Roy Exum
Last April, in the special way that only some older men are lucky enough to possess, the childish imp came out in Father Ray Kelly. A parish priest in Oldcastle, Ireland, he was conducting wedding vows for a handsome couple when the 62-year-old decided to surprise them with a totally-unscripted rendition of Leonard Cohen’s beautiful song, “Hallelujah.”
When he did, there soon unfolded a series of happenstance that only people of faith can grasp. It seems the wedding was being videoed by a company owned by County Tyrone man Patrick Rushe, who would later tell the BBC, “The band Sunlight, who had been doing the music for the wedding, had just finished singing when (the mischievous priest) put on the backing track, but people were looking at them as they didn’t know where the music was coming from – they were shaking their heads and saying it wasn’t them.”
No, it was Father Kelly, who loves to sing and has done so all of his life as a hobby.
He changed the lyrics a bit, making them more suitable for a wedding: “We join here today, to help two people on their way …” he sang in a miraculous perfect pitch and, as they say in the music business, a star was brilliantly and gloriously made at age 62.
Father Kelly’s “surprise” made it onto YouTube and now, in just 11 months, over 40 million people worldwide have rejoiced in it. Next week his new album, “Where I Belong” will make a St. Patrick’s Day debut in the United States – it’s already gone Platinum in Ireland and Great Britain – and it appears Ray’s life has taken a rather dramatic upswing.
His humility as a priest has thus far been his salvation in the whirlwind of the past year. “We had rehearsed for the wedding on Thursday night and I told the bride, “Sure, so maybe I’ll sing an aul song for you myself. She grinned and said, ‘OK, sure’ but I don’t think she took it seriously.
“Normally local people know I sometimes sing at weddings, funerals, or when I am asked, but they didn’t know. The bride Leah is from Dublin and the groom Chris is from Cookstown in County Tyrone,” Father Kelly explained. “They were having the reception at a hotel about 10 miles away and asked to use our church.”
The newly-married couple was shocked to learn, as they honeymooned in Mexico, the YouTube video got 2.7 million hits in the first four days. “Chris said it was madness and Leah said her dad was freaking out but in a good way,” Father Kelly said in an interview.
Ray Kelly’s first life was in civil service, working in Dublin until he was called into the priesthood at age 29. He studied seven years before he became ordained in 1989 and was a missionary in pre-apartheid South Africa for two years, as well as serving as an Army chaplain and for the church for the next nine years. In 2006 he was appointed as parish priest in Oldcastle and has seen it all, heard confessions, married and buried.
So how very cool it is that what he had intended as both a good-natured prank and a surprise, his God used to vault him into world fame? Father Kelly has made it quite clear he intends to remain a full-time priest but the church is most supportive and has made it clear that when he’s away from the parish, they’ll provide a substitute priest so he can enjoy his new-found ministry.
The album will contain some secular songs, such as R.E.M’s “Everybody Hurts” and Eric Clapton’s “Tears in Heaven.” The priest told Christian Today, “I picked those because they are great songs. ‘Everybody Hurts,’ there is a great message there because everyone struggles from time to time. To me, that’s very, very strong, and Christian as well.
“Then, of course, there are the Irish songs – ‘O Danny Boy,’ “Galway Bay,’ and ‘Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears’” he said, “because we knew we were going to do the launch in the U.S. and we wanted to have kind of an Irish flavor.
“Hopefully I will get to perform a concert in the U.S. at some point and that the album will carry the songs of God’s heart to all that will hear. That’s my wish really,” he said. “A lot of the songs are prayerful for me … I hope they will touch a chord with people. That’s the important thing for me.”
If the YouTube reaction is any indication, Father Kelly has already struck “a cord,” starting with a bride and groom and rippling to another 40 million and counting worldwide. Then there is one more winner --a 14-year-old girl, Lucy Pitts-O’Conner, who worships with Father Kelly.
Four years ago when Lucy was 10, she wrote the changed lyrics to Hallelujah that Father Kelly sang at the wedding, “I wanted to make the song personal for my godmother’s wedding,” the teenager said. “Father Kelly asked for the words and has been singing them ever since, just changing the names of the bride and groom.
“My teachers are very shocked and really happy that it has gotten so big,” she laughed and so does Father Kelly. “I was looking at the video of Lucy singing and it brought back a lot of memories. When all this broke I couldn’t remember where I got the lyrics at first, but now I’m delighted to see her get the recognition and her mum and dad as well.”
Wow! Is this a God thing or what!
royexum@aol.com