More than 150 people staged a demonstration against sex abuse today as Cardinal Desmond Connell celebrated mass.
The Cardinal was saying mass to mark the bicentenary of the birth of Edmund Rice, founder of the Christian Brothers, a community which has been closely linked with schools and education in the State.
As the mass went ahead in the headquarters of the Royal Dublin Society, the men and women involved in the protest - some of whom said they were victims of abuse by Catholic priests - made emotional demands for Cardinal Connell's resignation.
Priests and nuns going to the mass were handed leaflets outlining the reasons for the demonstration as they ran the gauntlet of protesters.
Spokesman Mr John Kelly said there should be an independent inquiry into abuse by church figures and compensation for all victims.
The street protest followed the resignation last week of Brendan Comiskey, Bishop of Ferns, County Wexford, after criticism of the way he handled sex charges levelled against a priest in his diocese, Fr Sean Fortune, who committed suicide in 1999 before he could be brought to trial.
Bishop Comiskey's resignation was formally accepted by the Vatican yesterday.
Cardinal Connell pointedly referred to the abuse issue during his address at the mass, talking of the "unthinkable harm" that had been caused.
He told the 2,000-member congregation: "We cannot fail to acknowledge that the history of Brother Rice's followers has been disfigured and his inheritance dishonoured by the terrible failures of some brothers.
"In place of nurturing the young people committed to their care, they have succumbed to what the Holy Father, speaking of priests who have offended in similar ways, has recently called the most grievous forms of the mystery of iniquity at work in the world."
The Cardinal said the present time was "a profoundly difficult moment" for the church, both in Ireland and aboard.
He added: "A dark shadow of suspicion has been cast over so many priests and religious who perform their ministry with honesty and integrity and often with heroic self-sacrifice.
"We ask God's forgiveness and his healing. We ask this for ourselves and the victims, who have been so gravely wronged by those who were our brothers."
In another development, another senior member of the catholic hierarchy, Bishop of Cork and Ross Dr John Buckley, admitted that the church had not always acted fairly in its treatment of people who had suffered sex abuse at the hands of priests.
In a letter read at masses throughout his diocese, Dr Buckley said no priests would be allowed to return to ministry if found to have sexually abused a child or young person in their care.
PA