Irish singer finds solace in daily Mass after loss

The lead singer of The Script, an Irish band that has encountered success in both the UK and the US, has turned to daily Mass and the sacraments after he suffered the untimely loss of the band’s guitarist last April.

Danny O’Donoghue, who is 43, revealed in an emotional interview with The Sun that daily Mass has helped him battle back against his drinking habits after the death of guitarist Mark Sheehan and that he “loves” attending and “never misses a day”.

Speaking about the legacy of Mr Sheehan, Mr O’Donoghue said: “I’m still coming to terms with it, you know. I have good days and I have bad days. Anybody who’s lost somebody I guess knows that you never really get rid of the grief, it’s there and you just tend to try to grow around it.”

The devastating death of his bandmate led him to question the existence of God but after some soul-searching, these feelings were quelled and he started to actively practise his Faith for the first time in years.

“Questioning is there a God, is there not?,” he said. “What am I doing in life? Can we continue on as The Script? All those questions that you ask yourself in those moments. I also then started going back to church and I’m in church every day. Catholic Mass, I go every day.

“I set the alarm, get up in the morning, I don’t look at the phone, and go to church to practice gratitude for the life I’ve been able to live so far, and offer up prayers.

“I go to the gym to work out. I go to the studio to make music. But where am I going to get, spiritually, what I need now?”

Mr O’Donoghue recalled that he used to serve as an altar boy in his local parish and that reconnecting with his Faith has been pivotal in remaining sober after the bereavement led to a challenging period in his life. “As a child I used to go to church, I was an altar boy years ago,” he said.

“I haven’t touched a drink in six months. I feel better than I’ve ever felt, considering the circumstances, and I don’t know what it is that’s there — but I know there’s something there. So, for me, I love it and I go every day. I don’t miss a day.”