Overseas Clergy Maitland Newcastle Report (Main Forum)

by Dennis, Monday, May 28, 2012, 14:13 (359 days ago) @ AnnieJ

Thanks Annie. Gail did mention the Maitland Newcastle Report. I did notice the beginning of the original discussion, but lost interest in it before Gail posted. Nobody took her up on the report at the time and preferred their own stories - loved the one about food fights among drunk priests in Melbourne. However, it would be good to have some "local" feedback. As we know, the local picture on the Hunter is diverse. From the pews, the language difficulties of overseas clergy is a real problem, especially if it does not improve over time. I get the impression that overseas priests are generally trying hard, but the Maitland report exposes the negativity of the local clergy who are not very welcoming. The overseas priests notice that local clergy do not share their faith. There were lots of interesting and worrying things like this in the Maitland Report. These things need to be talked about so that the priests we do have can be supported and cope with a little bit of constructive criticism.