“We need to reflect on our various journeys.” says Brian D’Arcy in his autobiography “A Different Journey” which was published last year.
He was encouraged to put pen to paper by friends who knew of his rich and varied experiences at the centre of Irish life during a period of unprecedented change in Irish society, as we as a nation ‘grew up’.
He also documents the period of turbulence for the Catholic Church which followed Pope John Paul II’s visit in 1979. He remembers: “In my mind’s eye I can still see the million-plus people stretched across the plains of the Phoenix Park, all neatly fenced into manageable squares on a beautiful day when the atmosphere was as close to heavenly as you can get on this earth.” No-one that day could have predicted the troubles that were later to beset our national faith.
The book recounts Brian’s very personal story through key events that were happening in our history and contains his own personal philosophy as he encounters himself through experiences where he is bound to reflect and to grow spiritually. The book is full of famous names from show-business and sport, his two main passions.
He recalls entering the Graan monastery in 1962 aged 17 in Enniskillen, five miles from his home in Bellanaleck as a novice in the Passionist order. He describes the three-fold deprivation of love, food and sleep designed to break you and the strict regime of that year where every hour was accounted for.
The order demanded the three vows of chastity, poverty and obedience and trained students to mortify their eyes by walking with their heads bent and eyes cast to the ground. “The bleakness was awful.”
Thereafter, he describes more freedom when he went to Dublin to Mount Argus to become a priest and also attended UCD. His first escapade was to sneak out of the monastery the night the Beatles came to the Adelphi.
Thereafter, the modernisation of Ireland is told through the history of music, mainly Brian’s involvement with the showbands.
Brian says that the showbands brought glamour, excitement and travel. For the people that followed them, happy memories and self-confidence. Astonishingly, there were, at one time 600 full-time professional bands playing up and down the country and they helped in no small part to bring north and south closer together. He says then “If I was asked when the Golden Age declined, I would have to say it was when the Miami Showband were murdered. That’s the day the music died.”
Brian D’Arcy is also known for his work in journalism and was the first priest in Ireland to become a member of the N.U.J. He was editor of ‘The Cross’, the magazine of the Passionist Order, has been writing his column Father Brian’s Little Bit of Religion for The Sunday World for thirty years, broadcasts on radio ‘Pause for thought’ for the BBC and has appeared on several, memorable and controversial Late Late Shows.
A lot of people will remember his showdown with Cardinal Daly at the height of the church scandals. He says “The clerical club, right to the very top, closed ranks and by their constant denials destroyed the credibility of our church.”
Brian reflects on his own vocation, saying that God takes no pleasure in unnecessary loneliness and strongly advocates that priests be allowed to marry. He also thinks that the church can only be saved by an interested and educated laity.
‘A Different Journey’ contains much more and is a distinctly Irish biography. It is excellent, as it is full of fond reminiscences for those who have grown up at the same time. There are also many reflections on poetry, art, lyrics, philosophy and doctrine and there are some hilarious moments.
To finish, he says “The personal lives of showbiz friends, the crippling doubts of politicians, as well as the mistakes of the famous and influential, will go to the grave with me.” About the journey, he says “It’s worth recognising that the journeys we think we’re making for the first time are as old as time itself.”
Above: Two ‘men in black’. Brian with Johnny Cash.