No room at the inn for singing priest
International singing sensation Fr Ray Kelly has expressed his disappointment that he has not been asked to perform for Pope Francis in Croke Park during his planned visit to Ireland later this Summer. However, the Britain’s Got Talent semi finalist revealed that he will jet off to America in September where he is scheduled to do seven or eight concerts.
“I don’t expect any phone calls at this stage, it is just one of those things,” the popular Oldcastle parish priest told The Anglo-Celt yesterday (Tuesday).
Controversy erupted this week when it was revealed that Country music star Nathan Carter had been selected to perform a rendition of ‘Everybody Hurts’ as part of the line-up of Papal entertainment. The REM hit, however, had become synonymous with Fr Ray during the summer as the priest’s version of the song earned him a place in the live shows of Britain’s Got Talent. Not alone that but Fr Ray’s special wedding version of ‘Hallelujah’ has clocked up over 60M views on youtube.
The Croke Park music show, it’s understood, is being put together by Tyrone Productions and will feature Nathan Carter, Daniel O’Donnell and the Three Tenors, among others.
A naturally disappointed Fr Kelly remarked: “Life goes on. Nobody died. We are all on this journey together. We will do the best we can... In the meantime, I’m off to America in September. I have seven or eight concerts planned out there. The people out there want to hear me sing; that is important too. That is my holiday time, I take my holidays to do that.”.
Wishing Nathan Carter and the other performers well, Fr Ray admitted that he felt “ignored” and said he would love to have sang the song with Nathan.
But the faithful priest is still looking forward to the Papal visit and the World Meeting of Families. “I have a bus load of people going up to the Phoenix Park on the Sunday to be at the mass. I have a ticket booked. At the moment my plan is to be on the bus with the people from the parish.”
Saved lady from suicide
Fr Ray further revealed that he had been emailed by a lady claiming that his performance of ‘Everybody Hurts’ on Britain’s Got Talent had stopped her from taking her own life.
“She said she had her suicide letter written. By chance she found me on You Tube sing the song ‘Everybody Hurts’, she said ‘I literally felt the grace of God wash over me’ and she could now live with the pain and hope. She says ‘God placed you on that stage for a reason – I believe you impacted many other people in the same way’. She wished me well and I emailed her back and thanked her. She is actually doing well now,” he said.