Mass does not need to be celebrated every Sunday, according to a missionary priest who believes Ireland has too many Masses and too many priests.
According to Father Fionbarra O Cuileanain of the SMA African Missions, members of the laity should be able to substitute for priests, though they would conduct Sunday services rather than celebrate Mass.
Father O Cuileanain, who ministers to 100,000 Burundi refugees in Tanzania, also thinks celibacy for priests should be ended and women should be ordained priests.
He frequently celebrates Mass for a congregation of 3,000 refugees, under a canopy fashioned from plastic sheets. He lives in a converted cargo container in the African bush.
A native of Cork city, Father O Cuileanain, who has spent more than 30 years in Africa, volunteered to work with the refugees three years ago. He is critical of the United Nations, which he accuses of seeing the refugees as "a burden".
A fluent Irish speaker who keeps a daily diary in Irish, Father O Cuileanain outlines his views of the church and tells his story on a Christmas Eve documentary on Teilifis na Gaeilge at 9.30 p.m.