Ar Father15
Ted star wanted to be a real-life priest but scandals sickened him
FATHER TED star Ardal O’hanlon has told how he once wanted to become a priest in real life.
The actor and comedian, best known for his role as Ted’s gormless sidekick Fr Dougal Mcguire, revealed he thought the priesthood beckoned.
He said: “I remember a time when I was very young, possibly as young as seven or eight, when I probably thought I had a vocation.
“I definitely went through a period of a week or two when I was exceptionally holy.”
But Ardal, 58, whose character became famous for the phrase ‘careful now’, admitted a change of heart early on.
He revealed: “I’ve come a long way from being a pious little boy to a fictional priest to the no man’s land I find myself in now. An agnostic hostile to a disgraced church, yet appreciative in many ways of my Christian heritage.”
The Monaghan funnyman fronts The Last Priest in Ireland on RTE which examines the drastic drop in vocations after 30 years of scandals.
And he confessed he relished making fun of the Catholic church’s hierarchy in the hit Channel 4 sitcom alongside Dermot Morgan.
He said: “Fr Ted was a godsend, so ripe for satire. It was cathartic for me, lampooning the priests.
“In some ways though, I think we humanised them, exposed them as mere mortals with the same wants and needs as everybody else. “In hindsight, it was actually a bit tame.”
He said the “sickening crimes” and “appalling cover-ups” that have come to light regarding clerical sex abuse continue to hit home.
He concluded: “It’s hard to imagine now that we thought the most shocking thing a priest could do back then was father a child.
“The idea of a priest is a very valuable one... a good and wise person there to provide comfort to the sick and the dying and the poor.
“Surely society needs a person like this. This person is valuable, if not indispensable.
“But does that person have to be a male, celibate Catholic priest? I dunno.”
The Last Priests in Ireland airs on RTE One tomorrow at 9.35pm.
news@irishmirror.ie
The idea of a priest is a very valuable one... a good and wise person to give comfort