A Roman Catholic teacher is suing his parish priest and diocese for "immediate emotional distress, embarrassment and humiliation" after a recording of his unflattering remarks about a sermon was played to his church congregation.Angel Llavona claims he left a message on the telephone answering machine of the Rev Luis Rios's private line a day after a mass at St Thomas the Apostle Church in Crystal Lake, Illinois.
In a brief message to Fr Rios, who was new to the church, Mr Llavona said he had "seen poor homilies, but yesterday broke all records".
Mr Llavona, who had formerly run the church's religious education programme, claimed he later twice asked to meet the priest but he refused.
The next Sunday, Fr Rios played back the message at two Mass services, at one of which his critic was sitting in the congregation.
According to Mr Llavona's suit, the priest then asked his flock: "This is the person in charge of religious education here last year. That's why it is no surprise to me we had the kind of religious education we had.
"That's why we didn't get altar boys. What should we do? Should we send him to Hell or to another parish?"
Mr Llavona is seeking at least $50,000 (£25,000) in damages, claiming he was defamed and so humiliated he had to change parish.
Fr Rios could not be reached yesterday and Mr Llavona did not wish to comment.
A diocese spokesman hoped that a "peaceful solution" could be found outside court.
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