In those dioceses it is about filling gaps and getting older men to look after more masses and placing bigger expectations on them. I was sickened to read of the meeting between the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) and the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland (Irish Examiner, March 8). There is also the question of the working and living conditions of the majority of priests who are ageing and becoming fragile and vulnerable, while being expected to carry increasing workloads,” a report on the meeting said.

Communities that have no priest are being targeted by other churches who see an opportunity to provide a sense of belonging to people. For if you believe that the Church is the repository of timeless truth, and that those elected Pope are successors of St Peter, you will surely realise that changing the faith amounts to heresy. They see the need to welcome strangers, and together they welcome; the need for pastoral care of the wounded and excluded, and they care; the need for social action, and they act.

We believe that Scripture is the Word of God and that he gave us the Church Fathers, reason and experience to engage and wrestle with them. According to the Code of Canon Law this Society enjoys full autonomy,can form its members,can incardinate clerics.

It is obvious nonsense that this option is not available to those who opt for Christian marriage, given their likely parenting role - but no adult Catholic surely should be excluded. the distinctions of ‘laity’ and ‘clerical’ need to be abolished and we should follow the union of ministries outlined by St.A core recommendation was that the ACP should to identify a paid staff person to do its day-to- day work and drive its agenda forward with accountability to a leadership team and a wider advisory group. In November 2012, at a meeting attended by over 300 people, the objectives of the Association of Catholics in Ireland were formally approved. With respect to the claims of the We Are Church movement, we would surely expect to find something in this document through which the Council fathers outlined the renewal of the liturgy, of which they stated: “the liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; it is also the fount from which all her power flows” (10). In some cases these are joint Chapters across two dioceses with the partner diocese listed in brackets.