Cathal BarryIn light of recent controversies, Cathal Barry asks are parish bulletins the place for personal views?
Several priests have landed themselves in hot water in recent weeks over comments they made in parish newsletters.
In Donegal, Fr Padraig O’Baoighill warned his parishioners that they were putting their souls in danger by taking part in “unsavoury activities” such as yoga and tai-chi.
In Kerry, comments urging county councils to introduce a ‘fat mile’ to allow overweight people to jog out of public view were attributed to Fr Michael Hussey, who previously courted controversy for describing President Michael D. Higgins as ‘King of the Irish fairies’.
And in Dublin, Fr Arthur O’Neill used the forum to question whether famed singing priest Michael Cleary actually fathered a child.
The series of incidents have thrown the issue of what priests should write in parish newsletters into the spotlight.
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin has made his views crystal-clear on the matter. He is of the opinion that parish newsletters “are not vehicles for the expression of personal views”.
The events have also led to calls by the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) for parish newsletters to have stricter editorial controls, so that they avoid publishing the personal views of the local priest.
Fr Sean McDonagh, a member of the ACP’s leadership team, said “it would be good to know who is responsible for the newsletters in each parish”.
“The parish is a community and the newsletter should reflect that. There should be a place in the newsletter for creativity but not for inappropriate views,” he said.
Support
Fr Conor Cunningham, Parish Priest of Lisdoonvarna, Co. Clare, however, is in favour of priests addressing controversial issues in parish newsletters, provided the views expressed are in keeping with Church teaching.
“I would of course support a priest’s right – and even his duty – to address matters in the bulletin that others might consider controversial, as long as he is making a genuine effort to preach the truth with love, and in accordance with the mind of the Church,” he told The Irish Catholic.
“As with all kinds of writing, however, priests should understand that their published opinions will often be taken by others to be official teaching and policy of the Catholic Church. If certain articles are likely to be distracting I would advise against including them in the same sheet that people are using as a worship aid during their Sunday Mass,” he said.
“For me a parish bulletin is an important part of the priest’s ministry of preaching and teaching – like an extension of the Sunday homily. Many worshippers, for cultural reasons, seem to have lost the capacity to listen for long at Mass. The bulletin provides space for the priest to go a little deeper for those who are hungry for more.”
On the other hand, Dublin based cleric Fr Michael Collins said he “feels very strongly” that the newsletter should not be an outlet for the local parish priest, who has already been afforded time during the homily at Mass, to further express his opinions.
Speaking to The Irish Catholic this week, Fr Collins pressed the need for parishes to establish communications committees with responsibility for the production of the parish newsletter.
“Every parish should have a communications committee made up of competent parishioners with the relevant experience. It is not advisable that the parish priest or curate edits the newsletter on his own. It should be a combined editorial effort,” he said.
So after much enquiry, it seems what appears in newsletters differs from parish to parish.
The Catholic Communications Office said it does not furnish dioceses with guidelines on parish bulletins and had “nothing further” to add on the issue.
Unfortunately, the opinions of the three priests at the centre of the controversies will go unreported. Both Fr O’Neill and Fr O’Baoighill declined to comment when contacted, while Fr Hussey was unavailable at the time of going to print. Perhaps they will address it in their parish newsletters next week.