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The ‘Judas’ priests The Irish Mail on Sunday July 17 • 2016

One lost his virginity against a coconut tree, another to a ‘floozy’. Irish ex-clerics reveal why celibacy drove them to leave the Church By Jim Gallagher

THIRTEEN former priests have revealed how their battle with celibacy forced them to quit their vocation – including one who lost his virgnity against a coconut tree. The ex-Columban missionaries claimed they could not cope with a life of loneliness and left the order to have their own ­families. In a candid RTÉ documentary – The Judas Iscariot Lunch to be shown tomorrow night – one of the former priests admitted he went to a ‘floozy’ for his first sexual experience. Another told how he was propositioned by a secretary while working in the Philippines, but the encounter up against a coconut tree was ‘a disaster’. The title of the documentary refers to a comment made by Pope Paul VI calling priests who quit their vows ‘Judases’ after the apostle who betrayed Jesus. But the former priests, who meet every year for a ‘Judas’ lunch, see themselves as pioneers while condemning the Church’s ‘man-made’ celibacy vow. Some of them revealed just how innocent they were in the 1960s and 1970s as they began their new missionary life. Aged 17 or 18, they were unprepared for life in a different culture when they were sent to places like East Asia, the Pacific and South America. James Kennedy, 82, from Pallisnagrane, Co. Limerick, said: ‘Looking back now I do not think I your bosses, your orders, then had any faith. All I had was social there is nothing much to do except conditioning and I went along with walk out even though you have no it. You let the teachers – I call them job and nowhere to go.’ For Tony O’Dwyer, 79, from Co. the camel drivers – drive you through the desert and you end up Galway, the priesthood was an escape route. ‘In 1956, 50,000 emiordained. ‘When you are disillusioned with grated from Ireland. The priest-

LADS WHO LUNCH: Tony O’Dwyer and Joe O’Grady reminisce about their ‘innocent’ days, above; Donal MacDonald, left, recalls his disastrous sexual encounter against a coconut tree in the Philippines hood was the only alternative we had,’ he said. ‘Either work on the building or motorways of England or maybe go to the States or else become a priest. At 17, it was easy because you did not fully appreciate what you were letting yourself in for. We wanted to please people, we wanted to be heroes, we would go off to the missions and die for Christ.’ The result was that the ex-clerics were totally unprepared for celibacy and the vast cultural ­differences they encountered. Donal MacDonald, 74, from Wilkinstown, Co. Meath, said ­celibacy in the Philippines was ‘no big deal’ and an old priest from the region told him the locals were ‘very understanding’. ‘He said if you are going to have a girlfriend don’t do it in your own parish but in the next ­ parish,’ Donal recalled as he confessed to a disastrous sexual encounter ­himself. ‘I was coming back with

one of the secretaries from a meeting with farmers. I was driving and she said, “Have you ever had sex?” I said, “No” and she replied, “Stop the Jeep”. We got out and up against a ­ coconut tree absolute disaster happened. Back in the Jeep again she said, “You are very much a priest and seem to know nothing about these things and how things work.”’ Joe O’Grady, 77, from Cloonacool, Co. Sligo, revealed his first sexual experience was with a

‘I wanted to live the life of an ordinary lay man ’ ‘floozy’ in London after he had left the missions. ‘I may as well tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I am not happy about that but that’s the true story,’ he said. Joe admitted he is no longer a believer today and said his unhappy seminary years were ‘a waste of time’. According to 84-year-old Frank Keogh, from Ballinlough, Co. Meath, if priests had been allowed

to marry many would have stayed on. ‘Gradually I began to feel unhappy and lonely,’ he said. ‘I did not fall in love with anyone but I thought I would like a normal married life and that was not available until I left the priesthood. Part of the reason for leaving was celibacy, companionship and love. ‘I was very happy when I made the decision and never regretted it. I wanted to live the life of an ordinary lay man.’ Brian Smyth, 73, from Skryne, Co. Meath – who had two brothers already Redemptorist priests – realised how immature he was after arriving in the Far East. ‘I was talking to fathers and mothers of families who knew much more about life than me,’ he said. ‘It was a very empty, lost period and I suffered bouts of depression and just did not see any meaning in things. ‘And the whole celibacy thing, you did not receive guidance around that at all or any warnings about how to handle it or warnings about the temptations.’ lThe Judas Iscariot Lunch, RTÉ One, Monday 9.35pm. [email protected]

Tourists left in lurch as holiday f irm goes bust IRISH holidaymakers are among hundreds of thousands of travellers who had their summer holidays thrown into chaos yesterday after budget travel agent, Low Cost Holidays collapsed. The company, which is run by business tycoon Paul Evans, ceased trading last night. Some 27,000 of its customers are currently overseas on holidays – and another 110,000 have booked trips. It is not yet known how many Irish people are set to lose out, but a large number of Irish people took to the company’s Facebook over the past 48 hours to complain. One poster, Niamh Hegarty, wrote: ‘I was due to travel with them on Tuesday to Corfu for two weeks.

By Laura Colgan and Valerie Hanley

The only way to contact my hotel is through email, so I’m waiting for them to get back to me. ‘But I haven’t an extra pile of cash lying around to rebook anything. Fuming.’ Aoife Power posted on the same site: ‘I just contacted my hotel, they will honour the booking for the price I paid, but we need to pay on arrival and try

collapse: Low Cost Holidays

and claim back our money from Low Cost Holidays. ‘I’ve tried the email address and just got an automatic response. No real answers.’ The collapse of LowCostHolidays is particularly controversial because, while it sells trips to Irish customers, its offices are in Spain. The company had an annual turnover in Ireland of €50million. It also emerged that many already abroad could be forced to pay extra for hotels, airport transfers and car parking as these bills may not

have been paid by the operator. It is thought all return flights are covered, but those who have yet to make a trip risk losing their summer holiday altogether. The Consumer Association of Ireland has urged anyone affected to get on to their credit card company or bank to flag a potential problem. Eoghan Corry of TravelExtra.ie said the development would put to the test the Commission for Aviation Regulation’s (CAR) bonding scheme, which aims to ­prevent travellers from being stranded while abroad. ‘About three-quarters of Low Cost’s business will be covered by that, but about one quarter isn’t because of the way the system has evolved since then,’ he said.