How to fall from grace on the back of an Evel Knievel protest lorry

IT would have been fine to be seen with Fr Brian D’Arcy a couple of weeks ago, but right now, you’d want to steer clear of him, since the day when he was seen on the back of a lorry — in and of itself so repellently resonant of rural demagoguery — along with the Quinn family.

It would have been acceptable for him to express solidarity with them in private. Appropriate, even. But to take part in a rally supporting lawbreakers has been seen as a step too far.

Roughly a month ago, things were very different. Fr D’Arcy was rendered heroic by the revelation that the Vatican had set a censor over him to make sure his writings stayed within the rules. This clip over the ear made him — briefly — persona grata with the kind of people who might have regarded him as a lightweight specialising in the funerals of pop stars.