An orange lodge is seeing red over attendance at a funeral.
Two leading Ulster unionists are to face disciplinary proceedings by the Orange Order after attending the funeral of a murdered Catholic policeman.
Ulster Unionist Party leader Tom Elliott, and his deputy, Danny Kennedy, attended the funeral of Ronan Kerr who was murdered by dissident republicans in a car bomb outside his home in Omagh, County Tyrone on April 2.
Kerr's murder was widely condemned and his coffin was carried by both GAA members and PSNI officers with his funeral Mass being attended by politicians from throughout Ireland.
Both Tom Elliott and Danny Kennedy are members of the Orange Order, and as such are forbidden to attend Catholic Masses.
Now, a formal complaint has been made by a lodge in Belfast.
The complaint alleges that Elliott and Kennedy "have sold their principles for political expediency."
The decision to discipline Elliott and Kennedy drew quick condemnation from the widow of another murdered Catholic policeman.
Kate Carroll said the men had also attended Mass for her murdered husband, Stephen.
Constable Carroll was shot dead in Craigavon in March 2009 by the Continuity IRA. He was the first police officer to be killed since the formation of the PSNI.
Speaking about their attendance at her husband's funeral, she said: "It was groundbreaking. I was delighted to see that people as prominent as them were there to show solidarity with police."
Former senior orangeman, Reverend Brian Kennaway, said the disciplinary action was "an embarrassment" for the lodge.
"Multitudes of orangemen through Ireland either attend [Catholic] marriage ceremonies or funerals. They see it as paying their respects and as their duty," he said.
"The vast majority of people, including the leadership, are embarrassed by this."
Sinn Féin's Gerry Kelly said the Orange Order had "shown its true colors."
"By having these anti-Catholic rules, the Orange Order is showing that it is clearly a sectarian organization," he said.
"Attempts by the Orange Order to re-brand itself as a cultural organization are completely discredited while they retain sectarian rules," he said.
