Anyone who watched the BBC television profile of Fr Brian D'Arcy this
past week, titled The Turbulent Priest, could not have escaped noticing the
deep sadness at the heart of this sincere man of the cloth. It was like watching a mid-life crisis up close, and in slow motion, but in the end Fr D'Arcy seems to have banished his major demons, for the medium-term at least.
This soul-searching was evident in his autobiography which I read some time ago, and he reached a major crossroads more recently when the Vatican tried to censure his outspoken column in the Sunday World newspaper.
This triggered off a deep inner debate about his role in life, whether he had been, and was still, merely wasting his time, and more importantly how could an honest, hard-working priest like him retain his authenticity in an Irish Roman Catholic Church which clearly has become dysfunctional.
This dysfunction is not only due to the scandal of clerical child sex abuse which the Irish Church failed to tackle for so long. It is compounded by the authoritarian attitude of the Vatican which cannot handle dissent and treats even fair comment from ordinary priests as an attack on the Church itself.
Brian D'Arcy referred several times to the late Cardinal Martini, who also saw some of the deep flaws in his Church. This brilliant and inspiring cardinal criticised the ‘careerism' in the Church which intimidated clergy to tell their bosses only what they wanted to hear, though not necessarily the whole truth. The cardinal also claimed that the Catholic Church is “tired” and is “still 200 years behind” the modern age.
Brian D'Arcy also dared to speak the truth in love, but his public stand-off with Cardinal Cahal Daly on the Late Late Show some years ago made him a marked man, outside the mainstream of the hierarchy.
Yet what D'Arcy has been saying is plain to many other observers, mainly that so much of the structural Catholic Church is out of touch with modern society. It is the hardworking parish priest who is the glue which keeps the church together, rather than the political power-players further up the ecclesiastical ladder.
Brian D'Arcy is an outstanding broadcaster, and is often dubbed the ‘showbiz priest'.
However, he is no lightweight, and his criticisms of his Church were powerful and incisive.
The programme itself had a bit of a showbusiness dimension, with even the most intimate interviews and moments of holy privacy being made available in front of the camera.
D'Arcy came out of the programme well, and so did Cardinal Brady as a caring man in the midst of his own troubles. Happily, D'Arcy's monastic superiors also made the brave and correct decision to renew his tenure in the place where he has served so well.
In the end, the programme justified its sometimes intrusive and over-exposing technique. D'Arcy emerged as a good, lonely and courageous man who so desperately misses having a wife and family. Yet, he also came across as a doughty crusader whose heart and head are in the right place.
It is priests like Brian D'Arcy who will save the Catholic Church, and not too many of those finely-clad bishops and archbishops in Rome and elsewhere for whom the penny has still not dropped.
Despite everything Christ tried to teach us, some of the Scribes and Pharisees are still squeezing the life blood out of the Roman Catholic Church.