The days when having a priest in the family was a common experience are fast disappearing in Ireland. Here, the nephew of a cleric says a fond farewell to his uncle – and to a way of life Amid the clutter on the desk in my study at home – the stapler, the notebooks, the bills – is a priest’s stole. A few weeks ago in Ireland, my priest uncle Paddy O’Brien died. After the funeral, my brother Ciaran asked me if there was something of Paddy’s that I would like to bring back to London with me. I chose the stole. I wanted a memory of a time when our family had a priest of its own.In Ireland of the 1940s and 1950s, the priesthood claimed many of its brightest and best young men. Richie, my Jesuit uncle, a Celtic studies graduate, went – improbably &nda