LIKE the prophet Jeremiah, who was a sensitive and shy man, I would much prefer to bring better tidings . . ." wrote Archbishop Dermot Clifford in The Irish Times last year, defending yet another characteristically controversial sermon on divorce.
The remarkable aspect of this is that in conversations with acquaintances about the powerful man himself, the words "sensitive" and "shy" are not the adjectives that spring most readily to mind.
Terms such as "hot headed", "impulsive", "short fused", on the other hand, crop up repeatedly. The archbishop takes his position very seriously indeed, and flashpoints are known to include doing anything without his permission, questioning his judgments or decisions, or "doing anything that intrudes on his space".
Journalists are among those who have felt the sting of his impulsive ire, as has at least one soul who failed to address him by his correct title (as in "Your Grace").
"He has the capacity to offend everyone sooner or later because of his short temper, especially on the telephone," says one senior churchman. "He doesn't like being questioned at all." Others describe him as "distant". "He likes to be central in any situation he's involved in," says a local priest, "and if someone interferes with that, he can react badly."
In regard to this week's controversy, another churchman says: "If the issue had been debated in Maynooth, he would have been allowed to let off steam and that would have been the end of it."
In regard to this week's controversy, another churchman says: "If the issue had been debated in Maynooth, he would have been allowed to let off steam and that would have been the end of it."
This week's controversy has a context that may explain the ambivalent response of some priests to it. For one thing, there is some understandable resentment among them about the practical teething problems presented by the new civil marriage requirements.
With the introduction of the mandatory three month notice in the new Family Law Act their discretion to perform marriages within the three month period has been removed and there is a sense of being taken very much for granted even while they are "doing the State a lot of favours in looking after the civil aspect of weddings and saving it a lot of money".
There is also a current of unease among some about any church involvement in the civil part of the marriage. This is based on the fear that couples in church weddings will fail to make a clear distinction between what, in the eyes of some churchmen, now amounts to two different levels of commitment in our brave new divorce era: that required by the church (which still maintains that marriage is for life, no ifs or buts, unless you want to involve the Catholic Marriage Tribunal) and that of the State.
But in this instance, the churchmen were keeping their powder dry, appreciative of the fact that the State has mirrored the church's own long standing requirement of a three month waiting period and opting for co operation rather than confrontation.
The archbishop, however, opted squarely for the latter. He simply issued his own guidelines, advising his priests, in cases where it was impossible to get the necessary court exemption from the three month requirement in time, to go ahead with the religious wedding ceremony anyway.
He did this in the full knowledge that those marriages would be invalid in the eyes of the law, with all the implications for property and inheritance rights.
Over the years, in sermons and through the media (which he constantly reviles, nonetheless), he has also made known his social concerns, seeking temporary dole for emigrants abroad, for example, more State aid for carers, a comprehensive service for the adult mentally handicapped, and greater efforts to enhance young people's self worth to help reduce the suicide rate.
He was a persistent opponent of Feile while the rock festival was held in Thurles. Told in 1994 that it was not as bad as the year before, he commented: "When it comes to orgies, the question, of scale scarcely counts.
He has seized every opportunity to express his uncompromising opposition to divorce, suggesting at one point last year that official information leaflets in advance of the referendum should carry a Government health warning, "Divorce seriously damages your health".
His views, frequently and forcefully articulated, define him as a model of the conservative orthodoxy favoured by Rome, and no doubt sit well with those of the current incumbent there as well as a few members of the Irish Hierarchy. But that is not necessarily where some priests in the archdiocese look for their inspiration.
Referring to others of the Munster Hierarchy men such as Bishops Walsh and Lee in Killaloe and Waterford, for example one priest says: "The face of the Munster Hierarchy has changed in the past few years. Archbishop Clifford is part of the old brigade. These new bishops have learned to ask questions in a new way.
