Madam -- I refer to the article in the Sunday Independent, Sunday, April 29, 2012, headed 'Vatican's gag on Fr D'Arcy breaks BBC's guidelines', written by Jerome Reilly. I believe that the revelations that Fr D'Arcy and other Catholic priests in Ireland are now having 'their opinions' censored by Rome, only helps to demonstrate the lengths the Vatican will go to in an effort to keep control. They have been clearly losing control in this country for some time, especially since their diabolical handling of the recent clerical abuse scandals.

It seems the Vatican has very little to do -- or does it? The 'out of the blue' focus on the writings of, for example Fr Brian D'Arcy, certainly leaves a lot to be desired. It would, however, make one wonder what does the Vatican really fear? I am sure they did not count on the BBC being involved in the shameful censoring tactics.

Fr D'Arcy is loved in this country by both Catholics and non-Catholics. Shame on the Vatican for such 'iron-fisted' ruling of their flock and priests. It should be delighted it has such wonderful ambassadors in the first instance. Where is the Vatican's Christianity in all of this, one might ask?

Derry-Ann Morgan,

Swords, Co Dublin

One might well ask!

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/letters/shame-on-roman-dictators-3101445.html

This is a wonderful interview and really shows the man who I first heard of and listened to thirty years ago.

He states quite clearly that he is not a 'liberal' priest nor a theologian but has always tried to be a voice for those who have no voice.

At the end he talks about an incident when he carried out an order from his superior......which he later realised was wrong and he said:

'Obedience cannot be blind'.

(The Cardinal Brady situation was not mentioned but, for me, that comment really brought it to mind).

http://www.rte.ie/radio/radioplayer/rteradiowebpage.html#!rii=9%3A3270626%3A70%3A28%2D0...

Fr Brian D’Arcy explains censure in emotional interview

FR BRIAN D’ARCY, who revealed this week that he has been censured by the Vatican, has said that that he would have to leave the priesthood if he had to stop writing about certain issues.
The journalist and broadcaster gave an emotional interview to Marian Finucane on RTE Radio One this morning, in which he said that articles he had written for the Sunday World, as well as his attitude and criticism of the Vatican’s way of dealing with child sex abuse and his liberal views of contraception were given as reasons for the censure.

Link to Newspaper article.

http://www.thejournal.ie/fr-brian-darcy-explains-censure-in-emotional-interview-433038-...

This is the first interview he's given and it sheds light on exactly how his censuring/censoring by the Vatican happened.

Another shameful episode.

Here is the link to the interview:

http://www.rte.ie/radio/radioplayer/rteradiowebpage.html#!rii=9%3A3270626%3A70%3A28%2D0...

as this is!

Do I read in there that a priest can sue his bishop under canon law for exposing him?
..or do I have that wrong

Instead of digging into the trenches and erecting defence barriers, we need to work together out of the Manual Jesus gave us, and accept the challenges of evangelisation in our times. The reality of a clerical Church that now seems so out of touch, out of ideas, and as some would suggest almost out of time, being the best channel for the Holy Spirit to lead us in modern times, is the subject of another urgently needed debate in our Church.

http://www.associationofcatholicpriests.ie/2012/04/jimmy-mcphillips-on-the-censoring-of...

A Comment:

I happened to be a Eucharistic minister in my parish this morning and as, I knew, it was Vocation Sunday I was surprised when our priest made no reference to the day.
Afterwards, in the sacristy, I gently mentioned it, and his response to me was “well after what the church had done to good men who have given their lives to working in the Vineyard, in conscience, I couldn’t ask anyone to consider joining now”.

...where the discussion would go if the following links were posted on one of the FTTM's sites.

(How would they explain away the letter?)

Details of the 'Would You Believe' programme:

http://www.rte.ie/tv/wouldyoubelieve/unspeakablecrimes.html

THE letter:
http://www.rte.ie/tv/wouldyoubelieve/WYB_Nuncio%20letter.pdf

"I think that this is really about any criticisms I may have made clear about how the church has handled the issue of clerical sexual abuse and how some of the blame for that lies with Rome."

The big lie that the cover up had nothing to do with Canon Law, had nothing to do with the current Pope or his predecissor is not only official policy. It now appears to have become a doctrine of the Church, leaving those who disagree in heresy.

The next "heretic" has to be Fr. Sean McDonagh who has said on a number of times that the bishops were only doing what they were told.

And Bishop Michael Smith on the Irish RTV program, Would You Believe, must be going close to the wind as well.

http://www.rte.ie/tv/wouldyoubelieve/av_index.html

Broadcast 17/01/2011 (Page 3 on above link).

Details of the programme:

http://www.rte.ie/tv/wouldyoubelieve/unspeakablecrimes.html

THE letter:

http://www.rte.ie/tv/wouldyoubelieve/WYB_Nuncio%20letter.pdf

"I think that this is really about any criticisms I may have made clear about how the church has handled the issue of clerical sexual abuse and how some of the blame for that lies with Rome."

The big lie that the cover up had nothing to do with Canon Law, had nothing to do with the current Pope or his predecissor is not only official policy. It now appears to have become a doctrine of the Church, leaving those who disagree in heresy.

The next "heretic" has to be Fr. Sean McDonagh who has said on a number of times that the bishops were only doing what they were told.

And Bishop Michael Smith on the Irish RTV program, Would You Believe, must be going close to the wind as well.

http://www.rte.ie/tv/wouldyoubelieve/av_index.html

HUNDREDS of people travelled from all over Ireland yesterday to show their support for Father Brian D'Arcy as the cleric admitted to initially thinking he would have to leave the priesthood.

More than 1,000 people attended midday Mass at the Passionist Monastery near Enniskillen and heard the priest apologise to them for the furore over the Vatican move to censor his views.

Fr D'Arcy got a standing ovation from the congregation in St Gabriel's Chapel as he managed to make light of the controversy.

.

Afterwards in the monastery he shares with four other Passionist clerics, the priest himself admitted that he thought his vocation was over when he was first told of the Vatican's move to silence him.

"I was contacted by the head of my order in Rome and he had been called in by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) and told that I had been involved in scandals in my writings for the 'Sunday World,'" he told the Irish Independent.

"I was very hurt by it for it was a pretty brutal way of dealing with someone and at that moment I thought I'd have to leave the church; that this was the end of my time as a priest."

He said he told both the BBC and the Sunday newspaper about getting the edict from Rome 14 months ago but had never submitted any material to the CDF since.

"I think that this is really about any criticisms I may have made clear about how the church has handled the issue of clerical sexual abuse and how some of the blame for that lies with Rome.

"I will not stop addressing this issue, however. As someone who was abused, it would be wrong for me as person and as a priest to stay silent,'' he said.

"Silence on child abuse leads to more child abuse and I will not be a part of that," he added.

.
If this is true it will backfire on them (again).

But yesterday after the Mass in Enniskillen, one close friend remarked: "Tell your readers in the Irish Independent to ask 'who leaked this story to the Catholic Church-run newspaper 'The Tablet?'.

"Brian said nothing about this for 14 months yet it was the church which leaked this to their own media. It was they who put this in the spotlight, not Fr Brian."

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/wellwishers-flock-to-dr-brian-darcys-mass-as-he...

Nuns and priests wore gags in the Vatican colors as they protested in Dublin against the Catholic church’s latest censorship moves.

A silent vigil outside the Papal Nunciature was held to oppose recent Vatican attempts to silence five high profile clerics.

.
Four more silemced?

Organizer Brendan Butler, spokesman for the We Are Church Ireland group, said the Vatican had been heavy-handed in silencing the priests.

“The treatment of these priests goes against the teachings of Jesus Christ and the church founded by Jesus. These are outstanding priests and people are outraged by the disrespect that has been shown to them,” he said.

Butler also told the paper that he is aware of four other priests who have been silenced but have chosen to remain anonymous.

Read more: http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Nuns-and-priests-wear-gags-as-they-protest-against-Vat...

D’Arcy has strongly defended his writings on church issues. Speaking of his columns he stated;

"One of them was that I was critical of the Vatican, in particular the Pope, about views on how the sexual abuse of children should be handled, and that I seemed to be pointing that all the blame was going back to Rome," he said. "Now I never said all the blame was going back to Rome, but if we're honest about it, I think some must go back to Rome. And that is a sort of self-obvious fact. How can anybody be criticised for saying a self-obvious fact?

"I must also take responsibility as a man who lived through this - and in some cases lived with men who abused and didn't see it - God you know, that's what keeps me awake at night now I have to say. This is where the secrecy, the non-questioning mind - and therefore anybody that speaks out at all is bound to be silenced or gagged, or whatever word you want to use, censured is the word I prefer - if you go back to that, no matter what other structures you put up around the protection of children, it won't work.

"Any system depends on the integrity of the person carrying out the system. And if the person carrying out the system is afraid to talk about 'that, or that, or question why about that', then the secrecy veil comes in again, and children will not be protected."

I wonder how many of those who 'censored' him are kept awake at night?

Read more: http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Censored-Irish-priest-Father-Brian-DArcy-is-critical-o...

I can't either

In a statement on Friday, Fr D'Arcy said he had been "living with the pain of censure for 14 months and will have to live with it for the rest of my priestly life".

"In these difficult times, it is the price one has to pay when one is committed to the truth, which is the duty of both the priest and the journalist," he added.

"Personally, I was saddened and disappointed with the contents of the congregation's letter but have come to accept that this is the CDF's way of dealing with issues.

"In the interests of accuracy, however, I need to emphasise that I remain a priest in good standing and that I have continued to carry out my priestly duties with the same dedication as before."

Fr D'Arcy said he had never denied the "legitimately defined doctrines of the Catholic religion".

"I respect all faiths," he said.

"Like all dedicated journalists and broadcasters, I check my facts as thoroughly as is humanly possible and if in doubt, I seek expert advice.

"I have continued to write and broadcast since the news of the Vatican's displeasure was filtered down to me in March 2011.

"I shall continue my ministry in communication because I believe that the church cherishes freedom of speech as an invioable principle.

"Pope Benedict made a fervent plea for freedom of expression on his recent visit to Cuba."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-17857980

Notice how it was 14 months before the Vatican released news of the silencing?? How many other good priests are under the same crippling, just for using their God given brains??
The Curia says in most cases the action was taken as a result of "anonymous complaints", & the specifics are never revealed to the victim!!

THESE ARE THE SAME TACTICS USED BY THE COMMUNIST KGB OR THE "CATHOLIC" LATIN AMERICAN DICTATORSHIPS!!

GOD DOES NOT DO EVIL, SINCE HE IS LOVE.

THEREFORE, THE CHURCH IN THESE ACTIONS IS NOT IN UNION WITH GOD'S WILL!! QED

The commentary says 'but not all priests agree', it then shows a (trad?) priest who speaks about 'the problem of people having opinions'....02:12

http://www.u.tv/News/Vatican-censures-outspoken-Fr-DArcy/f7840a4e-ae7b-43f6-ad92-2e76f2...

(Click on LH pic, 'D'Arcy censured')

He forgot to mention Popes, Inquisition, Galileo, heresy etc.!!!!!!

Perhaps in 300 years time Brian D'Arcy will get an apology from the, then, Pope!

Desi and Brian, this is the only video that works for me. The others are "not available in my region".

Not sure if this is the correct one/only one - but it will do.

Thanks for your input!

We are all part of the Body of Christ, which the Church is supposed to be, but who would know it from the immaturity and pigheaded pride being displayed by those who are supposed to be servants of the people of God.
[quote]
Time is up, guys, The red card is being shown. Time to leave the field or be carted off in disgrace.

[/quote]

My sentiments exactly judith

Marian

Gemstones, I didn't have any problems either. I've now embedded it in Desi's original post above.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0426/brian-darcy-censured-vatican.html#video

I had the same problem with thw LH picture (video) but the other one worked fine!

Just tried again and they both worked OK!

Basically, gemstones, I haven't a clue other than to suggest that you try again!

The Magisterium and those pushing it are out of step with reality, not only with the people of God. This is the 21st century, not the 14th, and people share ideas and practices without waiting for the tick of approval (or not ) from Rome. The Church - the ROMAN Catholic Church -is dead. From its ashes maybe the catholic church will rise, which will include everyone, as Jesus intended it to do. If someone is divorced and wants to come to Communion, where did that desire come from, except from a yearnng to come closer to God?

If someone genuinely believes that a teaching is wrong or harmful, then that person has a right to be heard and the discussion to be OPEN to all and courteous, not a fatwa without any public discussion. The time for "Rome has spoken. The matter is ended" is over. We are all part of the Body of Christ, which the Church is supposed to be, but who would know it from the immaturity and pigheaded pride being displayed by those who are supposed to be servants of the people of God.

Time is up, guys, The red card is being shown. Time to leave the field or be carted off in disgrace.

Yet again, I can't download the video because "it's not available in my location".

Does anyone have a workaround? (apart from subscribing to HideMyIP, or a similar site - which some Catholicae have told me is "immoral").

No, not bemused because I understand exactly what they are doing! It's looking more and more like The Inquisition by the day.

An important aspect of this censoring is the timing, Brian D'Arcy has been saying the same things for forty years and yet it is only now that he has been 'brought to book'.

Interestingly, it happened fourteen months ago but has been kept quiet (!) and he “has been told he must submit his writings and broadcasts to an approved church censor.” (!).

(Surprise, surprise...the investigation began after complaints were received in Rome from unknown/unamed sources!).

'This is a man who got physically sick when he read the Murphy Report.'

Here is a U TV (video) report.

http://www.u.tv/News/Vatican-censures-outspoken-Fr-DArcy/f7840a4e-ae7b-43f6-ad92-2e76f2...

http://ncronline.org/news/global/vatican-laments-irish-dissent-silences-priests

...every passing day it looks more and more like the Ancien Regime trying to stave off the French Revolution. We can but pray that when the "revolution" comes it is not bloody but just a continuation of the masses exiting the pews in their droves and leaving the Bourbons to their games in their parlours broadly isolated from the masses of the people.

This is an article which he wrote following the Pope's letter to Ireland (I make no apologies for posting it in full).

Letter offers no sign of papal apology (Fr Brian D'Arcy)

MY INITIAL reaction to the Pope's letter is, I would have to say, disappointment.

I never expected that it would be a policy document as it is a pastoral letter to the Catholic people of Ireland and we should not expect any great policies in it.

There is an understanding there that sexual abuse took place and he is sorry for that, but it is not clearly stated that this is a papal apology.

There is a continual link between the suffering of those people and Canon law and the Church in general through the letter but I would have liked him to say at the beginning, that he accepted the Ryan Report and the Murphy Report.

But at a glance I didn't really see anything even remotely approaching a papal apology.

Abuse
There is a great acknowledgment in some places that sexual abuse did take place and in one section he talks about what it must be like to be a victim. He says he understands how victims could have lost faith and how they could turn away from the Church but he asks them to find some healing in the Church as the Church represents Christ.

Some of the letter seems to blame a lot of this abuse on a lack of faith and a lack of practice and the worldly way that the people of Ireland have begun to act. He did this in a previous letter to the bishops of Ireland, and that extremely annoyed me. I can't accuse him of directly saying this but it seems to be suggesting that if there was a better faith in Ireland this would not have happened.

He goes on to say that because the faithful had become lax in practice, then the priests - which came from that faith - were also lacking in faith and in practice. But this is patently not true.

That is blaming the faithful for what happened.

Much of this abuse took place during the worst times in this country, through the 1960s and 1970s and into the 1980s, when there was a strong church attendance with 93 per cent of people going to Mass.

This abuse happened at those times because there was this trust there, which simply couldn't happen now as children don't trust priests.

However, the most serious point is that this is the start of a process. And part of this process will be an Apostolic Visitation.

If we look at America, which I think is reasonable because when the abuse scandals happened there, the Vatican sent in the equivalent of the fraud squad, the hard hitters to weed out any laxity in relation to the moral teaching of the Church.

Any suggestion that priests should marry or that there should be women priests or an acceptance of homosexuality was hit very hard. It is a very self-righteous way of looking at things and that's exactly what happened in America.

Seminaries were cleaned out in the US and many people with forward-thinking views were removed from teaching in those places. At this present time there is a Apostolic Visitation happening in America, to whip them into shape.

In other words they will be called back under the authority of Rome, which, as far as I'm concerned, led to the problems in the first place.

When, last weekend, I heard about the difficulties Cardinal Sean Brady was in, I initially thought it was a minor storm which would pass by. But then, on Sunday afternoon, as soon as I studied the details, I realised this was a major crisis, which would have significant consequences for the Church in Ireland and elsewhere.

After almost 20 years of scandals being drip fed to believing Catholics, the only office left untainted here was the Primate of All Ireland in Armagh.

What is of major significance now is that, for all his good work, many people have now lost trust in Cardinal Sean Brady who is the leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland.

His apology on St Patrick's Day was sincere. Yet the damage was done because in most ordinary people's eyes, he said the right
words only when he was told what to say. On Sunday he said he did nothing wrong, that he did everything by the book, that he had done nothing to apologise for.

Ashamed
But by Wednesday he had changed his mind completely saying he was ashamed of what he had done and that he had made a mistake. He should have said this all along.

People are horrified that he didn't help the children more; that he didn't say anything for 35 years. People think he could have and should have done more to ensure that Brendan Smyth was jailed 20 years before it actually happened. Smyth's Order were at fault but so too were the other church people.

We are left with a crisis of trust and a crisis of leadership for the Catholic Church in Ireland.

This week I have tried to be as charitable as I possibly could to Sean Brady. I don't know the Cardinal very well, but he is obviously a good man who has done great good in his life. I would not call for him to resign but he has to make up his mind. He has to decide whether to stay and be a flawed leader.

But the old ways of doing things are not going to work. Every bishop in office before 1995 would have to consider their position - those who failed to alert the gardai to what was happening across Ireland. Rather than doing nothing wrong, they did nothing right.

So who can Catholics trust now? We have to look for new solutions starting with the faithful, the wide ranging and gifted people who have remained loyal.

We have to build the Church from the bottom up rather than from Rome down.

We need a man who can listen, not someone who looks to Rome for answers.

http://clericalwhispers.blogspot.com.au/2010/03/letter-offers-no-sign-of-papal-apology....

I got this news in an e-mail about half an hour ago and to say that I was shocked is an understatement. I have been mulling it over since then and have been putting together some details to post.

Fr Brian D'Arcy first came to my attention some thirty plus years ago when he used to do a weekly insert (Pause for Thought) into a morning radio show (Terry Wogan) on BBC Radio Two. He made such an impression on me (and millions of others) with his down to earth 'take' on life and what was happening in the world, plus his wonderful humour.
(Think Fr Bob Maguire?).

A man of great insight, warmth, clarity, common sense and humour.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_D'Arcy

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/presenters/brian-darcy/

.
Since that time I have followed his writings and broadcasts with great interest, IMO he has alway been right on the mark.

The following may give a some idea of Fr Brian.

Fr Brian D'Arcy gets Lifetime Acheivement award

One of Ireland’s most well-known priests has been presented with a Lifetime Achievement award by Redemptorist religious magazine Reality.

According to the Magazine Awards Committee, the award was given to Fr Brian D'Arcy c.p. in recognition of his ministry of compassion and healing, and his prophetic voice that has, “offered hope to so many down the years.”

The editor of Reality magazine, Fr Gerard Moloney said, “Fr Brian was admired and respected throughout Ireland and beyond.”

He added, “His words and actions provide comfort to the thousands of people he engages with through his pastoral ministry in The Graan in County Fermanagh and beyond through his work in the media.”

Fr Moloney added that Fr Brian, “has never been afraid to state his positions clearly, even at great personal cost to himself. He has accurately articulated the hurt, anger and disappointment and sense of betrayal that so many Irish Catholics have felt have engulfed our church in recent years and he has also articulated the need for reform.”

http://clericalwhispers.blogspot.com.au/2011/12/fr-brian-darcy-gets-lifetime.html

Here's an article by him re the ACP published a survey they commissioned on the religious views held by practicing Catholics in Ireland.

http://www.sundayworld.com/columnists/father-brian.php

I will post, separately, a piece which he wrote entitled
'Letter offers no sign of papal apology' which will give a very strong clue as to why the current action has been taken against him.

Link to the news:

http://www.independent.ie/breaking-news/national-news/liberal-priest-censured-by-vatica...

6 Irish priests who give written OPINIONS about topics ordinary Catholic laity are also discussing need to have prior watchdogs before they can continue their work??
Yet the Curia DOESN'T think that Hierarchs who DID CRIMINAL COVERUPS need to be disciplined or dismissed from their posts??

These actions aren't signs of the Holy Spirit guiding the Magesterium, but more likely the doings of hardened prideful idiots under the influence of Satan, the Father of Lies!!

"You will know them by their fruits" is the warnings of both JC & Paul...

The TABLET news snippet

BBC2 priest censored by Rome
26 April 2012

One of Ireland's best known priests, who is a prominent journalist and broadcaster, has been censured by the Vatican.

Fr Brian D'Arcy, who is also a regular contributor to BBC Radio 2's "Pause for Thought", as well as a best-selling author and columnist with the Irish tabloid the Sunday World, has been told he must submit his writings and broadcasts to an approved church censor. The disciplining of Fr D'Arcy, a Passionist priest, brings the number of Irish priests silenced 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 must now submit his weekly column for the Sunday World to an approved church censor before publication if the article addresses issues concerning church doctrine or morality. It is understood that the same must also happen for his broadcasts.

Fr D'Arcy has spoken out against mandatory celibacy for priests and church teaching on contraception and has been a vocal critic of the handling of clerical sexual abuse.

Mary