Aidan Troy, the Ardoyne priest who is being transferred to Paris, has called on his order to explain to parishioners why he is being moved. The switch has caused anger in north Belfast, and Troy has said the Catholic church authorities should listen to what people were saying.

“I think there is something wrong when a leadership of any organisation, particularly a gospel-driven community like the church, is not listening to the voices on the ground,” he said yesterday.

A native of Bray, Co Wicklow, Troy came to international prominence in 2001 during the loyalist picket of the Holy Cross girls’ school. He helped to escort the primary school pupils past a jeering mob.

The Passionate Order is now moving Troy to Paris, after seven years in Belfast. Locals believe they should have been consulted before losing their priest.

“They are basically saying, ‘if we are the people of God and we own the church, why have we not been asked?’ There is immense anger,” Troy said. “It is out of control at the minute and thousands of petition signatures will not make any difference to the church’s decision.”

Troy said he was not calling for the order to reverse its decision, but that its silence made the situation worse. “Already people are telling me they will stop attending mass here which would be a huge shame,” he said. “Something has happened that the church leadership does not know how to deal with and I have found it very uncomfortable.”

The 62-year-old priest said he had done nothing heroic, he merely dealt with a set of circumstances at the time of the Holy Cross dispute, which cemented a deep relationship with his parish. The loyalist blockade of the girls’ primary school in Ardoyne was Troy’s first challenge as parish priest.

“Some people think I walked up the road during the dispute because I was some kind of crusader, but that’s not true. If the people had said, ‘you’ll cause immense trouble walking up that road, don’t do it,’ I would have said, ‘thanks be to God.’

“In fact having me with them created a kind of barrier against further violence. My main fear was that a child could be killed and that it would re-ignite the Troubles.”

He says areas like Ardoyne were still beset with mistrust and insecurity. “The area is not as settled as Stormont or the city centre and other areas like the Lisburn Road with its great shops and trendy restaurants. If you look at Mount Vernon or parts of Ballymena you realise that life is still quite delicate,” he said. The priest believes it will take “generations” to get over the residual hatred caused by the Troubles.

Troy was informed on August 13 about his transfer to an English-speaking parish in Paris on September 30. “I have taken a vow of obedience and I have absolute faith in my vocation, otherwise I would view this as just dirty politics.”

Last Wednesday, hundreds of schoolchildren walked to the Holy Cross church in a show of solidarity but Troy did not walk with them. “It is the nearest thing to being at your own funeral: most people don’t live to hear people saying, ‘this is what you meant to us.’ I am getting the flowers when I am still alive,” he said.

Martin Campbell is one of the local signatories of a petition to the church that Troy be allowed to stay. “Father Troy was there for me at all times of the day and night,” he said.

Troy has told his parishioners not to lose heart. “I got a phone call last week to advise me that a woman was on her way to chain herself to the door of the church, I urged her not to. I asked the people not to protest, but they are hurt and angry. It’s my view that the powers-that-be should at least sit down and talk to them, but not to change their decision.”

However, he did say that If given the choice, he would work in the community in a pastoral capacity, particularly with suicide prevention groups.

He will say mass daily at the Holy Cross church until the end of September, with his last public function being a wedding on the 27th. “I fell in love with the Ardoyne community. They imparted courage and a wisdom that has changed me beyond anything I could ever have hoped for,” he said.

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