FR. P.J. MADDEN is some man. He's variously been a nurse, a husband, a trade union leader, a lobbyist and rescue worker and is not afraid to speak candidly about his vast life experiences.

Now the curate in the parishes of Graiguecullen, Killeshin and Arles, the 60-something-year-old exudes an intelligence and passion about what fires him. He's fiercely supportive of trade unions, credit unions and the Catholic Church. He's also incensed about the horrible effects that drugs have in the parish and is appealing to the public to come forth with information about drug pushers.

But before coming here, he started his life as a priest after his beloved wife, Mary, died from cancer in 1999. The couple had already lived in New Orleans and so, in one of life's great twists, P.J. ended up returning to the city to study for his Masters in Theology degree.

'At the time of Mary's death, I was so angry with God that I couldn't pray or feel positive about anything religious,' he recalls. 'I spoke with Fr. Willie Moran, a Carmelite priest in Avila, Dublin. He said to me that my 29 years of marriage to Mary, whom he knew very well, was the best preparation anyone could have and that I should go for it.'

In 2005, just as he was ordained and working in the parish of Houma – Thibodaux, 60 miles from New Orleans, hurricane Katrina struck, leaving in her wake a region torn asunder by devastation that it's still recovering from.

'I saw bodies floating, houses floating, buildings collapsing with the whole area being without power or water for three weeks,' he recalls. 'It was unbelievable that in the most developed country it took so long to organise the recovery. This was partly due to the fact that there was confusion between the federal government and the local government.'

'The federal government failed miserably, not just after the hurricane, but previously because they didn't give the funds necessary to build secure levees around the Mississippi river and New Orleans. It was negligence,' he continues. 'Many of those poor people lost their homes and entire possessions. Several thousands of families were evacuated and haven't been able to return.'

Though Fr. P.J. had lived as a lay person in the city of New Orleans and then again in Houma-Thibodaux as a priest, he was still shocked to the core at the scenes he witnessed.

'Like everyone else, I was in a state of total shock that such destruction could occur,' he says. 'But my parish had a major community centre which became a location for the housing of 300 families at a time. In that regard, I'd no alternative but to work for those people and to administer to their needs with their fears, anxiety and sense of real bereavement at the loss of family, possessions and their pets. In the initial phase, families were split up and people were unaware if their relatives had survived or not.' The U.S. government came in for fierce criticism on their handling of the crisis, a situation in which they learnt some lessons, Fr. P.J. believes and which are now being applied to Haiti. Having worked and helped people in Louisiana in the aftermath of Katrina, Fr. P.J. returned to Ireland just last summer when he took up his position in Graiguecullen. He and Fr. John Dunphy get on great and cajole each other like they were old friends and he says that he was overwhelmed by the warmth of the reception he received from local parishioners. But the move from the USA to his home soil wasn't as easy as he'd anticipated.

'The transition was more difficult because of the negative image of the church here in Ireland,' he points out. 'The attitude in Ireland is much more casual in that the church forms a natural part of the landscape. People presume it's there when it's needed. Because of that, much of the work which is done by the lay people in the States is left to the church here.'

Since his arrival in Graiguecullen last summer, Fr. P.J. has seen some of the worst flooding in the town in decades and, of course, also saw his leader and friend, Bishop Moriarty, step down following the publication of the Murphy report.

He believes that the Bishop did the right thing by offering his resignation 'for the reasons that he gave himself in December.'

'I've nothing further to add to that,' he continues, 'and I'll always be grateful to him for inviting me to come here. I'll always be proud to call him a brother priest and a friend. I think the world of him.'

Though other priests are reticent to talk about scandals that have rocked the church in the past few years and are unwilling to talk openly about such issues as celibacy, Fr. P.J. is upfront about his views on the matter.

He says that Pope Benedict's willingness to open up the church to married Anglican clergy, and the increasing involvement of the laity in the church, will bring the issue of celibacy forward for discussion and perhaps, resolution.

But if priests weren't forced into celibacy in the past would there have been less child sex abuse?

'As a former psychiatric nurse, I see no direct connection between celibacy - a free choice for those wishing to be ordained - and paedophilia, which is a serious psychological, maybe even psychiatric, condition, which requires treatment rather than condemnation' he explains.

And though he's thousands of miles from his first parish, problems on either side of the Atlantic are sometimes the same, including those caused by drugs.

'I'm seriously concerned at the manner in which young people, whose minds are still being developed, can access these drugs,' he says. 'I would appeal to the parents of teenagers to protect them. If they become aware of any names of drug pushers, they should give them to the Gardai. If a parent is too afraid, then they can come to me and I'll tell them.'

Fr. P.J. is big on defending and helping those most vulnerable and gets visibly annoyed when he talks drugs, social deprivation, workers' rights and the nation's banks.

For years he was a General Secretary of the Pyschiatric Nurses Association, then Secretary of the INO and champions the use of Credit Unions.

He says that now, more than ever, we all need to be members of both because both can give power back to the people and away from faceless corporations. Fr. P.J. is hugely educated in industrial relations having received a Masters in the subject in his former life. It's that kind of experience, coupled with his life as a husband, community worker and all else that has served him, and will continue to serve him, in his relatively new role in the parish.

In short, he's a fascinating man and one well worth listening to.