You might recall the Irish Augustinian priests who brought in Church of Ireland ministers to concelebrate Mass a few weeks ago.

Rumor is he’s been sacked from his teaching position:

For the last two years Fr O’Donovan has spent six months of the year in Rome teaching church history at the institute, which is known as the Augustianian University.

But now he has been "sacked" according to a report in The Irish Catholic.

The newspaper reported that Bishop Rino Fisichella, an auxiliary bishop of Rome with special responsibility for universities, has been carrying out an investigation into the Drogheda Mass and has decided to remove the Irish priest’s permission to teach in Rome.

"A source close to Dr Fisichella confirmed to The Irish Catholic that the investigation had taken place and that ‘we have been in conversation with the Augustinians about this’."

However, the Augustinian Order said last Friday that it has had no contact with officials in Rome about Fr O’Donovan or his teaching position at the Augustinian University. A source in the congregation said that there had been "no developments" in the case in recent weeks and it had nothing further to add to the issue.

A couple of weeks ago, an Irish paper ran results of a phone survey:

(link is Google cache because the paper requires registration. This is just easier for us all.)

The Sunday Independent contacted 114 Catholic priests by phone from parishes all over the country, over the last two days. Each priest was asked a series of three questions, including whether they thought Fr. Iggy was right to celebrate the mass with a non-Catholic rector, whether the primates were right to publicly criticise the celebrants involved and whether the celebrants involved should face sanction.

Of those polled, 87 (76.3 per cent) of the priests said Fr. O’Donovan was right to ask Rev Graham to concelebrate the mass, 25 said it was wrong or "wholly wrong" to go against Canon Law. The remaining two said that only God can say.

But almost 90 per cent felt the manner in which the primates responded was not appropriate.

"By voicing their concern in the manner in which they did, they just added fuel to the flames. These are tough times for the church, with attendances down, so let us ask tough questions like Fr. O’Donovan did last week," said one Dublin priest in support. In contrast, a number of priests based in more rural areas were among those who had cause for concern.

For your consideration.