A senior Roman Catholic clergyman apologized on Monday for a profanity-filled argument he had with a group of taunting teenagers who secretly videoed him and posted the obscene verbal clash on YouTube.

Reverend Monsignor Geoff Baron, the Dean of Melbourne's St Patrick's Cathedral, said he was ashamed of his "outrageous actions", which also included screaming racist slurs at the boys who had been riding skateboards on the church's steps.

The incident happened a year ago and footage of it was recently posted on the YouTube video-sharing website.

"The shame that I feel and the embarrassment, I can't really describe," he told Southern Cross Broadcasting radio.

He said the boys unleashed his anger by accusing him of being a pedophile.

"It was outrageous behavior ... I've also brought scandal and shock to other people," he said. "I can't excuse it ... It might be linked up in some way that so many priests are considered to be pedophiles and here I was being called one."

He said he had acted like "a kind of a hunted animal being yapped at by jackals and hyenas."

The monsignor is considering taking anger management classes.