By Colm Bradley

It has been an emotional week for Fr Brian D'Arcy. His appearance on the Late Late Show last Friday was a draining experience for him. On it he discussed his new book - 'a Different journey' - which he describes as, a 'memoir of his life'.

Inevitably much of the interview with Late Late Show host Pat Kenny was centred on the fact that Fr Brian had revealed in the book that he had been sexually abused by two religious in his youth, when he was ten and 19 in Omagh and in Dublin. Brian, being a journalist and a realist, understood that this was "news" and that it was going to make headlines. But, it is unfortunate that thus far it has overshadowed the rest of the book.

Before the official launch of the book on Monday night in the City West Hotel, Brian took time to chat about some of the issues that were raised in 'A different Journey'. Maybe it is a a quirk of fate but it seems only right that as Fr Brian was training to become a priest, the church itself was examining its role in the world and, with the Second Vatican Council occurring alongside his training, it seemed that Brian and the church were about to enter a brave new world. I asked him what affect Vatican II had on himself and how he felt when Archbishop John Charles McQuaid returned to say that everything would stay the same.

"We were all hoping that things were going to change, and we were all hoping things would be different. All of a sudden, people were beginning to say that there was a new world, a new church and a new scholarship.

"And it was John the XXIII who said that there would be an open church, we were not to be an enclosed group anymore. He welcomed different religions which, for the time, was unheard of. Remember: it was a mortal sin to go to a Protestant church before that.

"It was very demoralising when he (Archbishop McQuaid) came back to say that nothing would change, but, at the same time, anybody who had read or studied knew that it was changing despite themselves."

All through his training Brian learned what he had to in order to pass his exams, but, at the same time he was also learning what he needed to know in order to minister to this new world, a world which, as he put it, was 'experiencing a new freedom'. In a way Brian has never stopped this dual type of learning, he has always been a priest who first and foremost tries to understand the people.

Are there not some people who accuse him of being a rebel?

" I would not be a natural rebel at all, but, what I would be and what I have always been was a very good reader of what people wanted and thought. That is not being a rebel, it is simply pastoral sensitivity. When it comes to doing things for people I have always done whatever had to be done to help people. I think I got this attitude from my mother, God be good to her. And this attitude is the basis of Christianity and nothing should ever stop you from doing this."

In a way, it is this very willingness to understand human beings that has made him something of a nuisance for the church hierarchy. Not that that bothers him.

"I suppose that has been the biggest tension in my life, trying to be a normal fella, but at the same time, not giving in and becoming a clerical club member and ganging up with a group of elitist people against a group of ordinary people.

"I will always be with the ordinary people. That may make me a rebel, it may make me an outcast, but I would feel more of an outcast if I was a bishop and ordinary people would not talk to me. That would be far worse in my mind."

On a number of occasions, this has led to him not being allowed to do his priestly duties, one parish priest actually telling him: 'you will never stand at my alter.' It is clear that this saddens Brian a great deal;

"I think that whole concept of 'my church' and 'my parish' is wrong. Its 'our church'. I think that is the important part of the book, not the abuse. I think that whole concept of 'my church' and 'my parish' is wrong. Its 'our church'. I think that is the important part of the book, not the abuse, although that will no doubt make the headlines. But, the real essence of the book is this pastoral side of things, it is about people making their own journey and recognising the worth of that journey."

After the inevitable question was asked about the abuse he suffered Brian explained the reluctance he felt in discussing it.

"It is not a thing that I want to talk about and I make it clear in the book that the reason that I did not want to talk about it was because I had to be very aware that in the terms of real abuse mine was relatively minor, although there is no such thing as minor abuse. I don't want to be building it up or be seen as out martyring."

When one reads the book, it becomes clear he spoke about it in what he thought was a private setting but, unfortunately his candidness among his Passionist peers was to cause the story to find its way out into the public domain.

It was unfortunate but it has given him some more authority when he speaks on this issue.

"The background is that it does give me some credibility to speak about abuse and to tell church men that what they are doing, moving people around, protecting people, is in fact re-abusing people."

Brian believes that the saddest line in the book is that which quotes the Boston attorney after he had studied more than 300 books of child abuse evidence against the church. It reads: 'When it came to the pinch the catholic church chose the protection of the institution over the protection of the children.'

Brian picks up on this quote,

"That to me is the greatest disgrace in the history of the church because Jesus said that unless you become like a little child you will never enter the kingdom of heaven - now if an institution is that far off the mark of what Jesus wanted it to be, then they have certainly lost their direction,"

Brian's book is about his journey but he wants those who read it to think of their journey. Speaking to the assembled guests later that night, he shared with them a favourite quote:

'We are not human beings on a spiritual journey. We are spiritual beings on a human journey.'

Fr Brian has always been a human being first and foremost and a priest second. Perhaps it is this very fact, this raw humanity which has allowed him to touch so many lives.