Bishops Irish Was Up, With Jesuit Ecumenist

Dublin archbishop regrets predecessor's negative attitude toward Jesuit ecumenist
Dublin, Apr. 10, 2008 (CWNews.com) - Dublin's Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has apologized to the Jesuit head of an ecumenical effort for the trouble the priest endured because of "some misunderstandings on the part of my predecessors," the Irish Times reports.

Speaking at the launch of a new book by Father Michael Hurley, SJ, the founder of the Irish School of Ecumenics, Archbishop Martin said that Archbishop Charles McQuaid, who had headed the Dublin archdiocese from 1940 to 1971, had been unsympathetic to the creation of the school and the work of Father Hurley.

Despite the skepticism of the late archbishop, Jesuit superiors backed Father Hurley's efforts, and over time Archbishop McQuaid becaome "less negative and more sympathetic," Archbishop Martin said. He praised Father Hurley for continuing his ecumenical work, noting that the Jesuit priest had been "anguished" by the negative attitudes he had earlier encountered.

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