Professor Mary McAleese to speak at Root & Branch event

Dr Mary McAleese

Professor Mary McAleese, Sister Joan Chittester and Fr Tony Flannery are among the speakers at the next Root and Branch lay-led 'Empowering Ourselves' event, which takes place from August 30th to September 1st at Hinsley Hall in Leeds.

In a recent Tablet article, Professor McAleese, warned that "The days of uncritical subservience to a dysfunctional magisterium are already over." Following this, it is here that the Root and Branch theme of 'Empowering Ourselves' comes alive. Speaking on this theme will also be Benedictine Sister Joan Chittester and silenced Redemptorist priest Tony Flannery among many others.

This will be Root and Branch's third live, in-person and online gathering in five years. There will be participation from Papua New Guinea and Australasia, the North American continent and Europe. Recordings will be available to all who have registered.

The live sessions will be at Hinsley Hall in Leeds, UK and will allow participants to both listen to speakers and ask questions as well as time for small group discussions both in the room and online. When asked why this event is taking place when the synod is still ongoing, Mary Ring, a founder of the Root and Branch movement, told the Tablet: "The Synod has not proven to be the widely engaging and reformative experience that people hoped for."

Root and Branch has taken seriously Canon Law 212 which lays down our 'right and even at times the duty to manifest to the sacred pastors their opinion on matters which pertain to the good of the Church, and to make their opinion known to the rest of the Christian faithful'." In other words to empower ourselves.

To register for this event, sign up at: www.rootandbranchsynod.org/hinsley-hall