By NICK SMITH
Plenty of Irish New Zealanders will be having a "craik" today, St Patrick's Day, but Thomas Forde be well ahead of most.
At 7.30 this morning the self-confessed "burned-out electrician" will be manning his mobile confessional while it is driven down the length of Auckland's K Rd red-light district.
The dubious bishop is offering absolution to Catholics, followers of other religions and even heathens who dare to clamber aboard his confessional, which bears the legend, "St Patrick's Day 'Confessions,' K Rd Special, One Day Only."
Mr Forde says he was inspired by this week's "apology from the leader of the Catholic Church, Pope John Paul II," for sins committed in the name of the Church. In the same spirit he is offering a similar service to Kiwis burdened by guilt.
"I hope to have the craik," he said of today's confessional tour, using the Irish word for a good time. Mr Forde claims one of the reasons he is on K Rd is simply that the Irish Society building is at the end of the road, but he is prepared to hear people's confessions along the way.
A sign on the confessional box directs Catholics to the left and "all others" to the right. "I will be shuttling in between," Mr Forde says.
With the assistance of Irish Muslim Eugene Duff, Mr Forde took about 60 hours to build the 2m by 1m confessional - "20 hours building and 40 hours revising canon law."
"Confession is traditional in the Catholic Church," he said. "When people have committed sin, they can go and confess and be absolved of all their sin. If I can help in any way or refer them to the powers that be ..."
Mr Forde achieved fame in the mid '90s during a bicycle tour of the North Island, spinning Irish tales including that of St Patrick driving the snakes from Ireland. "He ensured the snakes went to Australia, not to New Zealand."
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