Priest, Footballer, Missionary, Father – the extraordinary lives of Frank Diamond

30:00You know, sometimes we say, I have to go to work or I have to go to school or I have to go train in this evening with a local club. But if you take out the word have and you replace it with the word get, it just changes the whole mindset of how you're thinking. I get to go to work. Hopefully you're working in a nice company. So many are unemployed, et cetera. I get to go to school. So many people don't have an opportunity of education. I get to go and train in my local club. So many in a wheelchair, if a disability aren't able. I get to do it. It's a subtle change, but it helps to keep me grounded, so it does.

30:34100%, Frank. I mean, I do practice this myself. I've told people on this podcast before, I have so much to be thankful for. But the thing is that I am grateful for the very basics in my life. My health, for example, being able to do, to breathe cleanly, to be able to walk on two legs and, you know, with two arms and to be able to play sport, to be able to talk, to be able to not get sick so much ever and to be lucky with health, to have family, to have children that are healthy. It goes on and on and on. Boy, I'm grateful. Yes. So, and I do believe it gives you the greatest start every day. Definitely, Mario, without doubt.

31:15And also the greatest ability to spread that to other people and to also share it with other people that when somebody's feeling down, you're more in a position to be able to go, no, look at what you've got. You've got it all already. And then you can make, when you believe that yourself, you can make them believe it as well. You can be infectious about it. It's not just a true, a trite, you know, glib expression. You can actually practice it, you know. Not that I'm particularly religious or anything, but I do believe in gratitude. So I see exactly. Tell me about hope. Oh, yeah. Hope. When Hope was four years of age, she got polio.

31:55So unfortunately, that particular area, they didn't have access to the vaccine. So from waist down, paralyzed. I met her. Yeah, I met her whenever she was older. But when I met her, she was 20, 23. And every Sunday, she would crawl on her hands and legs, crawling through the dirt on a mud, a dirt road to come to mass to receive communion. Really? and actually the word Eucharist Holy Communion another word for it is Eucharist means Thanksgiving to give thanks yeah and to see her crawl up that aisle oh my god I know I see it and a smile on her face after she what can we do to try and help hope so we got a few bob from back home and we built a special three wheeler wheelchair which she could get into that she could lift herself up to and the pedals are the handlebars yes got it you do it with your hands yeah she can use the hands and you can develop that muscle and you can get good at it.

32:48Yeah, and just completely changed. She's no longer having to crawl through the dirt. So the equivalent, this being for her, this is the equivalent of anybody getting an aeroplane or anything. Yes. Or being given the gift even of walking again. Yep, yep. So she must have been so happy with this. And of course, it's all relative, you know. Oh, yep. And got a football, love football jerseys. Full of kit bag with jerseys every time I come home. Unbelievable. All right. Again, just when you say vaccine there, it makes my heart drop because of what's happening in the United States with the vaccine disinformation that's being passed around.

33:22And you hear, you know, hope about hope and, you know, the people, the millions of people who've received the polio vaccine in this country and in America and in the Western world and how vaccines are so important for us and how they're being so, they're being so overlooked and, you know, disregarded now in America. And African children singing Christy Moore. thongs, jocks are goes to Nigeria that's it that is it but my favourite connection story of Africa Mario, in 1995 I first went out there as a student from Munith University for a one year pastoral year to Zambia and it was Christmas Eve and I was in a mud hut church for midnight mass, so I'm standing at the back with the people, complete darkness the only light was a little lamp that was connected to the Land Rover outside on a mud altar.

34:18Altar made out of mud with the Irish missionary priest there. So I'm there anyway and the next thing I suppose a gremlin I call negative thoughts and emotions gremlins in the head. The gremlin came into my head of homesickness and a wee bit of loneliness. First time away from home and all the rest. And a tear welled up and the next thing a tear just came down my cheek and at that moment I kid you not, I felt a little hand hold my hand. And I looked down and there was a little girl of four or five years of age holding my hand and looking up at me with the most beautiful smile. And straight away, the picture in my head changed.

34:55Out went that gremlin and in came the Care Bear. I call the positive ones the Care Bears because of the power of human connection. The power of somebody holding your hand, the power of a smile. And sometimes that's all it takes to help somebody just to get through a tough day. is just a wee smile or a wee pat. And she held my hand during the Mass and I came out afterwards and I met her mum and dad and the little girl's name was Joy. I apped Joy. And I became friendly with the family. And then I finished my year. I came back to Minuth, got ordained and then I was sent to Nigeria. But I kept in touch with them.

35:31And in Africa, as I'm sure you know, children have to pay school fees to go to school. So many can't afford the school fees. So unfortunately then they don't get educated. and Joy's family were quite poor so I sent money out each year to sponsor the school fees and it wasn't a lot of money. So she went through primary school and then she went through secondary school and then she went to teacher training college and she's now a primary school teacher and she's married and she's two little boys and one of her little boys is called Frankie. And that's the power of human connection. It is. 31 years ago.

36:08It's the little girl that looked up at you held your hand and smiled while you had a tear rolling down your face. 31 years ago. Yeah, yeah. I always go to Midnight Mass now and light a candle for Joy and her family each year. Wow, lovely story. What about, sorry, just in passing, I just wrote down this. I mean, sleeping out in the open, in the darkness, no running water. You know, what about like creepy crawlies? Sorry, snakes, nasty things, crocodiles, lions, things. I mean, is it not dangerous at times? Well, thankfully the area that I was in, the Serengeti and I wasn't too far from where we were.

36:48Yeah, the Angora Gora crater. Aye, that's right. But that's all cordoned off, thankfully. But snakes, absolutely. And those big black ants, driver ants, scorpions, baboons, they were up in the rocks. Baboons dangerous? They can be if you go anywhere near them. Aye. They used to steal the papaya off our trees. So if you went to chase them off, they'd come chasing for you. But those were the kind of, and then of course the mosquito and malaria. Yes. Still the number one killer in Africa. Maybe in the world, yeah. And I was... You got malaria nine times, eight times? Eight times in the nine years, yeah.

37:26What is malaria? So basically it's a parasite from the female mosquito. Bite you, suck your blood, inject that parasite into your bloodstream. So it's a living thing. It's a living thing, yeah. Is it a virus? No. No, it can't be. the only way it can be spread is through blood okay so it's biological I can't give blood you know you can't no so I yeah even though I've been out of Africa now 13 years but I I wouldn't risk it you know so it's a parasite in your blood yeah and it could actually kick in here in Ireland thank God touch wood now it hasn't but if I felt run down or my immunity are low that's how it operates the malaria then it kicks in so your malaria is dormant yes so it's within you yes And it can be flared up with a low immune system.

38:13So once you get malaria, you always have it. Yeah. Oh, wow. Yeah. So that's what happened. That's why I got it. It kept reoccurring. Reoccurring is what it happens is. And what happens when it reoccurs? What are the symptoms of malaria? Oh, right. Okay. Well, it's severe, severe flu symptoms, aches now in your joints, sweat and fever. Fever? Yeah, heavy fever now. Now, sometimes you can be coming out this end, vomiting, sometimes the other end too. Right, so all sorts, everything. Flying out everywhere. Everything. You don't know where to go. Yeah. But if you don't get the right treatment, then it moves to the brain, cerebral malaria.

38:50And then after that, it usually lights out. It lights out when it gets to the brain. Cerebral malaria in the brain. And how do you treat it? Well, there's obviously different treatments. Back then, the last resort treatment was queening. so a four hour quinine drip three of them in the hospital and if I didn't I would be dead like and I buried so many oh did you so many who died from malaria but couldn't get the treatment yep six month old baby in a cardboard box died from malaria yeah and back then you're looking at the cost of it five or or money but just excess and things yep I know did you were you were you ever very very sick with it I was really really ill at one stage in the hospital lost a lot of weight yeah I was going to ask you lose a lot of weight yeah I'm 13 stone now and I was down to 10 and a half so there's no as you can see there wouldn't be a lot to Frankie D when that happened you're 13 now alright 10 and a half is not much left to you then yeah yeah my father Lord have mercy on him when he met me at the airport when I came home that time for my break he says son you wouldn't need to walk over a cattle grid because you'd fall straight through it.

40:11Right. Don't put on a colander as a hat or his head will come through. What was I going to say? Yeah, okay. I'm just thinking, I wrote down a movie here. You're so far, I'm exhausted already listening to your life story. Because your story would make a great movie about a young priest. I think so far it's great. Actually, a friend of mine went to live in Tanzania and he married a girl in Tanzania and she was a princess. And I think there were dowries involved and everything. Yes, that's right. So like cows and stuff. Oh yeah. So the cows would have been given, he would have given them to him or he would have been given the cows, was he?

40:47No, he would have given the father of them. The princess. The princess cows. And he built a hotel there and stuff, kind of a lodge. Okay. But he talked quite a lot about security. Yes. And there were a lot of bandidos around so he had to have armed guards so there would be armed guards in the thing so there's guys with guns and there's robbers and there's serious kind of crime going around there as well there is especially in Nigeria where I work now very very challenging I mean there's corruption everywhere in the world Nigeria would be up there it's in Ireland as well sadly too however yeah we would have security men now in our compounds and the whole Islamic fundamentalist Sharia law and Christian, that's all going on in Nigeria.

41:34Boko Haram. All of that, exactly. Six months after I left St. Michael's in Contagora, the parish there in Nigeria, it was attacked and a priest that took over from me had to go into the bush to hide Father Dan and our two security men were sadly murdered and they burnt the mission house to a ground and tried to burn the church to the ground. But thankfully it remained. and it's still out there very volatile. We don't hear half of what's going on, Mario. We don't hear anything, of course. No, it's not news here. We shut Africa out completely. Africa is just and at the same time I'm watching a brilliant documentary at the moment which I'm nearly finished by the BBC called Human and it is the story of Homo sapiens from the very beginning and humans, all of us, every one of us originated in Africa.

42:29you know they used to think it was East Africa now they're thinking that's even earlier it could be North West Africa that we started but we are all Africans we are all Africans every homocipian here me and you you know we're all Africans so you're merely returning home when you go there but amazing amazing yeah now what this story takes this story hasn't even started yet and because like at 40 years of age you decided alright Frankie D that's enough for me now JC you've been great but well I'm not leaving you JC JC no my child you did this to a woman in Derry before now you're doing it to me JC it's nothing personal right just it's not you it's me right so you broke it off with Jesus

43:23not with Jesus with the Catholic Church as such and at 40 Yeah. Why? Yeah. I went through a period of, obviously, discernment as a big change to leave the priesthood. Bottom line, loneliness. Yeah, okay. Very lonely. When I joined... Is this the same loneliness that... Was this the same loneliness which started as a tear in your eye with joy? Homesickness, loneliness? No, deeper. Deeper. Deeper, that connection with... Ah, human. Another human. Another human. Close connection. Ah, yeah. And you mean a connection with probably a woman and maybe ultimately a family? Yes. You felt an instinctive yearning for this?

44:10Yeah. When I joined, I was 18 and very young, obviously. And I was the youngest within the order at that time. And when I was 40, I was still the youngest. And looking down the road, the average age was about 120. and it just looked a very lonely set up within what was 120? the average age of the priests down the road they're all you know it's you're joking they're not 120 aging church aging church yeah but they're not 120 no no but they just esteemed 120 well they're all 60s, 70s, 80s that's what I mean aye aye and I felt am I going to be the last man standing you know and I just felt no I gave God my youth as somebody put it to me 18 to 40 and there's another chapter and as I say it was just it is a very you know well for me personally obviously everybody's different but it was the loneliness at that stage and the opportunity of of meeting someone and having a family which happened then so what did you do how did you stop being a priest and what's it like stopping being a priest do you just take off your collar one day and just go right lads I'm off for a walk and you know where are you going father Don't call me father You know I'm Frankie Right Not father Frankie Just Frankie Yeah And that's exactly What happened there Yeah You go through A period of As I say Discernment retreat And spiritual direction I did a bit of Counseling as well Around it for myself Yeah As in detachment Counseling kind of And all of that And Yeah And that's That's it then You walk away And then you have to Reinvent yourself Right to Rome And apply for laicization.

45:56Okay. Which isn't a very nice kind of process, to be honest with you. Why? Because basically what that program, or what it states, you have to sign a document that says that you never should have been a priest. Okay. Yeah. It's like an annulment and a marriage. Okay. It never happened. Yeah. And like from 18 to 40, I give my life. I know. Service. So they are not, their official policy doesn't want to, it's a red card. Yep. It's not nice. It's not nice now, to be honest. and there's over 100 ,000 folk like me left. Oh, I see what you mean. That's not nice. And that's so, but in order to be married in a Catholic church, you have to go through that process.

46:35So you do, of laicization. Yeah. Yeah. So anyway, after that, you rightly said reinventing yourself. And what did you initially do to reinvent? I did some more retreat work in schools and that. And then I taught, I taught for a bit. And then I was thinking I went. Taught in school. Yeah, I did. I went to Glasgow University, started a master's in HR. Somebody said, God, Frank, you'd be great working with people at HR. Anyway, quickly learned. No, it's not for me. So I exited that and got a job then working for a charity called CAFOD in England. It would be the equivalent to Trocher in Ireland. And then I met a girl from Kildare.

47:19We got married. Unfortunately, that didn't work out. first marriage yeah yeah anyway life I say life is not straight lines at all without getting too personal about it and without trying to pry on your relationship was there anything that linked was there was the reason that it mightn't have worked out anything to do with the fact that you were exiting the priesthood and maybe not ready for it yet or was it a different matter yeah I think so and it all happened very quickly as well. Do you get my point? I do. Was it something to do with that? Very quickly. Yeah. I mean, not this, not like, you know, when somebody goes, I'm on the rebound or whatever, and you go, no, that's the wrong time to be trying anything.

48:03You know, so it was like, it possibly wasn't the right time, maybe. Yeah. I think now when I look back, you know, but as I say, we make, I have two beautiful children from that marriage, and, you know, we make wrong decisions in our life that lead us to the right place where we are now. And I know I am exactly where I'm meant to be now. And that's the journey. Life is crooked lines, there's swings, there's roundabouts, there's potholes, good days, bad days. Everybody, there's no such thing as perfection. Of course not now. At all, Mario. And that's one message, especially when I'm working with young people, you know, with the Instagram and all these things, perfection does not exist.

48:46There are no perfect families, there's no perfect marriage, there's no perfect mommy or daddy, there's no perfect work manager, but there are perfect moments in life. And I wish everybody that I meet, I wish them perfect moments, but perfection doesn't exist. We're not called to be perfect in this life. For me, I think we're called to be authentic, to be real. I often tell people who, and I get into these conversations, I often tell people my story which is basically I had a very very unstable upbringing with two parents who constantly fought sometimes violently there was drink involved and they were splitting up and getting back together all the time it was very very unsure unstable we used to live with them not live with them live with the grandparents I grew up with my grandparents all that thing so what it led to for me though was as I grew older and met met my wife and had children in relation to that part of my life, it led to a real deep-seated ambition that I wanted to break that chain, that I wanted to become, really invest in myself and invest in my own personal vision in myself and my family of me being a dad.

50:00That doesn't mean me being star of the show dad, like on stage, just me personally, quietly being a dad. And I wanted to be a great dad and I want to be a great dad. and but I didn't make the mistake and I was lucky with this. I didn't make the mistake of trying to be a perfect dad because I actually took quite good advice from my own upbringing and I went, what was it about my upbringing that it lacked? And it was, well, a lot of the time they just weren't there. And I went, I'm going to be there. Everything for everything. And that's all you need to do. Be present. Be present. Be present. Be present.

50:39Be there for them. If they need you, be there. Make sure they know you're there because that's going to be the most important thing. Make sure they know you want to be there. So they know you want to be there and you're there. You're not laying down the law or trying to be Captain Von Trapp from The Sound of Music or Howard Keel from a thing, you know, the greatest dad in the world. But you're their dad who's always there and you'll only be their only dad. And so, and that's what I learned. There's no point in trying to be perfect. Do your best, but be there. and that's what I've had the joy of participating in with my thing but like your story again takes another you know right now we've got Lavi, we've got Derry, we've got Gaelic football, All-Ireland club medals, we've got joining the priesthood, we've got Catholic priests playing football, saying prayers in the thing we've got singing, Joxer goes to Nigeria in Africa, we've got kids giving birth in vans, we've got tears of joy and homesickness and we've got polio and eight times malaria and down to four and a half stone the lives of a jockey and you know your life is already mad enough and then suddenly you're on the coaching team or the backroom team with Brian Cares International Ireland Football Team for those of you who don't know it that's Brian Cares who talks like that he's going to get the squinty eyes and he's going remember there's Robbie Keane Damien Duff and then he managed Ireland and he was always going on a smiley like that you know and he had great success with the under 18s and the under 20s and you were part of this team how were you part of this team?

52:18Okay what year was that now I was in 99 I was in Nigeria at the time and whenever the team the Nigerian under 20 World Cup was on and the Ireland team were out there and they contacted the SMA fathers in Cork and Father Peter McAulville went out with the team, the chaplains. When I arrived then, they invited me to come down because I was like a young fella. And absolutely, when I came down, all these young lads here and someone says, God, Frank, you can mix in well with these lads because I was fresh-faced only, just ordained and all the rest. And yep, I had mass with the lads three times. That was during Holy Week.

52:59And sessions with the guitar, I don't drink. But the crack we had, Robbie Keane, Damien Duff, Gary Goddardy, Richard Sadler Richie was there I haven't seen him since, he's doing great and Brian Kerr, a legend absolute legend and so everyone was going great we were in the stands singing the whole thing with African drums and all the rest and they qualified for the quarter final which was, those games took place in Ibadan in Nigeria but the quarter finals were up in Abuja so that was like a 7, 8 hour drive so we had special regional meetings going on and the lads, well I wanted to go obviously as well but unfortunately my superior at the time says no Frank you need to stay here for these meetings so I missed the quarter final rule of obedience and they could beat on penalties unfortunately and they were knocked out then but I've kept in touch with Brian Kevon, met him a couple of times he actually got me tickets for a Brazil game a good few years ago.

54:07There's a man who loves his music as well. Oh yeah, he's mad into like you'd never have suspected it, you know. Because he's mad into indie music, you know, and these indie bands and everything, you know. So he loves his music. And Duffer sent me a signed, was it Blackburn Rovers, Jersey? Yeah, he's playing for Blackburn. He was playing there. And Robbie, yeah. Robbie fucking oh yeah Robbie's a grey grey fella together love Robbie love Robbie's voice always sounds as if he's about to do something really dodgy or that he's done something really dodgy and he's saying I didn't have nothing to do with it that's right you know he's one of those voices that sounds like he's been accused of something you're right you know I did nothing I was never there it was tougher tougher tougher did it but what about I never said you did anything Robbie yeah well whatever went down I had nothing to do with it nothing went down Robbie yeah yeah they all say that until something goes down then I'm getting the fucking flack yeah finger comes down on me look I have my barrister I have my brief I'm saying nothing nobody accused you of anything Robbie I didn't say you accused me saying it's just around the corner danger I always see him as a person who's I know I started doing that impression once in a big going away thing for the Irish team and Roy Keane then came in with all the team it was Martin O 'Neill and Roy Keane Martin O 'Neill dairyman yeah and I started doing Roy Keane in front of Roy Keane and he was kind of looking at me and there was a huge crowd there like 2 ,000 people and but then I started Robbie was sitting beside him and I started doing Robbie and as soon as I started doing Robbie Roy Keane burst out laughing and Robbie's there are you laughing at?

55:55and as soon as Roy started laughing the whole crowd started laughing look at them Robbie and then the whole crowd are laughing at Robbie what the fuck is everybody laughing at what do they do one of those ones so so you're playing guitar singing songs with Brian Kerr Robbie Keane and Damien Duff my god and then like you've had two children and one of your daughters I hope you don't mind talking about this one of your daughters has Down syndrome wow that is a life changer yeah that is a life changer Tell me about that experience. Leisha. Leisha. Yep, Leisha. It's funny. Yesterday was her 10-year heart anniversary.

56:35Of open heart surgery. Heart surgery. Is that because of a natural defective? Yeah. Whenever she was in her mommy's womb, we went for the big scan, the 24-week scan, the anatomy scan in the Coombe Hospital here in Dublin. And that scan showed up two holes in Leisha's heart, leaking valve, fluid around her heart and lungs, and a one in three chance that she may have Down syndrome. So they didn't know what to do there and then. So they kept them in the hospital and monitored each day. So thankfully we got to a further 10 weeks down the road, 34 weeks, and then we were in theater for the C-section.

57:11And the three surgeons ready to operate on Alicia when she was born to drain away the fluid around her heart and lungs, otherwise she would have died. And the first miracle happened. When little Alicia was brought into this world, All the fluid around her heart and lungs drained away by itself. And she didn't need surgery at that point. And then for me, the second miracle happened, Alicia has Down syndrome. So when she was one year old and strong enough, she went to crumbling and she went through eight hours of open heart surgery under Professor Mark Redmond. I mean, you talk about legends, such a humble, brilliant man.

57:50And thank God made a great recovery from that. But I mean, without doubt, Leisha and my youngest brother, Peter, is special needs. But they are, and all those with Down syndrome and additional needs, they're the greatest gift that God blessed this world with because they teach us everything that's important about life. Tell me. Well, the first thing that they teach us is how to love. They love you no matter what. If Leisha came in here now, she'll come right over to you, Mario, and give you a big hug. Yeah. And she'll say, I love you. What you're saying is they're smashing through the barriers that we build.

58:24Yes. And the labels and the artificial branding and the barriers that we create around ourselves from the time we're born. Yeah. And they don't have them. Yeah. No, they don't. They don't know us. And so they show you unbridled, unconditional. Yeah. They show you the value of unconditional love. And resilience is the other one. the name actually Crane is her older sister but Leisha I like the name Grace so I was thinking about you know Grace Grace Diamond and Ruby somebody says what are we calling her Ruby oh nice Ruby Diamond Ruby Diamond I'm not sure maybe a bit too much but Leisha a bit racy aye maybe especially if she you know moved to America or whatever Ruby Diamond you know sounds like somebody that Trump went out with I went out with a beautiful woman Ruby Diamond they call her bit racy but she was hot sorry I'm bringing this to a different place so Leisha is the Irish for radiant warrior so that wow that's it not just a warrior a radiant warrior Leisha and it sounds lovely as well and she teaches me resilience and so much every day like for example Mario if I take my phone out and Leisha's around she goes like this here she'll go daddy and she's telling me she knows phones are bad to put the phone away.

59:45That's what she'd tell me. And I do, and I put the phone away. And she's like saying to me, I am here now, Daddy. Be present to me. Be present. Be present to me. What a lesson for all of us as we spoke about being present. Absolutely. Absolutely. And, you know, she teaches so much, basically, she doesn't know how to judge. We're so hard on ourselves. We beat ourselves up so much. we judge others but Leisha and those with Down syndrome and different needs they don't do that what age is Leisha? she's now 11 11 yeah and like I always say you know I've two more daughters now thank God I've been very blessed Karina I've a partner and two daughters since all that breakup and that you know but I know Frozen Inside Out so you know the song Let It Go Let It Go let it go and away you go yeah you know but we hold on to so much but they don't and judging others like she's saying to each of us try not to be so hard on yourself you know you make a mistake you learn from it you drive on you don't need to keep going back judging others then we're devils for it in this country we are you know for example somebody down the road builds a nice house Mary and Michael you're going to have two reactions in the community first one oh fair play to Mary and Michael worked hard saved a bit of money I'm delighted for them and then there's others and they'll be going here give me her where did your man make I'll get the money to build down house he's up to no good down boy he's pushing cocaine on around the town big grudgery alive and well Balnau has the famous story about the difference between Ireland and America he says in America you're driving past the big house on the hill and he goes the American will go someday I'm going to be that guy that's America in Ireland they look up at the house on the hill and they go someday I'm going to get that fucker that's the difference you know So it's aspirational in America.

1:01:44Now, don't talk to me about America because it's different stuff going on over there. But there is that natural optimism, frontierism, go get it. Well done to you for going get it. If you fail, get up on Monday and go get it again. And in Ireland, there's the tall poppy syndrome of whatever you do, don't fail. And if you do fail, you're fucked. And even if you do become a success, everybody's going to hate you anyway because they're going to hate you for being a success or they're going to question your success and thinking you did it wrong. So you've got to be, you know. I know. So that's terrible.

1:02:18So what Leisha is showing us all is don't judge others either. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, the purity. Oh, the purity. Yeah. And now you're working in ALPS, Alps, and that is All Lives Are Precious. Tell me a little bit about that. This is another movement in your life. Yes, yes. So I've been with them now over seven years. It's mental health, Charlie. based in the north primarily. We've partnered with Charlie in Gorey in Wexford. Talked to Tom, which is now Futures in Mind. So basically, we provide counselling for those who need support on their journey. We provide QPR, suicide prevention training, around wherever.

1:03:00My main role is going around schools, primary, secondary, GA clubs, the workplace giving a motivational talk around mental health and well-being and resilience, sharing my own story, so I tie that in with a few messages around mental health and I love it I'm very blessed and this is as I say, it's exactly where Frankie D's meant to be now and I bring the guitar, Mario and I finish every session, wherever it is with the great Bill Withers song, Lean On Me. Lean On Me. That's it. Yeah. Because the hashtag of Alps is, you're not alone. Yeah. You're not alone. And that song for me just ticks every box.

1:03:46There's always somebody to lean on. And mental health in Ireland, throughout the world now, and suicide, sadly, it's just so tragic, the numbers, and it just seems to be getting worse. But the number one factor still to suicide globally is stigma. And that's my number one role is to... Stigma? Stigma. To break down the barrier. Lads holding on to it and not reaching out and just sharing what's coming for them. Just sharing it. There's a beautiful book. You probably know it. It's a movie as well. The Boy, the Mole, the Fox on the Horse by Charlie Maxey. No. Oh, I recommend it. And I'm not getting any royalties but I recommend it.

1:04:26But I bring that book everywhere and it's an animated movie. but one of my favorite lines and it is is that the boy asks the horse what's the bravest thing that you've ever said and funny it's on a winnie the pooh book as well and the horse replied help help it takes courage and strength to reach out and ask for help it's not a sign of weakness and in our country globally as well it's still there as a sign of weakness reaching out for help. So that whole lean on me, you're not alone. There's always somebody to reach out, to connect and lean on. Just get the gremlins out of the head. Always helps.

1:05:06Well, what you're doing, Frank, is you're actually transferring from your previous incarnation as a priest, you're transferring the best of Christian, what I would call Christian values. Because all of us can disagree or agree on religion and our deities and gods all over the world. But you can't deny a basic Christian tenet which is do unto others as you would have them do unto you and be good to people and be kind to people and them to be kind to you to be kind to each other is one of the most fundamental Christian values and that's what you're bringing with Lean On Me and that kind of thing and Frankie you're so so young still and like I can't imagine where your next incarnation is going to come next I just you know you have to come back in three years time and go so Frankie where did the astronaut thing come out of Mario I wanted to be the first post missionary priest cum Irish football guitarist to go to the moon and I wanted to sit around the moon with my guitar bring all the people who are leaning on me which are quite a lot now because ALPS has gone around the world and I wanted to become interplanetary so I can't wait for this to happen because you're just obviously just your story is only halfway through I actually got a bit closer when you were talking about the moon I claimed Kilimanjaro twice I had mass on top of Kilimanjaro did you?

1:06:37Mario well it was the quickest mass ever it was the altitude sickness yeah you're out of breath oh my goodness Lamb of God Jesus Christ I'm out of breath it was the quickest one ever let us offer each other the sign of oxygen I know yeah What a fascinating life you've had so far, Frank. And you speak about it so elegantly and so well with that lovely South Gerry accent. So thank you for coming in. And long may you reign and good luck and keep being as good as you are to people and keep spreading the word of kindness around the world. Thank you, Mario. Thanks, Manuel.

1:07:20And my thanks to Frank Diamond, charming person for coming in and telling me his story. My thanks, of course, to Hum, our podcast sponsors, for being our podcast sponsor and helping us to get this out to you, the most important element of the podcast, my listener. Tell one other person if you like the podcast and follow on all the relevant places you can yourself. I'll see you same time, same place next week.