Father David O'Hanlon (born 1969) is an Irish Roman Catholic priest and theologian. His attacks on the President of Ireland, members of the Irish hierarchy and fellow priests, and the Irish news media earned him notoriety. His critique of liberalism, drawing on some of the philosophical presuppositions of writers such Alasdair MacIntyre and Roger Scruton, has received praise and criticism in Ireland.
Early life
O'Hanlon was born in 1969 at Boyerstown, a village and townland near Navan, County Meath. He received his early education at the Boyerstown National School and at St. Patrick's Classical School in Navan.
He entered St. Patrick's College, Maynooth, as a clerical student for the diocese of Meath in 1987. He gained a double first class honours in Greek and Latin for his Bachelor of Arts degree.
Transferred to the Pontifical Irish College, Rome, he obtained a first class degree in theology at the Gregorian University in 1993, and a Licentiate of Sacred Theology, with specialization in Patristics from the Augustinianum in 1997. His thesis was entitled The Symbolum Antiochenum of 433: The Self Defeating Culmination of a Christological Novelty, and attracted much academic praise for its ground-breaking work.
Ordained to the priesthood in 1995, O'Hanlon was appointed curate in the County Meath parish of Kentstown, near Navan. In 2007, he began research for a Doctorate in Sacred Theology in Rome.
Fr. O'Hanlon is currently the curate in the parish of Summerhill, County Meath.
Denouncing another priest
O'Hanlon rose to public prominence in the 1990s due to a controversial interview he gave to Gay Byrne on RTÉ's The Late Late Show in which he disagreed strongly with members of the studio audience and a fellow Catholic priest, Iggy O'Donovan, who was on the panel. During the discussion (which the presenter extended, postponing other parts of the show, such was the ferocity of the debate), O'Hanlon controversially denounced another priest mentioned by a member of the audience as a "charlatan", a "fraud" and a "hypocrite".
Mary Robison's visit to the Vatican
O'Hanlon caused controversy when in an Irish Times article in 1997 he attacked Irish President Mary Robinson for her behaviour and attire during a visit to the Vatican. He accused Mary Robinson of: dressing inappropriately for a visit to Pope John Paul II by not wearing black and not wearing a mantilla; O'Hanlon described Robinson's attire as "bedizened in Kelly green, showy jewellery and—to boot—a sprig of vegetation". showing the Pope disrespect by not paying a state visit to him earlier in her term of office; breaking Vatican protocol by visiting the Vatican while on a state visit to Italy; breaking Vatican protocol by not being accompanied by her chaplain and by not visiting the tomb of Saint Peter.
O'Hanlon alleged that Robinson wanted to get herself turned away from the Vatican for being "improperly dressed". He even claimed there was precedent for a high-ranking woman visitor to the Pope being turned away for being improperly dressed, citing Paola of Belgium in the early 1960s.