Monsignor Denis Faul said 8 a.m. Mass yesterday in Loughmacrory, a few miles from Carrickmore. He preached on the Christmas theme of peace and goodwill to all men and women. "Jesus wasn't born in this parish," he told the small early morning congregation.
There was no explicit reference to the policing row that has convulsed this part of Tyrone. His point about Jesus being born in Bethlehem, not Carrickmore, was fairly clear though: the Christmas message is for everybody, and that includes republicans and presumably RUC officers.
You could sense the tension in Carrickmore yesterday. People were keeping their heads down. The two central players - Mgr Faul and local Sinn Fein Assembly member Mr Barry McElduff - are refusing to comment publicly.
The word from associates of the priest is that he has been personally hurt by the controversy. He likes the community, is conscious of its deep-rooted republicanism and general opposition to the RUC, but will not be deflected from preaching the gospel as he interprets it, even if that is contrary to much of the local mood. The row erupted last Tuesday week when Mr McElduff and a group of about 40 republicans disrupted a community police liaison committee (CPLC) meeting at the Silver Birch Hotel in Omagh. It was attended by about a dozen people: some local people from Carrickmore involved in the health and social services area and a number of RUC officers.
This subsequently triggered a public meeting in Carrickmore a week ago, attended by around 600 people and chaired by Mr McElduff. The meeting called for the removal of Mgr Faul as parish priest. A petition to this effect was also set in train, which a delegation from Carrickmore plans to hand to the Catholic Primate, Archbishop Sean Brady.
The petition statement accuses Mgr Faul of "dividing the parish irreconcilably by leading a number of parishioners in an ill-conceived liaison with a force totally discredited in this area" (the RUC), and of "making a continuous stream of political statements . . . not in keeping with his role as a parish priest".
The fact that Mgr Faul has suggested that the police force should have a dual title, "RUC - Northern Ireland Police Service", and the tributes he has paid to the force, was a significant factor in the degree of hostility to his ministering in the area.
Local sources said some of the people who attended the CPLC meeting had "recanted". Sinn Fein figures said they did this voluntarily after they became aware that they were "used" by the RUC. Other sources said they did so because they were intimidated.
The local curate, Father Sean Hegarty said 11.30 a.m. Mass in Carrickmore yesterday. Again there was no direct comment about the controversy that has brought Mgr Faul once more into the headlines, but most in the crowded church would have known what he was on about.
Father Hegarty spoke of a week of "highs and lows", of great "hurt", of "misinterpretation", of how much he [the curate] loved the people in the parish of Termonmaguirc - that includes Carrickmore, Loughmacory and Creggan - and of the need for parish "unity".
There was great stress on unity. This was a barely-concealed plea for the parish to put this row behind it.
That may or may not happen. People are being pulled different ways on this issue. Carrickmore is overwhelmingly republican. Sinn Fein has around 70 per cent support or more.
There would also be some sympathy for the hardline 32 County Sovereignty Committee. The SDLP has a minority nationalist following. There is also a very small Protestant community.
There is no doubting the antipathy, sometimes hatred, of the RUC from quite a number in the parish. But equally, the dynamic created by the Belfast Agreement has not been lost on Carrickmore.
"People don't like the police here," said one man, before adding, "but I thought we were supposed to be putting that sort of thing behind us now."
Mr Paddy Joe McClean, a member of Democratic Left from nearby Bearagh, claimed that people were brought to the public meeting yesterday week from outside the parish to swell the numbers opposed to Mgr Faul. "I could bring you around houses where people won't be signing that petition. Their view is that in the penal days you had the Redcoats hounding the priest - now you have the green coats doing the same."
In Carrickmore, Sinn Fein has considerable support on this issue, but there appears to be a sense of the party more widely adopting a slightly detached stance. Mr McElduff has refused to comment on the issue while Sinn Fein sources lay emphasis on this being an issue of opposition to the RUC, not per se to Mgr Faul.
Nonetheless, in the light of the various public and private utterances and the wording of the petition it is now characterised as a battle to force Mgr Faul from Carrick more. This could be potentially embarrassing for Sinn Fein. Party sources emphasise that the issue is being driven by local people, not Sinn Fein.
The priest, notwithstanding his views on the RUC, still has considerable credibility among nationalists. He has a record of condemning RUC and British army human rights abuses, and has held a consistent anti-violence position, no matter from what quarter it emanates. Sinn Fein centrally would be conscious of his standing and may wish to see this controversy peter out.
Most local politicians are very conscious of the sensitivities here and generally have kept silent. The local SDLP councillor, Mr Seamus Shields from neighbouring Sixmile cross, said he did not want to comment on the particular controversy but he wanted to speak on behalf of Mgr Faul.
"I first met him at the first civil rights march in Omagh in 1968. At that time he was staunch in his support of the nationalist people. As time and politics has evolved he has not changed his principles, his conscience or his convictions. I still have admiration for him," he said.
"I would hope that as time goes on this situation will resolve itself, and that Mgr Faul will be allowed to do the work he was sent to do, and to continue speaking his mind," added Mr Shields. Ultimately, that may be the solution to this bitter dispute.