Adelaide Catholic priest Monsignor Ian Dempsey said it was "totally unfair and unjust" of the independent SA senator to use parliamentary privilege to make the allegation.

Senator Xenophon yesterday said he had acted in good faith and without malice in naming Monsignor Dempsey under parliamentary privilege, but added: "I regret the course of events went down this path," he said.

He claimed that the matter might have played out differently had he known Monsignor Dempsey was about to go on a month's annual leave.

"It would have given an opportunity for there to be a satisfactory outcome without the need to name the priest in question," he said.

"I find it bewildering and extraordinary that no one in the Catholic Church decided to advise me the priest in question was about to go on leave."

Senator Xenophon said he named Monsignor Dempsey because the Church had taken too long to address the rape allegations against him that had emerged four years ago.

The Adelaide Catholic Church has said it was not being tardy. It said Archbishop Hepworth had only this year decided to proceed with his claim.

Last night, the ABC reported an affiliate church in the US had condemned Archbishop Hepworth's plans for the denomination to join the Catholic Church and asked him to resign.

An Anglican Church in America spokesman said only 10 per cent of members supported the Traditional Anglican Communion's proposal to join Rome and said there had been a lack of consultation with the wider church.

The ABC said the church told Archbishop Hepworth in a letter it was no longer possible for him to continue in his current role.

One of the letters was from Msgr Dempsey and the other from civil libertarian Terry O'Gorman who is urging an investigation into the naming of the priest, describing it as an abuse of privilege.

He has told The Advertiser he believed in a "thorough and fair process".

"As a member of the Senate I should be subject to the scrutiny of the Senate along with every other member," he said.

Senator Hogg can decide whether an inquiry should be established by the privileges committee.

The committee can also consider a request for a person who has been named in Parliament to have a right of reply, where their response is included in Hansard.

Monsignor Dempsey has comprehensively rejected the allegation of rape. He said in a letter to Senator Xenophon responding to the claim "I am innocent of these allegations which you used parliamentary privilege to name me".

"For over forty years I have served with integrity and honour as a Catholic priest ... you irreparably smeared and denigrated my reputation."

Archbishop John Hepworth, the leader of a breakaway Anglican group seeking union with the Catholic Church, alleged that Monsignor Dempsey raped him more than 40 years ago when the two were young priests in their twenties.

He went public in the past fortnight with his claims, alleging that the Adelaide archdiocese of the Catholic Church failed to swiftly resolve the case. In the Senate last Tuesday night, Senator Xenophon named Monsignor Dempsey and criticised the Adelaide archdiocese of the Catholic Church in its handling of the allegations.

Full Article and image: Adelaide Now