Singing priest withdraws from X Factor, releases new single

Fr Rob Galea, the Maltese-Australian priest, withdrew from Australia’s X Factor due to pastoral commitments at his parish.

Fr Rob, 33, chose to depart the competition during the ‘boot camp’ phase, which required him to remain in Sydney for a period of time away from his parish at St Kilian’s, Bendigo.

He said the competition had been greatly rewarding, and an excellent opportunity to evangelize to a broad audience.


“While I am so grateful for the opportunity to have auditioned, got through to boot camp and worked with a wonderful team of contestants and judges, I have decided, out of my own will, to leave the Australian X Factor competition,” he announced.


“I have looked at my pastoral, Church, music and touring commitments for the rest of the year and found that I cannot reasonably honour both the competition and these. Even though
some may argue that this is an evangelisation opportunity missed, my first commitment is to my relationship with God and to the Church to whom I am already committed.


“My heart is filled with gratitude towards God, to those who have supported me, and others who have in some way been encouraged by this short X Factor journey.”


“It was after much prayer and careful consideration that I decided to enter this competition less than two months ago. I am glad I did. It has been a wonderful experience to work amongst such great professionalism, to be surrounded by wonderful people and to have this opportunity to share my hope and vocation beyond the confines of the 'church circles'.


“After getting through to boot camp and having attended the boot camp in Sydney, I realised that I had done what I needed to do. Thus, during the filming of one of the singing challenges I stepped forward towards the judges and asked to leave the competition.”

Fr Rob said that, “due to circumstances beyond the producers’ control”, this part of boot camp will not be aired, and thus he will not have the opportunity to explain why he left the competition during the show.


“I thank you for your understanding and ask that you continue to pray for me as I strive to serve God and do His will.”

Fr Rob also announced the release of a new single ‘Get up Again’.

Produced by Ministry of Sound producer George Bechara, Fr Rob said that the song was about standing up and moving forward in spite of the pain that life brings us.

“It’s an invitation for all to get up and start anew, to never to give up,” he said.

The lyrics of the song and the musical arrangements have been written by Fr Rob together with Matisyahu, an American reggae rapper and alternative rock musician, and Gary Pinto, Australian singer, songwriter and musician, former lead singer of the Australian R&B and dance group CDB.

‘Get up Again’ can be downloaded for free from frrobgalea.com