THE National Council of Priests, chaired by Fr Hal Ranger (“Regrets for priests’ council”, CL 13/11/05), is unhappy about the decision of the recent Synod in Rome not to proceed along the path of ordaining married men or of changing the celibacy rule.
On the other hand we are told that priests belonging to the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy, which is chaired by Fr Michael Kennedy of the Wagga Wagga diocese, fully support the Synod’s views.
Whilst we could not expect our priests to have a unanimous opinion on many matters before the Church, nevertheless the existence of two organisations of Catholic priests, in a small country like Australia, with quite opposing views on such critical issues, is somewhat intriguing to say the least.
One suspects that our bishops are not all in one camp either – hardly an ideal recipe for encouraging young priestly vocations, more likely indeed to be a cause of confusion as they consider devoting their lives to the priesthood.
B.T. GLEESON
Burleigh Heads, Qld
