The dissident priest, Father Pat Buckley, has threatened to hold his mother's funeral service at the gates of the residence of the Archbishop of Dublin.
In a letter to Dr Desmond Connell yesterday, Father Buckley said the archbishop's decision last week to refuse him permission to conduct his nephew's funeral service in a Dublin Catholic church had caused "grave scandal". "You have held the church up to ridicule and shown that in its Hierarchy at least it practises the opposite of what it preaches. Do you even realise the harm you've done?", the letter asked.
It also referred to Dr Connell's refusal last week to assure Father Buckley's "elderly and sick" mother that he would allow the priest to celebrate her funeral Mass in the event of her death.
"I must tell you that she is upset and hurt by your stance and has instructed me, in those circumstances, to conduct her funeral service at the gate of your palace in Drumcondra. I hope the day is many years away but should the current circumstances prevail her wishes will be fulfilled."
He "totally" rejected the explanations put forward by the archbishop for his refusal to allow the use of a church for last week's funeral of his nephew, Christopher Geoghegan. "I do not believe you were motivated by compassion. You certainly had no compassion for me and my family even though your words said that you did."