Father Michael Cleary

Michael Cleary ( - 1993) was an Irish Roman Catholic priest and broadcaster. He presented a late-night radio phone-in show in Dublin in the 1980s and hosted his own television chat show. He also published a book about maintaining faith in the modern world and released two albums of songs. Three weeks after his death from cancer in 1993, The Phoenix magazine revealed that Michael Cleary had fathered a child with his housekeeper, Phyllis Hamilton. [ [http://www.rte.ie/tv/scannal/MichaelCleary.html In the Name of the Father RTÉ] ]

"Father Michael Cleary" had one of the highest profiles of any clerics in Ireland throughout the 1970s and 1980s, once claiming that he had tried every drug except heroin. He was particularly devoted to raising the issue of poverty in Ireland, and particularly in Dublin, where he was well known in inner-city communities.

Michael Cleary's secret life revealed

Three weeks after his death in 1993, The Phoenix, a national news magazine, published an article revealing that Father Michael Cleary had fathered a child, Ross Hamilton, to his longtime housekeeper Phyllis Hamilton. This claim was subsequently confirmed by DNA analysis. It emerged that Fr Cleary lived with his common-law wife and son while pretending that he was merely giving employment and assistance to Phyllis Hamilton. Phyllis explained in a ghost-written memoir of her relationship with the priest that Fr Clearly had also taken marriage vows with her in a private ceremony with no third party present. [Secret Love: My Life with Father Michael Cleary" by Phyllis Hamilton and Paul Williams (1995) Mainstream Publishing- now out of print]

The story of Father Michael Cleary's secret life is told in the film "At Home With The Clearys", produced and directed by Alison Millar. [ [http://www.terntv.com/programmedetails.php?pid=34&type=1 Film: At Home with the Clearys] ]

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