Copyright 1999 Agence France Presse Agence France Presse November 04, 1999 12:18 GMT Sinead O'Connor says she's given up celibacy Dublin, Nov 4 Irish singer Sinead O'Connor, who was ordained as a priest by a rebel Roman Catholic group in April, confessed Thursday that she had failed to live up to her vow of celibacy. O'Connor, also now known as Mother Bernadette Mary, told Irish television that she took a vow of celibacy when she was ordained near Lourdes in France. But she added: "I lasted about three months. I failed miserably. I have a man who I have been in love with for years who I go out with." "I meant well by doing the celibacy thing but it doesn't work for me because I need love and affection and that kind of thing. "I think celibacy is a very powerful thing if it's voluntary. I wouldn't give up being a priest but I couldn't handle celibacy now. I tried. No thanks." O'Connor was ordained by Irish "rebel" bishop Michael Cox as priestess of the Latin Tridentine Church, a breakaway order. The singer said that as a "maverick" priest she cannot say mass in a Roman Catholic church, but she plans to buy a church building and say public masses "when I am ready for that." She said she had spent the summer in the United States working on a new album which would be "sexier" than her earlier work.