PARISHIONERS who witnessed Cardinal Keith O'Brien conduct his last mass as Britain's most senior Roman Catholic, in Dunbar on Saturday, hope he will continue with plans to retire to the town.

That is despite accusations which emerged on Sunday of "inappropriate behaviour" by the 74-year-old towards priests in the 1980s, which he contests.

Cardinal O'Brien has visited Dunbar to take mass at the town's Our Lady of the Waves Church on several occasions in recent months.

The cardinal had been due later this month to move from Edinburgh to a church property, on Dunbar's Bayswell Road, upon his retirement as Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh when he turned 75.

He took mass in Dunbar on Saturday evening and told one member of the congregation to "keep carrying the flag" for the Catholic Church.

Those words became more poignant on Monday when he resigned as archbishop after the accusations surfaced a day earlier.

Cardinal O'Brien had been due to attend mass at St Mary's Cathedral in Edinburgh on Sunday but was not present and the service was taken by Bishop Stephen Robson - former parish priest for Dunbar and North Berwick.

It is unclear at this stage whether Cardinal O'Brien will still move to Dunbar - where it was intended he would help Canon John Creanor with priest duties in the parish, including taking mass when possible.

The Courier was unable to obtain comment from the Scottish Catholic Media Office this week, while local church officials were either unable to comment or unavailable.

However, two of Our Lady of the Waves' most prominent parishioners said that Cardinal O'Brien was a popular visitor to the town - and they still hoped to welcome him back.

Dunbar's Herbert Coutts, vice-chair of the church's parish council, said: "He has been down for masses over the weekends and so on for some time, and it was the intention that on his retirement as archbishop he would, in due course, settle in Dunbar and live in the parish church house.

"But I don't know whether or not that is going to change, we just don't know.

"I hope it doesn't, anyway. I would hope he could ultimately come and settle in the church house, but we have to await developments.

"The intention was that he would do masses in Dunbar as he could, so to speak, because there's a shortage of priests and our priest covers both Dunbar and North Berwick, so that would be of assistance to him." Asked if the congregation and community had been looking forward to the cardinal's arrival, Mr Coutts added: "Yes, we were and are.

"He is highly regarded among the parishioners of Dunbar, as he is across the archdiocese.

"Certainly, I would be disappointed if at the end of the day he doesn't come and settle in Dunbar." Martin Conroy, of Oldhamstocks, also attends Our Lady of the Waves Church and helps with readings at mass.

He said: "He said mass on Saturday night just there and I'm assuming that it would have been his last as archbishop.

"I was there, and he gave a very good sermon. He was talking about the [upcoming] papal conclave, how it all works and how he'd been before to elect Pope Benedict.

"It was great to have him there and I spoke very briefly with him afterwards.

"I've managed to have quite a lot of correspondence in the press with letters in the newspapers and he knows about that - we've chatted about it in the past.

"He commented: 'Keep carrying the flag', and that's what I assumed he was referring to.

"Now that all this stuff has happened, those few words he said to me have even more meaning.

"What Catholics have to do now, as the cardinal said to me, is: keep carrying the flag and don't be afraid to speak up for your faith, just be strong and keep going, because we'll get through it.

"It has been a pleasure to have him saying mass there and I think everyone is going to miss him greatly." The Rev Gordon Stevenson, of Dunbar Parish Church - who has regular contact with Our Lady of the Waves through the Dunbar Churches Together initiative - said he had been aware of the proposed move but added: "It's not been a big topic. We do work together but it was never on the agenda." Cardinal O'Brien has been a regular visitor to the county in recent years, including to Our Lady of the Waves' annual summer fete, and to schools such as St Mary's RC Primary in Haddington.

The cardinal had been due to travel to Rome in the near future to take part in the papal conclave, as Britain's only representative in the choosing of a new Pope, following the announcement by Pope Benedict XVI that he would resign from his position as of yesterday (Thursday).

However, in a statement on his resignation on Monday - which made no reference to his move to Dunbar - Cardinal O'Brien said that he would not take part in the selection process.

The cardinal had tendered his resignation as archbishop in November, ahead of his planned retirement on his 75th birthday on March 17, but the Pope accepted the resignation on February 18, and that was made public on Monday after the allegations against the cardinal - by three priests and a former priest - had emerged.

The Vatican has vowed to investigate the allegations.

Among those already being tipped to replace Cardinal O'Brien is Bishop Robson - who served as parish priest in Dunbar and North Berwick from 2006 until leaving the position last summer following his ordination as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh.

In the meantime, Pope Benedict XVI has appointed the Most Rev Philip Tartaglia, Archbishop of Glasgow, as apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh until a new archbishop is appointed.