Cardinal Desmond Connell has said that a Dublin school chaplain was "simply implementing the discipline of the church" when he asked irregular attenders at Mass not to receive the Eucharist.
Father Martin Hughes, chaplain at St Mac Dara's Community College in Templeogue, told the multi-denominational congregation at a recent graduation Mass for Leaving Certificate students and their families that, out of respect for the sacrament of the Eucharist, those who did not attend Mass regularly should not receive.
He invited anyone among such people, who wished to do so, to approach the altar with a hand across the chest for a blessing.
Some among the attendance were angered by what he said. A school board meeting on Wednesday asked Father Hughes to supply them with what he said, in writing.
Speaking at the Cillin/Heritage Retreat Centre near Glendalough, Co Wicklow, yesterday, the cardinal referred to the Cathechism of the Catholic Church and St Paul's first letter to the Corinthians to underline the church's teaching that people must be "properly disposed" before receiving the Eucharist.
This used to be clear when people had to fast before receiving, he said. One of the influences that had brought about a lack of appreciation of the need for preparation was a change in the discipline where the Eucharist was concerned, he said.
There were advantages and disadvantages to changing back, he said. He recalled how, after his father died, his mother had to travel a mile to Mass while fasting. But people were "less aware now of the need to prepare for the Eucharist", he said.
Among the attendance at the Mass were Cllr Stanley Laing, chairman of South Dublin County Council and a Presbyterian, Rev William Deverell, Church of Ireland rector at St Maelruan's in Tallaght, Methodist minister Rev Nigel Mackey, and Mr Pat O'Connor, chief executive officer of the City of Dublin Vocational Education Committee (CDVEC).
Cllr Laing, who is also a member of the CDVEC and the St Mac Dara school board, said that as "a believing Christian" he was "most disappointed" at what Father Hughes said.
"He gave an excellent message to these young people and yet he refused them the Eucharist," he said. Many of the parents were upset, though the young people "were not too bothered", he said.
Mr Mackey, however, defended Father Hughes, who he said was giving people "the freedom not to accept. There were people there who do not believe what the [Catholic] church holds [on the Eucharist]. I admire him for that." As a Methodist he was not uncomfortable with what Father Hughes said.
