Pat Buckley

“The people on the ground, the laity, are far more Christian than the hierarchy.”

“The Church is an absolute monarchy with the Pope as its head and the bishops as his branch managers.”

“I will not be silenced by men in frocks who have lost touch with reality.”

“If being a good priest means being obedient to a corrupt system, then I choose not to be a 'good priest' in their eyes.”

“I am a priest forever, but I am not a churchman.”

“My ministry is about people, not about buildings or institutions.”

“The institution is sick, and it needs radical surgery.”

“Celibacy is a human law, not a divine law, and it should be optional.”

“I've always believed in a loving and compassionate God, not a punishing, judgmental one.”

“Hypocrisy is the greatest sin in the Church today.”

“My role is to be a voice for the voiceless, both inside and outside the church.”

“The real scandal is not what I am doing, but what the institution has been doing for years.”

“I'm in the business of offering sacraments to people who want them, and the institutional church is in the business of denying them.”

“Love should be the only law.”