Father Sean Cassidy (62), the priest at the centre of a row between parishioners in Dun Laoghaire and the Dublin archdiocese, has asked that the campaign to have him retained in his present parish be stopped.
He has agreed to move to the Ayrfield parish on Dublin's north side in October after 16 years at St Michael's, and will not be replaced.
In the St Michael's parish newsletter of June 19th/20th he said the move was "totally against my expressed wishes - but church policy deems otherwise".
At a public meeting in Dun Laoghaire towards the end of June six people were elected to an action committee and on June 25th they requested a meeting with Archbishop Connell. Dr Connell's secretary, Mgr Martin O'Shea, thanked the committee for their letter and remarked that "just as Dun Laoghaire has been able to benefit greatly from his [Father Cassidy's] service, other areas of the diocese are in equal need of this level of priestly service".
The committee said the letter was "dismissive and patronising".
Father Michael O'Kelly, Dr Connell's other secretary, suggested the committee meet Bishop Martin Drennan, who has pastoral responsibility for Dun Laoghaire.
Bishop Drennan met Mr Sean Buckley, Ms Phyllis Rheinhardt and Ms Mary Grogan of the committee on July 19th.
Ms Grogan claimed he told them the Archbishop, on principle, did not meet delegations of parishioners. He advised them, as his personal opinion, to tell Father Cassidy to seek a meeting with the Archbishop.
Ms Grogan said Father Cassidy received a letter from Dr Connell asking him to meet Bishop Drennan, which he did. Attempts to contact Bishop Drennan last night were unsuccessful.
