Report: Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith lifts censure against Irish priest

April 29, 2014

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has lifted its censure against Father Séan Fagan, a Marist priest who dissented from Church teaching, according to the Irish Times.

In 2004, the Irish bishops said that one of Fagan’s books “contains a number of errors” in moral theology. “In 2010 he was informed by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith that he would be laicized should be write for publication any material it considered contrary to Church teaching,” the Times reported.

Writing for the National Catholic Reporter, Michael Kelly of the Irish Catholic reported in 2012 that other Irish priests had also been subject to censure by the Congregation.

The Times reported that the Congregation lifted the sanction because Fagan “loves the Church in spite of all its weaknesses,” because “he accepted his censure and observed his restrictions,” and because of “his advanced age.” Fagan is 86.

 

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Further information:

• Vatican lifts sanctions on silenced Irish priest (Irish Times)
• Priests' group rallies behind cleric silenced by hierarchy (The Independent)
• Vatican laments Irish dissent, silences priests (National Catholic Reporter)
• Moral Theology: Recent Developments, Implications (Irish Bishops’ Conference, 2004)