mick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty