On the Sunday before Christmas Monsignor Denis Faul was applauded in the crowded church in Carrickmore, Co Tyrone, although Sinn Fein jibed that the ovation was as much for the altar servers as for the parish priest. There were full attendances at his midnight and Christmas Day Masses. There has been no evident fall-off in the numbers going to his services since then.

Furthermore, the organisers of the campaign against Mgr Faul abandoned a plan to bring a petition around the town seeking signatures in support of the demand for his removal. They said they did this to avoid accusations of intimidation. Other local people said they retreated from the petition because they knew many local people would not sign it.

The apparent indications here are that the move against the priest has ended in quicksand, but again opponents of his remaining in Carrickmore reject this.

In this traditional republican heartland, the issue continues to cause stress and friction. Local people are being pulled between their religion and their republicanism.

So far, the majority of people have managed that conflict quite well: by maintaining their political opinions, while also respecting their priest even if that means distancing themselves somewhat from the viewpoint of those who want Mgr Faul out of the parish.

Mgr Faul - he is still generally called Father Faul - has been consistent in his opposition to violence, whether it be from republicans, loyalists, British army or the RUC. He was formerly known as the "Provo priest" because of his criticism of certain actions of the RUC and British army, and that even-handedness still stands to him, even among some hardline republicans.

Equally, though, there are many republicans who can't forgive him for his criticism of IRA violence down the years and his opposition to the hunger strikes. To get his scalp now would be a victory against the outspoken priest, however belated.

The dispute goes back to Tuesday December 7th when the Sinn Fein MLA Barry McElduff and about 40 protesters disrupted a police liaison forum at the Silver Birch hotel in Omagh. This was attended by local RUC personnel and a small number of people from Carrickmore including Mgr Faul, two health workers, a doctor, and some people who work for bodies such as those catering for the elderly.

This in turn prompted a public meeting in Carrickmore on Sunday December 12th attended by about 600 people and chaired by Mr McElduff. The meeting accused the priest of engaging in an "ill-conceived liaison with a force totally discredited in this area."

While there has been some easing of tensions since then, the dispute continues to smoulder in the Carrickmore community. Most days letters pro- or anti-Mgr Faul or Sinn Fein appear in the nationalist Irish News newspaper. The issue is also aired regularly on radio.

Moreover, it has posed some embarrassing questions for Health Minister Bairbre de Brun, which she has declined to answer. Among those who had to take a severe verbal lashing when the police liaison meeting was disrupted were two health workers from Carrickmore attached to the Sperrin Lakeland Health Trust, for which the Sinn Fein Minister has ultimate responsibility.

Joe Byrne, the West Tyrone SDLP MLA, complained of "orchestrated" intimidation against the parish priest "and other members of the local community" including the health workers. The pressure on those who attended the meeting continued for some time and the two health workers took sick leave because of the strain.

A statement from the trust stressed that the health workers were only doing their job on behalf of the community and urged community support for them. Ms De Brun, however, would not be drawn on the matter, or her Sinn Fein colleague Mr McElduff's involvement in the controversy. Her press spokesman said yesterday it was an "operational" matter and she had no comment to make.

A six-member delegation was formed in Carrickmore at the December 12th meeting that requested a meeting with the Archbishop of Armagh, Dr Sean Brady, seeking the priest's removal from the parish. There has been contact between the group and the Primate's office but the archbishop has not personally or formally responded to the request for a meeting. "It was being considered," said a Catholic Press Office spokesman.

Catholic Church sources say that the archbishop would prefer not to be embroiled in this issue and hopes that the dispute will peter out. A member of the delegation opposing Mgr Faul expressed disappointment that it has taken this long to receive an official response from Archbishop Brady.

This Sinn Fein supporter, as with almost everybody else involved locally in the dispute, did not wish to reveal his name publicly. He said he wanted Mgr Faul out of the parish because he believed he had played a leading role in bolstering the image of the RUC at a time when the broad nationalist community wanted a new police service.

His opposition to Mgr Faul was not because of his clerical position but because he had taken a "political position" in favour of the RUC, he added. Mgr Faul previously urged that the sacrifices of the RUC should be properly acknowledged and that any reformed force should have a dual title, RUC - Northern Ireland Police Force.

"He is using his position to encourage no change in the RUC. This at a time when close to 100 per cent of the nationalist community want a completely new police service," the deputation member added.

But if there was such widespread opposition to Mgr Faul, why was the petition abandoned? Why did he receive applause at a novena service the Sunday before Christmas? And why was the community continuing to attend his Masses?

The Sinn Fein supporter's response was that to push ahead with the petition could leave opponents of the priest "open to being accused of putting pressure on people". People attended his Masses because being such a conservatively Catholic area, people did not boycott services, even if they disagreed with the political views of the serving priest.

And while he was not at the particular service he also understood that the ovation in the church during a novena said by local curate Father Sean Hegarty was in support of the curate's call for local unity, rather than for Mgr Faul.

But there are plenty of people in Carrickmore to dispute his viewpoint, some of them who hold republican opinions. One woman who attended the novena insisted: "The applause was for Father Faul."

In mid-December, when The Irish Times reported on the issue in some detail, a number of local people predicted that many people would not sign the petition because they disagreed with it. The fact that subsequently the organisers withdrew the petition would point to the probable accuracy of their forecasting.

There is, though, some meeting of minds on the argument that in such a traditionally Catholic area people, as one local told The Irish Times, "would not like to be seen going against the priest".

As another Carrickmore man put it: "It's fair to say that most people here would not like to see any dealing with the RUC, but having said that, there would be at least 75 per cent of the people who would give their support to Father Faul."