A LIFE OF MISTRUST ... AND SACRIFICE

IT USED to be considered a cushy number. A free university education, the chance to travel, accommodation and housekeeper provided, instant respect, a fair degree of power, opportunities for promotion, a pension, security for life.

Forgoing marriage and parenthood was a sacrifice but many a bachelor farmer was in the same boat only with the hardship of physical labour to add to his burden.

That was the perception of the Catholic priesthood in its heyday when Ireland was producing so many men of the cloth, they made for a thriving export trade.