Diocese backs chaplain over Communion ban

A Dublin school chaplain who advised those who attend Mass irregularly not to receive Communion has been supported by the archdiocese. Father Martin Hughes of St Mac Dara's Community College in Templeogue told the congregation at a graduation Mass for Leaving Certificate students and their families last Friday that out of respect for the sacrament of the Eucharist those who did not attend Mass regularly should not receive it.

Should people wish for a blessing, they might approach the altar with a hand across their chest, he said. Among the congregation were members of other denominations, including local Church of Ireland and Methodist ministers.

Parents and teachers in attendance were said to have been angered. One woman complained that those who did not attend Mass regularly were made "to feel like public sinners".

She also sympathised with the probable embarrassment caused to members of the other denominations present.

The school principal, Mr Seamus McPhillips, felt he was not free to comment on the matter. Father Hughes was not at the school when attempts were made to contact him yesterday.

The matter was discussed at length during a school board of management meeting on Wednesday night. It has requested that Father Hughes supply it with what he said in writing. The chairwoman of the board, Mrs Cait Keane, said yesterday that if what he said was "theologically correct," it would have to decide whether to hold an ecumenical service instead of a Mass next year.

Ms Orla Walsh, of the Dublin archdiocese's education secretariat and post-primary diocesan adviser to Father Hughes at St Mac Dara's, said she supported the priest, who was "theologically correct" in what he did. He would have known those in the congregation who were not regular Massgoers, she said.

"Catholic teaching on the real presence is highly misunderstood or not understood by some people," she said. To receive the Eucharist "casually" was not to fully appreciate the sacrament. A priest who suggested this was not being judgmental, she felt.

"Surely this is something Catholics should support in a priest," she said. People were not being treated as sinners by Father Hughes. "He is not the type of guy to go out judging people," she said.

His intention in inviting people for a blessing was the opposite of that suggested, she said, and it was "unfortunate this was taken up the wrong way."