I think he
was ex-communicated, Sara. I don't think he lost much sleep over it.
His story about his first day at school, at a convent in Dublin:-
There was a crucifix on the wall and he had never seen one before.. One of the nuns said to him, "You will be a good boy." He looked at the crucifix, a man nailed to a cross, and said to himself (you had to hear him say it), "Yes, I
will be a good boy".
This world's a poorer place with the passing of men like him and the late, lovely Dermot Morgan (Father Ted), who took the pomp and hypocracy out of the institution of Religion.