Father Joe Mills, who retires on Friday at the age of 75, is to become a Freeman of West Dunbartonshire.

The surprise was sprung on the popular parish priest by Provost Douglas McAllister at St Mary’s Church in Duntocher on Sunday.

Father Mills, who is widely known as Scotland’s radio priest, and who has spent a large part of his near 50 years in the priesthood working in local parishes, said: "It is a huge honour to be recognised in this way by the community and members of the council.

“Provost McAllister made the announcement after I celebrated mass for the last time as parish priest of St Mary’s, a wonderful parish full of good people who have been a great support to me during my time here.”

Father Mills has also served as an assistant priest in two of Dumbarton’s largest parishes – St Patrick’s in Strathleven Place and St Michael’s in Cardross Road.

And he was a school chaplain at Our Lady and St Patrick’s High School, the Dumbarton Catholic secondary school.

He said: “I really enjoyed it and I got on well with the pupils and teachers there.”

Arrangements for the official presentation of the honour, which usually involves a civic reception, will be announced later.

Father Mills has many strings to his bow.

He appears regularly on BBC Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme in the Thought for the Day slot and a religious affairs programme called Comedy Confessions.

And he has written specialist articles on religion for newspapers and magazines and taken part as a panel member in religious affairs programmes.

He also addressed the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh.

Father Mills told the politicians there about an experience he had with his niece, who went into a tantrum because one of her favourite white socks got lost.

He added: “I wondered whether I had often found myself behaving like that child. How often had I created problems for myself?

“How often had I been stubbornly determined to pursue a course of action that I knew deep down would never work? I could apply this to my own personal life and to how I exercise my public ministry as a priest.”

The day before Father Joe had made a presentation at a seminar chaired by the late Cardinal Tom Winning.

Father Mills said: “When I stood before the clergy, I decided to share the incident of ‘Snow White and the One Sock’ with the cardinal and my colleagues.

“I suggested to the priests that we may have to revise our approach to pastoral planning by asking ourselves whether we are attempting to force policies on the people, and not being open to other options and other ideas.”

His advice to the MSPs was: “Being open would, I suggest, demand the kind of patience that comes with maturity.”

Father Mills sings and plays the guitar and has been the star of many charity concerts, which raised many thousands of pounds for good causes, including St Margaret’s Hospice in Clydebank.

One of his great talents centres on his humour and skills as a comedian, which has endeared him to audiences and congregations.

Some of the jokes and stories Father Mills tells are very funny and include a take-off of the Scottish comedian, Chic Murray.

He has received great plaudits for that and is invited every year to fill one of the top entertainment slots on the cabaret at the Archbishop’s Ball, which is named after Cardinal Winning and celebrates its 40th anniversary this year.

Father Mills has been in the news more than once.

He was dragged into a controversy when the now Archbishop Emeritus Mario Conti urged his priests to adopt a more sombre tone during religious services.

The archbishop warned the clergy to avoid any attempts to “entertain” their parishioners.

He wrote to them saying: “While there is a place for humour in the midst of our preaching, there should never be any attempt, even on the part of those good at it, to amuse their congregations by telling jokes.”

The media immediately thought he was having a go at Father Mills, but the radio priest said: “The archbishop is reminding us not to joke during sacred parts of mass – but I don’t know why he feels the need to emphasise that. I hope we’ll still make the occasional joke at the end of mass.”

Father Mills will be moving to St Paul’s Church in the East End of Glasgow, where he was born and brought up and is hoping to enjoy more leisure time.