The prior provincial of the Augustinian community in Ireland, Fr John
Hennebry has insisted Fr Iggy O’Donovan is “not under any penalty or
punishment”, as he begins a year-long sabbatical in Limerick.
It
emerged on Sunday that a complaint had been made about Fr Iggy after he
allowed parents of a baby to pour water on their son’s head during his
baptism.
Another priest from the diocese said the child had to be baptised a second time, an event Fr Hennebry called “a most unusual event”. He added: ” I have never heard of it before. The baptism of a child is not something to play around with.”
Fr Hennebry said: “As friars we are moved around and (to move) is the natural flow of things. It is a natural part of our existence. It is testament to Fr Iggy that people are so upset at his leaving Drogheda.”
The parents, who live in Drogheda, this week broke their silence to express their “upset and disappointment” that the Church would use their son’s christening “as a stick to beat Fr Iggy with”.
The parents said they are supportive of Fr Iggy and sent a letter to the previous Augustinian prior of Ireland criticising the way their son’s baptism was being used against him. They asked him to pass this letter onto the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome, which he said he would.
The second priest, who is not an Augustinian, told the family the “baptism had not been done in accordance with the sacrament”.
The priest told the parents that to be sure, “the t’s were crossed and the i’s dotted, the best thing would be to have him christened again”.
When they asked him if Fr Iggy could perform the service again, he said “this would not be possible”.
Instead the priest himself performed the christening in another church in Louth.
Fr Iggy has spent recent weeks denying reports he has been silenced by Rome or that he has been forced to leave Drogheda, where he had been Augustinian prior for the last 12 years.
Earlier this month, he told LMFM radio his move was a “confluence of events”, including the regular movement of friars by his order.
At his final Mass in Drogheda, he condemned “the murkiness of the devious world of ecclesiastical politics”.