Patsy McGarry Sun, Jul 17, 2016, 13:55 Updated: Sun, Jul 17, 2016, 14:01 from THE IRISH TIMES NEWSPAPER
Fr Seán Fagan a ‘brilliant thinker’who was ‘broken’ by Rome
Late priest was censured by Vatican until former president Mary McAleese intervened
Fr Seán Fagan was widely admired and respected as a courageous theologian and compassionate pastor.
The late Fr Seán Fagan had his “heart and spirit” broken by the Vaticanin the years before he died, former President of Ireland Mary McAleese has said.“His long and illustrious priestly career was blighted in latter years by being silenced by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith,” she said.
Fr Fagan was a Marist priest and theologian Fr Fagan died at St Vincent’s hospital in Dublin last Friday.
Widely admired and respected as a courageous theologian and compassionate pastor, he had been ill for some time. For many years he was critical of rigid stances by the Vatican on issues of conscience and sexual morality, not least in letters to this newspaper.
In 2003, he published the book Does Morality Change? , for which he was censured by the Irish Catholic bishops in 2004, and in 2008 Whatever Happened to Sin?
He was first censured by Rome in 2008, and in 2010 was informed by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) that he would be laicised should he publish anything it considered contrary to Church teaching, and should he disclose this censure to media.
Then in 2012, he was one of five Irish priests silenced by the Vatican, including Fr Tony Flannery, Fr Gerard Moloney, Fr Brian D’Arcy and Fr Owen O’Sullivan. In April 2014, Pope Francis had all sanctions against the very ill Fr Fagan lifted.
It later emerged that in December 2013, Ms McAleese had written directly to Pope Francis asking that he personally intervene in the case. This weekend Ms McAleese told The Irish Times she was “saddened by the death of that great questioning mind that was Fr Seán Fagan’s” “A brilliant theologian and thinker who brought great distinction to Ireland, his long and illustrious priestly career was blighted in latter years by being silenced by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. His heart and spirit were broken but his fidelity to the Church and quiet acceptance of such an unjust fate won him even more admirers,” she said. “When, thanks to Pope Francis, the CDF finally restored him to good standing in 2014 it was a case of too little too late. A great and good man’s life and his life’s work had been ruined. Anyone wishing to comprehend the collapse of the Catholic intellectual tradition need only examine Seán Fagan’s tragic story. “It reflects well on Seán and badly on those who hounded him using byzantine processes with no regard for due process or human rights.
God grant him peace at last and may his legacy be an inspiration to restless inquiring minds who pursue justice and truth no matter what the personal cost. “Seán was such a hero,” she said.
Fr Fagan’s remains will repose at Mount St Mary’s in Dublin’s Milltown on Sunday afternoon from 3pm until 6pm and all day on Monday prior to removal to the Church of Ss Columbanus and Gall at Milltown Rd, arriving at 5.30pm.
Funeral Mass on Tuesday morning will be at 11, followed by burial at the Marist community plot in Glasnevin cemetery.
THE IRISH TIMES – Tim O’Brien Tue, Jul 19, 2016, 18:42
Fr Seán Fagan ‘paid a high price’ for his beliefs, Mass hears Marist priest ‘dared to imagine how Catholic church could be different’, funeral told
The Marist priest Fr Seán Fagan “paid a high price” for daring to imagine“how things could be different” within the Catholic church, his funeral Mass has been told.
Fr Fagan died in St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin on Friday, July 15th.
The priest was a leading theologian who was repeatedly censured by the Vatican, beginning in 2008.
In 2010, he was informed by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith that he would be laicised should he publish anything it consideredcontrary to church teaching and should he disclose this censure to the media.
In 2012, he was one of five Irish priests silenced by the Vatican, along with Fr Tony Flannery, Fr Gerard Moloney, Fr Brian D’Arcy and Fr Owen O’Sullivan.
In April 2014, Pope Francis had all sanctions against Fr Fagan lifted. The lifting of the sanctions happened after the intervention of a number of people, among them former Irish president Mary McAleese.
Requiem Mass
Recalling Fr Fagan’s life at his requiem Mass in Milltown on Tuesday, Rev Prof Declan Marmion said Fr Fagan was “essentially a Vatican II Christian.
“He wanted a new kind of church, one that was more open to the world.
“He tried to implement the vision of Vatican II ministry that includedthose that were marginalised.”
Rev Marmion said Fr Fagan’s “difficult days with the church authorities are well documented” and his “final years, unfortunately, were not easy”.
He said Fr Fagan had been physically and emotionally unwell. “The sanctions he received from Rome as a result of his books What Happened to Sin? and Does Morality Change? hit him particularly hard.
“I think one of the reasons for this was that, at the end of the day, Seán was a man of the church, he loved this church of ours, warts and all, and he knew it had plenty of warts.
“His critical comments ultimately sprang from a deep love of the church and desire to imagine how things could be different. “He paid a high price for proposing a different way, but here he joins a long list of theological luminaries.”
Banned books
Rev Marmion also spoke of how Fr Fagan had been delighted to find “one of his banned books” selling on the internet for hundreds of dollars. When Fr Fagan told his confrères this, they slipped away to their computers to ensure they got a copy.
However, Rev Marmion said “God surprised us” with the unexpected arrival of Pope Francis, whose approach was similar to that of Fr Fagan. He said Pope Francis shared “Seán’s pastoral approach”. “The way of the church is not to condemn people forever, it is to pour out the balm of God’s mercy.
“Seán would agree even if he did not experience that healing and reconciliation in this life. His life’s work was not in vain,” said Rev Marmion.
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Audio of Fr Sean Fagan’s Conference Speech 1998
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