A confessional moment

IT'S a confessional moment in the cathedral's transept

IT'S a confessional moment in the cathedral's transept. The four mothers - Laura Higgins, Caroline Rochford, Marlyn Hilliard and Eileen Fogarty - are all very open about how they feel. "We adore him," they say looking over at Mark Duley, organist and director of music at Christ Church Cathedral. The reception is about to get underway. Their daughters sing in the Cathedral Girls' Choir and "oh, they all adore him too".

In a bright red cassock, the man himself, who came to Dublin from Hawks Bay, New Zealand, seven years ago, is nonplussed but adorable: "I don't know what it is," he says, breaking into a twinkling smile. "It's more that they've come to love the music. We work hard together, I treat them as professionals . . . And we have a very active parents' committee." And yes, he says, people do sometimes mistake him for a priest. "I've been asked to hear confessions. It's been very tempting to oblige and get my own back."

Broadcaster Tim Thurston is here to launch a new recording on compact disc of the choir singing Ex Ore Innocentium (From the mouths of children). "This is the centre of excellence. You won't find anything better than the quality of this music," he says. Others who have come include composer Colin Mawby and Rector Edgar Swann, archdeacon of Glendalaough.