CENSURED PRIEST Fr Brian D’Arcy has said he would have been a much better priest if he had married.He has also questioned whether he can continue in the priesthood, after the Vatican’s censure when he challenged some of its core teachings.
In a documentary to be broadcast tonight, the cleric, who has been in the religious life for 50 years, also speaks about being sexually abused himself.
In The Turbulent Priest, to be shown on BBC One Northern Ireland at 10.35pm, Fr D’Arcy travels across Europe and speaks to a number of other people about the Catholic Church’s teachings and whether he can continue in the religious life.
They include Austrian priest Helmut Schuller, an active lobbyist for reform of some of the church’s core teachings, and actor Frank Kelly, who played the infamous Father Jack in the comedy series Father Ted.
He also meets conservative priest Fr Brian McKevitt who described a lot of Fr D’Arcy’s writing as “a kind of a candyfloss spirituality. It looks attractive but when you actually bite into it there’s kind of an absence of substance, an absence of nourishment.”
During the documentary, produced by filmmaker Natalie Maynes, he debates whether he can continue as a priest.