FR Kevin Reynolds, the priest who has received significant damages and an apology after being defamed on a Prime Time Investigates programme, has spoken of how he was originally told by lawyers to take "a long holiday" and warned not to take on "the might of RTE".
The 65-year-old parish priest of Ahascragh in Co Galway spoke exclusively to the Sunday Independent this weekend about the horrendous "distress and torment" he had been through at the hands of the State broadcaster.
Nevertheless, the vindicated priest said: "I forgive everyone involved."
Speaking from his home in Ahascragh, he said: "I feel very relieved it's all over. It has been an awful and devastating experience. So, so, so distressing -- not only for me but for my family and for my parish.
But he added: "I want to say now, I do not have any feelings of revenge or anger. I just want to get over this and on with my life. I am not looking for blood. I'm not looking for any revenge. As a priest, of course, whoever wrongs me, I will forgive them and I can say from the bottom of my heart they are forgiven."
Fr Reynolds, who continuously protested his innocence and offered to take a paternity test only to be turned down by RTE before they went ahead and aired the false allegations on May 23, said, however: "Justice has to be done. And there are consequences for people in authorities and in State institutions."
More than 500,000 people watched the Prime Time Investigates programme entitled A Mission To Prey, which showed reporter Aoife Kavanagh confronting the priest after a first communion mass to falsely accuse him of sexually abusing a teenage girl in Kenya in 1982 and fathering a child by the woman before abandoning them both.
An estimated 338,000 people also listened to the baseless allegation being repeated the following day on Morning Ireland.
Despite the priest's repeated denials, an email from Fr Reynolds' former bishop Philip Sulumeti in Kenya and his offer to take a paternity test, the programme was still broadcast.
Speaking about the long and testing road he has been down to get back his good name, Fr Reynolds, who has dedicated 40 years of his life to the priesthood, said: "Of course, it tested my faith. It rattled me in every respect. Not only socially, but also spiritually. But I knew from day one I had a clear conscience; I knew it was not true. And my faith remains intact as it was -- as strong as ever."
Describing the nightmare experience, Fr Reynolds said he could remember the moment his whole word fell apart.
"The worst day was signing a form to say that I would freely withdraw from all public priestly ministries. That was very difficult. But the lowest point of all was driving to Dublin alone on the eve of when the programme was to be aired. Driving out of my priesthood, out of my parish in a complete daze, wondering what on earth had happened. My whole world had collapsed. That's an experience I wouldn't like to relive. I didn't sleep that night and there was no sleep for many, many nights after that."
Recalling his feelings when first approached by RTE, Fr Reynolds, who can be seen in the documentary laughing and joking when confronted about the bogus allegations, explained: "I didn't think it was serious when they first contacted me. It came totally out of the blue. But they were so emphatic and so insistent."
"Mother of God, says I. Is there some truth that this is actually going to air?"
Fr Reynolds called upon the help of two religious sisters in Kenya to see where the story could have stemmed from.
"Kenya is the land of rumours and fabrications and allegations. But not one person I contacted had ever heard that rumour or said there was any truth in it."
Speaking about the period after the programme finally aired, Fr Reynolds said he spent days behind closed doors, afraid to leave his house for fear of repercussion: "The morning after the programme, I didn't want to be seen. I was afraid in case someone would recognise me and take a pot shot at me. But I got over that pretty fast. After a while I said, 'No, I have to face the world'."
Fr Reynolds also described how legal experts attempted to dissuade him from taking the case, warning him that there would only be one winner in his David and Goliath battle against RTE.
"I must say the second day after the programme was aired, I was in Galway and I met with legal people who recommended that I go for a long holiday and that I would be rather foolish to challenge the might of RTE. That was a pretty low point but there was never a time that I was going to give up. I must give it to the Association of Catholic Priests. I got in contact with them and they put me in touch with solicitor Robert Dore. And once he got the legal team moving on it, I became more hopeful."
Speaking about RTE's refusal, before airing the programme, to get the €700 paternity test -- which has now cost it a six-figure sum in damages and seriously damaged the credibility of the Prime Time Investigates team -- he said: "What was most distressing and torturous was that I went immediately to Dame Street Medical Centre and freely gave samples. RTE said they would have the other party give samples within three weeks. And the fact that it took nearly eight weeks, that was just too much."
When the DNA tests confirmed his innocence, Fr Reynolds said: "Everyone was over the moon and congratulations were coming in from all over the place, but it didn't really excite me because I knew I could not have been the father of that child. Somebody said to me, 'Now it's time for a mighty party' but I said, 'No. I just want to get all of this cleared up.'"
Asked if he still had concerns that there might always be doubts among some members of the public who watched the defamatory programme, Fr Reynolds reasoned: "I'm over the fear. I've no fear at all any more. I cannot expect 100 per cent support. There will always be people with lingering suspicions and what can I do? I have to live my life and I know tomorrow morning I will be able to stand outside the door of St Cuan's Church in Ahascragh with confidence and can finally stand tall again, thank God."
On Friday, after the case was settled and as RTE broadcast an apology, Fr Reynolds returned home to his family and the parishioners who had stood by him throughout.
"That evening, I drove to see my brother who is seriously ill in Athlone and then I went back to Ahascragh where there were about 12 of my parishioners in the Blessed Sacrament chapel and I joined them for a holy hour. There was no celebrating. Afterwards, a good friend, a farmer, came in and we had a chat about everything, then I retired early. I have to say the people of my parish were fantastic. And it was they who kept me going. I just can't say enough good about them. And my family were tremendous too. I've been away in Africa a long time and I realised that the rock-solid support of my family was just phenomenal."
Asked what he would like to see happen within RTE following the internal investigation, he said: "I'll leave that to my solicitor. Robert Dore is the greatest. A man of tremendous ability. He took it on and dealt with it like a guy who had been libelled himself. He's a fantastic guy, someone I could lean on. He pounded, he hounded, he hammered and pressurised RTE every step of the way. He's a mighty friend now, a divil," he laughed, adding: "We'll have to go out for a wild one yet."
Fr Sean McDonagh, on behalf of the Association of Catholic Priests, which backed Fr Reynolds in his action, said neither Fr Reynolds nor the association had the means to take a High Court libel action and could not have done so without the case being taken on a pro-bono basis by Robert Dore & Co Solicitors.
He said: "Priests have got a very bad presentation, unbalanced to the extent that the public think one in five priests is a paedophile when the reality was closer to two to three per cent. I hope this is a wake-up call. We're not asking for special treatment, we're just asking for truth, fairness and justice."