Tuesday, January 21, 2025

Singing priest Fr. Ray Kelly reveals 'delusional' stalker torment saying 'I felt I was being watched all the time'

He's the singing priest whose big voice has earned him a huge worldwide fanbase. 

But Fr. Ray Kelly has opened up on the pitfalls of fame and revealed he's been tormented by a "delusional" stalker for the past five years.

The talented cleric became an overnight sensation 10 years ago when a video of him singing his version of the Leonard Cohen classic 'Hallelujah' at a wedding went viral - before going on to notch up over 90 million hits on YouTube.

He quickly went on to build up a successful musical career outside the church, performing all over the world and appearing as a contestant on both Britain's Got Talent and Dancing with the Stars.

However, the devoted churchman has told how his celebrity status has come at a heavy cost, and revealed he's been "stalked" by a number of women over the past decade.

He claims that since 2019 one woman in particular has pursued him "relentlessly", bombarding him with multiple emails on a daily basis in a bid to persuade him to give up his vow of celibacy and marry her.

Despite reporting the matter to gardai and taking legal advice, he said there has been no let-up in the number of messages arriving in his inbox on a daily basis, with an average of three emails a day still being sent to him.

The 71-year-old, who was the parish priest of Oldcastle, Co. Meath for 17 years before being reassigned parish duties in Co. Offaly last year, even told how watching the double Golden Globe-winning stalking drama 'Baby Reindeer' reminded him of his own ongoing ordeal and "sent a shiver down my spine".

He said: "Over the last 10 years I've been extremely fortunate, getting to travel abroad and sing. It's the perfect life in many ways, combining my work as a priest with my love of singing.

"But the stalking has been a problem, and it's really worn me down. One particular case has been ongoing since 2019. It involves a lady I met only once and spoke to very briefly who just hasn't stopped contacting me.

"She lives outside Ireland, but during the pandemic when we live-streamed our Masses at Oldcastle, she would tune into Masses every morning.

"I felt I was being watched all the time. She'd constantly send me messages, commenting on what I was wearing and how tight my clothes looked. She once commented on the song 'Eagles Wings' that I'd sung, saying, 'I knew you sang that especially for me.'

"Even after Mass was over and I'd be tidying up, someone at the end of the church might say, 'Goodbye Father Ray' and I'd reply with a wave, and she would then send me a message, saying she knew that the wave was especially for her. All this made me very uncomfortable, so I wrote to her and asked her to stop.

"I told her I wasn't in love with her, and would not be leaving the priesthood. But that didn't help. In fact, it made matters worse. I asked my solicitor to write to her, and I reported it to the gardai, but they said there wasn't anything they could do about it.

"It gets very intense at times, and even now I receive emails from her nearly every day, and since Christmas it's been about three every day. It's utterly delusional."

He added: "Not so long ago I started watching that Netflix drama Baby Reindeer, and I found it very hard to sit through because it brought things home. It really sent a shiver down my spine, because I felt I could identify with it.

"Even now when I'm celebrating Mass, I'd have a fear of the woman who's been stalking me walking into the church and shouting, 'You promised me you'd marry me.'"