Fr Hazelwood, who is a parish priest in the Diocese of Cloyne, said the ACP had fallen into the role of defending priests’ rights because “priests came to us because they had no place to turn to”.
He said the association had noticed the number of priests complaining was increasing. “We have noticed it is getting worse.”
Speaking about the case of a priest who was forced out of priesthood by his bishop, the parish priest explained, “There was no accusation against him, the bishop just wanted to get rid of him. He doesn’t like him. It’s appalling.”
He appealed to bishops to “change the way they interact and deal with their priests”.