NCR reports on an unexpectedly large group of Irish priests meeting to discuss common interests. Among them:

The association hopes to speak to the members of the Vatican's apostolic visitation to Ireland to voice our opposition to the new English-language translation of the Mass," Father Hoban told Catholic News Service. ...The association said it also would work for "full implementation of the vision and teaching of the Second Vatican Council, with special emphasis on: the primacy of the individual conscience, the status and active participation of all the baptized and the task of establishing a church where all believers will be treated as equal; a restructuring of the governing system of the church ... encouraging a culture of consultation and transparency, particularly in the appointment of church leaders; a re-evaluation of Catholic sexual teaching and practice that recognizes the profound mystery of human sexuality."

A friend of mine brought this to my attention. I said "And? Another group of clerics working apart from the people they serve? Why is progressive clericalism better than the usual kind?" His take was different--"It's a union." I like his take better. Priests now are in short enough supply that, if they could speak together on topics of common interest, I believe they could make a difference. In some cases they do. I heard an apocryphal story about an African bishop who tried to rein in a priest who was practicing concubinage too egregiously for the bishop to ignore. (Priests in relationships, sometimes quasi-familial, long-term relationships, with women is a widespread practice in many parts of the Church. What's missing, of course, is the priest's responsibility in the relationship and for the kids that often result.) The other priests in the diocese, many of them living in similar circumstances, rose to his defense. "If you get rid of him, we'll quit too." The bishop backed down. Priests of the world, unite! You have more influence to change the practices of the Church than you imagine. Don't expect the leadership to encourage you, and don't wait for permission. It won't come. As a papal nuncio said to one leader of an Irish priests' group: "You are a nobody leading nobodies." Oh yeah?