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Catholic World News News Feature

IRISH PRIEST STARTS HIS OWN CHURCH September 19, 1996

by Kieron Wood

A renegade Irish Catholic priest has set up his own "Celtic Church" on the Aran islands off the west coast of Ireland.

Father Dara Molloy, a member of the Marist order, says that he will continue to celebrate Mass and the sacraments in "the pre-papal tradition."

The Archbishop of Tuam, Michael Neary, who has jurisdiction over the Aran islands, has withdrawn the priest's authority to administer the sacraments. He said Father Molloy had been living on the island of Inis Mor since 1985, but is not a priest of the diocese.

But Father Molloy said he was perfectly happy with the archbishop's actions. The priest, who believes that clerical celibacy should be optional, says he will minister "not as a prest of the Roman Catholic Church but as a priest of the Celtic Catholic Church."

He said he did not differ from the Roman Catholic Church on matters of dogma, but he could not accept the authority of the pope. He said he had left the Marists and intended to live as a Celtic monk.

He said: "The Roman Church is organized in a hierarchical fashion, from the pope at the top down through the bishops. But the Celtic Church has a different style of organization, with the power in the hands of the local people."