DOES ANYONE ELSE FIND THE SINGING PRIEST RAY KELLY EMBARRASSING?
There is absolutely no doubt that he has a very good voice.
In fact I wrote to him when his singing first hit the news and congratulated him on his voice.
But has the attention gone to his head and is making him behave embarrassingly?
Those of us of a certain age, and not endowed with external beauty, need to conduct ourselves in a manner that suits our age, our appearance and our state in life.
And we all have to resist that narcissistic part that is in all of us that suggests to us that we are something that we are not.
So many priests nowadays present themselves as PERFORMERS when that is not what we are.
We priests, when it comes to Mass and the Sacraments are “celebrants” and “presiders”.
In the rest of our lives we are “pastors”.
Of course the Mass or Sacraments become more meaningful when the celebrant is warm and has the gifts of good preaching or even a good voice to lead the singing.
But our basic calling is to put Jesus Christ at the centre – and not ourselves.
Maybe priests, who are neither fathers or husbands are pushed towards narcissism because they live alone or do not have to negotiate their personal spaces to include a partner and children.
And on top of that goes the adulation priests gave traditionally received.
Pedestals are alright – but you run the risk of thinking you are better or different.
Father Kelly was apparently angry that he was not asked to sing for Pope Francis in Ireland?
I think he has lost his contract with his recording company too?
But he still has the best contract any priest could have – to be a parish priest.
BISHOP PAT BUCKLEY 