The removal of an intellectually disabled man from Mass last Sunday, at the request of the priest who stopped the service, has caused considerable annoyance in Kilkenny.
Father Dominic Browne told The Irish Times last night he was about to celebrate the 6 p.m. Mass at Black Abbey when he heard a "tremendous noise emanating from a human being".
"In 40 years as a priest I never experienced such a barrage," he said. He knew "this man was a bit mentally retarded and was conscious he had carers". The noise continued until it came to the gospel.
He asked that the man be removed from the church and said he would not resume Mass until this was done. "The carers should have understood this and brought him out and not have waited for me to have to act," he said. He felt the episode had been "magnified to a colossal extent".
He was sorry it happened and apologised to the man's parents.
The man, who is 19, was accompanied by two other intellectually disabled people, a man aged 22 and a woman aged 41. All are from the St Patrick's residential centre in Kilkenny and were at the Mass with two carers.
The centre's director, Mr Eddie Ryan, said last night he was "very disappointed" at what happened. He had been told the man complained of had been praying aloud, but not too much so.
A member of the congregation at the Mass, who did not wish to be named, said he and others were incensed by the incident. "It ruined the whole Mass experience for me. Five or six people walked out," he said. Afterwards about 10 people vented their opinions at another priest standing at the door. He himself confronted Father Browne, who told him he was making more of it than was warranted, he said.
Father Browne's superior, Father Anthony Morris, Dominican prior at the Black Abbey, said he apologised "unreservedly to the young man and those with him for what Father Browne said and the embarrassment caused them". People were "livid" as a result of the incident, he said.
Mr Niall Crowley, chief executive of the Equality Authority, said last night the incident illustrated "a very significant failure to make reasonable accommodation for people with disabilities, not least in such an important area of everyone's life". This was even more the case where leadership would have been expected by such a key institution in our society where people with disabilities were concerned, he said.