A MAN had to be forcibly removed from a First Holy Communion ceremony in Co Clare yesterday after he approached the altar and roared abuse at the officiating priest.The incident occurred at around midday at the Cathedral of St Peter and Paul in Ennis, just as the ceremony was nearing a conclusion.
Hundreds of children, their families and relatives had gathered for the special occasion at 11am.
Just before the ceremony was about to finish, a man walked up the aisle of the packed cathedral and stood in front of the altar.
The clearly upset man, thought to be in his 50s, waited for the choir to finish singing before be began his rant.
According to eye-witnesses, the man shouted: "Typical! Hypocrites! Ye are all hypocrites!
"He just walked up the aisle and stood about two rows back from the top. He was about 10 metres from the priest," one parent said.
"He stood there, looked around him and when the music stopped he started. No one knew what was going on but then another man got up and approached him."
One parent told the man to leave, but he refused to do so.
The man was warned that gardai would be called and then a second man, who had also been attending the ceremony, intervened and identified himself as a member of the gardai.
"The first man told him to get out and then another man got up, took out a badge and said he was a detective. A third man got up and the three of them rushed him back down the aisle and out the door. When we got out of the church, the man was gone," another parent said.
SIC: II