Singing For The Joy Of It The Priests Down Under

Catholic Communications, Sydney Archdiocese,
6 Apr 2009

Best-selling group, The Priests sing for the sheer joy of it with a mission to lift people's spirits and touch their hearts.

"We want our music to uplift people and bring them hope whether they are people of faith, struggling with their faith or have no faith at all," member of the group, Fr Martin O'Hagan says.

Insisting that their music is for everyone, he says that what is important is not whether someone is Catholic or non-Catholic but that the music touches them and lifts them spiritually and emotionally.

"Our approach is gentle," he insists with a smile. "We’re not on a crusade."

Like the two other singers in the group, tenor Fr Martin, 45 is a full-time ordained priest with his own parish in rural Northern Ireland. His elder brother Fr Eugene O’Hagan, 48 who is also a tenor and member of group, is based in a parish about an hour’s drive away while Fr David Delargy, 44, the trio’s baritone, ministers to a parish about 30 minutes’ away.

"We rehearse together and work together on our interpretations of each piece," Fr Martin says.

But because of their separate duties as full-time parish priests, and the distance between their parishes in Northern Ireland’s Diocese of Connor and Down, The Priests do not sing together when they conduct their weekly Sunday services.

Instead they sing solo. But during the week, when they have the time, they get together to rehearse. But for their parishioners and the rest of the world, the chance to hear these extraordinary musicians with their soaring voices and seamless harmonies is either in concert or on the album they released in November last year.

Titled simply The Priests, the album shot up the charts of 32 countries to become the fastest-selling classical album of all time and had the three self-effacing fun-loving clergymen in demand worldwide.

Now the threesome are travelling Down Under for their first and only concert in Australia which will be held at the Sydney Entertainment Centre on May 5.

The Priests’ trip to Australia is brief as the three priests do not like being away from their parishes for long and despite their burgeoning musical careers, insist that their duties as parish priests take priority. One of the provisos in their contract with Epic Records, a division of Sony BMG, is the proviso that their music does not interfere with their pastoral roles.

"We try not to be away from our parishes for more than five days at a time," Fr Martin says, pointing out that no matter what is happening in the music world, life in the parish goes on with its weddings, funerals, baptisms and Sunday worship.

But just because The Priests put their parishioners first, don’t think for a moment that this means that they are unmoved by the enormous success of their debut album or their sell-out concerts worldwide.

"It has been very exciting," Fr Martin O’Hagan smiles in an exclusive interview with the Sydney Archdiocese in Northern Island on the eve group’s trip Down Under.

"Initially we thought the album would just sell locally in the UK and Ireland and we’ve been overwhelmed with the global response," he says.

But what he insists makes the group’s virtual "overnight" success so meaningful is not the fame or accolades that have flooded in, but the chance for the three men to reach people throughout the world through their music.

"It’s an opportunity to portray faith but we hope by its very nature it will cross all boundaries," says Fr Martin.

What makes the Priests’ album such a standout is not only the choice of sacred arias such as Ave Maria, Panis Angelicus, Pie Jesu and Benedictus but the thrilling blend of harmonies by the tenor voices of the O’Hagan brothers matched with the rich deep baritone of Fr David.

Much of the album was recorded inside St Peter’s Basilica in Rome and was produced by Mike Hedges, the man behind the records of such great rock bands as Dido, The Cure and U2.

And yes, Fr Martin is quick to confess, The Priests enjoy rock’n’roll and confides that he would love to meet the bands in person, particularly U2.

"Or maybe, God willing, U2 might like to meet us," he teases.

As teenagers, Fr Eugene, Fr Martin and Fr David seldom missed British TV’s Top of the Pops evening program and while they are passionate about singing sacred and classical works, they admit they still enjoy listening to rock.

"We’re very catholic in our tastes," Fr Martin quips, laughing.

The group’s love of music encompasses all forms and includes not only modern music, rock and pop but rhythm and blues, country and everything in between.

While at boarding school near County Antrim, where Fr Martin and Fr Eugene first met Fr David, the three were in demand to play the leads in various Gilbert and Sullivan operas and as well as developing a love for operettas, they developed a love of rock and pop.

As a teenager, Fr Martin says his favourite band was the Irish rock group, Thin Lizzie, while teenage Fr David was a fan of New Wave band, Blondie with four years older, Fr Eugene choosing solo performers such as Sting and Tina Turner as his heroes.
 
But throughout school and at their years at the seminary in Ireland and later at the Pontifical Irish College, it was sacred music and Irish songs that held the three priests enthralled, and had fellow seminarians laughingly dubbing the three: "Holy,. Holy, Holy."

The three priests’ love of music, they say, began with their families.

"Eugene’s and my mother was the one who gently encouraged our singing," Fr Martin says, remembering the singalongs around the piano and joking that his family of two brothers and three sisters should have been dubbed the Von O’Hagans - a play on the Sound of Music’s famous Von Trapps.

But what he remembers most in those early years was his mother passing on her passion for music along with her profound faith and unwavering belief in God.

"She would sing Abide with Me and the Irish Blessing and Panis Angelicus to us as children," he says and says when The Priests recorded these tracks as part of their debut album it was a touching and poignant moment."

"Our mother died five years ago and May 5 is her birthday," Fr Martin says pointing out that this year, May 5 is also the date of the group’s debut concert in Sydney.

"It will be a very special day for us and we will be conscious of my mother’s presence and with our music, God Willing, we will give her a fitting tribute."

While neither Fr David nor the O’Hagan brothers have been to Australia before, they feel as if they know it well.

"Australia celebrates New Year’s Eve ahead of everyone else and on TV every year we see the fireworks on the Harbour Bridge and all the excitement," he says. "Now at last we will get a chance to see the Bridge in person and the Opera House, too I hope."

But no sooner will they finish their concert than they will be heading home to resume their duties as parish priests.

Not that the three fathers’ parishioners seem to be complaining about the occasional absences from the parish. Full of support and encouragement, they are pleased as punch at the success of the singing priests, and filled with what Fr Martin calls: "a quiet gentle pride."

His mother, if she were alive, would also be proud, Fr Martin says.

"Growing up many of our neighbours moved to Australia and I think if our mother knew we were going there ourselves and would be on stage at the Sydney Entertainment Centre, she’d be absolutely tickled pink and purring with contentment."