Longford man to work on Vatican global study on children of priests

A Longford author has been praised by the Vatican for his passion writing the first book in history on the children of priests and invited to be part of a global study into the 'phenomenon'.

Vincent Doyle (41) who hails from Longford town is the son of Fr JJ Doyle who served in Ardagh and Edgeworthstown throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

Fr Doyle died from lung cancer in 1995.

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But it was not until 2011 that Vincent was shocked to discover that Fr Doyle, a priest he knew very well, was his dad.

He realised there was no mechanisms in place to support people in similar situations and in 2012 he established a website - copinginternational.com.

The website was subsequently funded by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin.

In 2017, the psychotherapist was behind new guidelines entitled 'Principles of Responsibility regarding priests who father children while in ministry' that were established by the Catholic Church in relation to supporting children whose fathers were priests.

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In 2014, when he was working on the guidelines Mr Doyle met Pope Francis in Rome and discussed his work.

Vincent's first book 'Our Fathers, A Phenomenon of Children of Catholic Priests and Religious', which was published in 2022.
"The Vatican got a hold of it and they said it was the first of its kind in history, which was a huge honour," he said. "There has never been a study, it has never ever been done so I was very pleased with that."

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Vincent explained that he initially had a contract and a publishing deal with a leading publisher who asked him to write a 70,000 word book on the topic in about six months.

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He completed the book within the tight timeframe, however, due to editorial differences shortly before the book was due to be published they parted ways.

"I think they wanted to sensationalise it and to make it more tacky, the title I wanted was 'Our Fathers' but they wanted 'Our Fathers Who Art in Hiding," he says. "I did not agree to it because I wanted it to be an academic book."

Vincent subsequently got two more publication deals but they could not agree terms.

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"I thought about binning it and it was my wife who said, 'No self publish it', he recalls. "So I ended up self publishing. It's done reasonably well, but I think it would be done better if I had a publishing company behind it."

Vincent stated the Vatican has officially taken the book on board and praised his work and two weeks ago he was invited to be part of a global study into the phenomenon of children of priests.

The secretary of the Pontifican Commission for the Protection of Minors at the Vatican, Luis Manuel Ali Herrera wrote to Vincent and invited him to be part of the global study and thanked him for his passion regarding the issue of children of priests.

"The Commission, with the Vulnerability Study Group, has started to outline the necessary theological, spiritual and anthropological context in which vulnerability may arise, and to get a deeper understanding of vulnerability as a concept and the myriad considerations that apply to it in the life of the church," the letter stated.

Ali Herrera also asked Vincent in the correspondence if he would also be able to contribute to their study by providing studies, research projects or publications he is aware of.

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"It would be helpful for the Commission and the Study Group to map out future research if you could share your thoughts on how vulnerability -broadly defined as the abuse of power and exploitation of relationships -affects (or might affect) the lives and experiences of children of priests and their mothers, particularly regarding their identity and human dignity," the Vatican secretary added.

Vincent, who attended St Mel's College, has a long history of penning poetry and creative writing in Longford, insists the stance the Vatican is now taking is a significant step.

"What the Vatican declared in March and there is a letter stating it is that the children of priests are now considered vulnerable children or vulnerable adults and they are not to be excluded from the cohort of people considered clerical abuse victims," he said. "They are in the remit of clerical abuse victims and that is a monumental step forward."

Vincent believes the label attached to abuse and whether a person believes they are a victim is very much down to the individual.

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"Abuse is ad hoc, it's a case by case but you can be conceived in a stable, loving relationship and then go on to endure colossal amounts of stigma because of the nature of your conception because this secrecy that you should bring with you," he added.
Vincent has strong family connections to the church.

His uncle Rev. Michael Doyle formerly of Rossduff, Aughnacliffe, county Longford, spent six decades in the US before he died two years ago.