Is Easter still relevant in a secular Ireland?
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The Hard Shoulder with Ciarán Cuddehy. With the MG Hybrid and Electric range. On Newstalk. Right now, though, it gives me great, great pleasure to welcome Father Brian Darcy to the show. Happy Easter, Brian. And a happy Easter to you too and to all your team and indeed to all your listeners. What does this time of year mean for you?

Well, it's great because people do come out to church for it more than any other time of the year, bar Christmas. It's also not just, I belong to an order called the Passionists Order, which is supposed to preach the Passion. But actually, we have got sense to not realize that a Passion without a resurrection is not much use to anybody.

And so it's that whole mystery of the death and resurrection of Jesus, which gives joy to the whole world. It's not just to believers that that comes. Christ died for all. And I would say all things, not just all people. There's a new, there's a freshness of life, there's a purpose in creation.

There's a beauty of life, there's a sense of hope around that nothing else can give than the celebrations of the Easter season, the Easter weekend particularly. You know, when you describe yourself, so you're passionists and lots of people I think are vaguely familiar with this idea that you might have, you know, yourselves or Dominicans or Jesuits or Trappists or Cistercians, whatever it happens to be, but they don't necessarily understand the difference. They just see you all as...

Catholic priest. What is the difference? Well, I suppose in this, you know, religion, like every other kind of science, has its own sort of language, which means something to us, but not necessarily to other people. And the word that they would use would be a charism, which is a nice word, really. Every order has its own

what we would call charism, but that's not a word that means much to anybody else. What it means is that we have a special role, a special specification with us that we sort of concentrate on. And, you know, Redemptors would be on the redemption and the Dominicans would be on preaching and the Jesuits would be on

looking into great studies and theories and education and so forth. And each order has a charism. But it doesn't mean that we're the only ones. We have an exclusive right and a passion, but we should be people who walk with people in suffering, who from

the sufferings of Christ on the cross, we should be able to take things that means, which indicate to ordinary people in their sufferings that they are part of that suffering of Christ and that Christ is walking with them and that the best prayer they can use is to just, they don't have to use a prayer at all if they're able to live

peacefully with their sufferings, which is not an easy thing to do. That can be mental suffering, physical suffering, bereavement suffering, breakup suffering. I mean, there's hardly a day goes by that all of us in life are having some kind of suffering. And the passion ought to make sense of it. It doesn't take it away. It doesn't make it easier. It just means that it's not wasted.

And when you were deciding to become a priest, did you, like, how did you interrogate all those different orders?

Well, no, I didn't interrogate them, Ciarán, at all, because I had no sense to do that at that time. I joined the Passionists because they lived five miles from me. Convenience! Exactly. But you see, it did really in a sense of way, because when I was a young fellow growing up, the people in the monastery where I live now, the Grand, the priests at that time, when people were in trouble, they went to them. They went for blessings when they were sick. They went...

if they had something that they weren't able to confess to their own local priest, they would go to them and they still do it to this day. And I saw their role as being help in the down and outs, the marginalised, the people nobody else wanted, people not...

just with people with money, but actually with the working class and people with no money. And that was what attracted me to them. And, you know, it was their actions attracted me to them. I had no idea about the passion or anything else at that stage. It was only later that I learned that. But I saw by their way of life that they were useful and approachable and did help people, especially in times of trouble. And, you know, it hasn't changed a bit. That's what I would try to do to this very day.

That hasn't changed, that mission. I guess maybe the number of people who turn to the church, that's what's changed. Yeah, that has changed. That has changed. There's no question about that. And of course, the number of priests available to do it. You know, we would be on the struggling side at this stage. And

not without vocations, but not enough to continue the work. And we have to make choices about what work we can do. But, you know, the point I keep saying to our own men is, look, don't be worried about the future. What I concern is, what use am I today to people? And if I keep being useful today to people until the day I die, then God will supply something else when I do die. So for those people who...

in this day and age might not necessarily turn to you or to anyone else in the church in times of difficulty. What's your message to those people at Christmas? What would you like them to keep in their mind and keep in their heart over the next few days? Oh,

At Easter. Well, what I would really like them to do is that, you know, they're not forgotten. You know, sometimes if we can't believe in a God that we were brought up with, that's a good place to start. Well, then what is the element of your life that has a perspective beyond this life?

Is there any? And, you know, is there somebody in your life that loves you? Is there somebody in your life that you love? Is there somebody in your life that does good for other people and maybe yourself included? Look around simply for one thing. Look around for goodness rather than badness. Look around for helpfulness rather than awkwardness, whether it be in your family, in your local area, in your local football team, whatever it is.

Look around for people who are making the world a better place in small, small ways, but nevertheless making the world a better place. And that is resurrection in action. Whether we believe it or not, whether we believe in the resurrection or not,

doesn't matter. As long as we keep doing good, then we're spreading the good news that there is hope around. Father Brian Darcy, a pleasure as always. And once again, happy Easter, Brian. And the same to you, Ciarán. And thank you for giving me the opportunity. Always a delight. The Hard Shoulder with Ciarán Cudahy. With the MG Hybrid and Electric range. Weekdays from 4 on Newstalk. On sports, played on a field or ice or course. The Rivers is the place. Same game,

We'll put a smile on your face. BetRiver Sportsbook is your home for chance, where you can experience the thrill of betting on the sports you love. BetRiver Sportsbook. Download the app. Take a chance. Must be 21 plus and physically present in Pennsylvania or New Jersey. Void where prohibited. Terms and conditions apply. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.