The Church of Ireland rector of Drogheda, the Rev Michael Graham, and the town's former Augustinian prior, Father Iggy O'Donovan, are facing the ire of their church authorities for concelebrating the Eucharist on Easter Day, along with two other Augustinian priests. Archbishop Robin Eames and Archbishop Sean Brady have reminded all involved of the canonical disciplines prohibiting such concelebrations. The consequences for the priests involved differ between their two traditions.
The Rev Graham, who describes himself as "a Catholic priest of the Anglican tradition", may receive a mild rebuke. But while the Church of Ireland's bishops may be embarrassed by his public actions, there is a maxim among Anglican clergy that it is easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission. Indeed, Mr Graham may suffer less from his superiors than from some of his fellow diocesan clergy north of the Border, where many conservative evangelicals remain deeply suspicious of all things ecumenical.
But Fr O'Donovan and his colleagues cannot hope to escape the consequences of their actions. As members of a religious order they are outside some of the usual rigours of diocesan discipline. But, in the long run, Fr O'Donovan risks being suspended or even dismissed from his teaching post in Rome, and may even face a dreadful choice between a humiliating climbdown and being forced out of the ministry.
Yet the unspoken reality is that concelebrations take place more often than anyone is willing to admit, especially in pastorally sensitive situations such as baptisms, weddings and funerals.
Theological differences about the Eucharist have withered in the quarter century since the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC-1) published its final report in 1981. It is 20 years since the General Synod of the Church of Ireland agreed that the "ARCIC reference to the presence of Christ in the eucharist is consonant with Anglican understanding of that sacrament." Indeed - although it was not a concelebration - it is only a year since Pope Benedict XVI, as Cardinal Ratzinger, gave Communion to Brother Roger of Taize at the funeral of Pope John Paul II.
The events in Drogheda might have passed without rebuke had the Mass not taken place within the context of the 1916 commemorations and before a very public congregation. Churches need rules and disciplines to maintain authority and identity. But many clergy and laity are tired of limiting ecumenical gestures to shared hymn services and exchanges between choirs, bell-ringers and flower festivals. Easter is the very heart of the Christian message, and it finds its most mystical expression in the Eucharist. If the restrictions on ecumenical exchanges cannot break through the official barriers on these occasions, then prophetic gestures of defiance may be needed now and again, if only to remind us of the core values and the core message of the Easter faith.