One of television’s most famous Irish Catholics has been getting some unwanted attention from a member of the clergy, according to the AP:

A priest has been arrested on charges of stalking late-night talk show host Conan O’Brien by writing him threatening notes on parish letterhead, contacting his parents and showing up at his studio, prosecutors said Wednesday.

“I want a public confession before I ever consider giving you absolution — or a spot on your couch,” wrote David Ajemian, who signed the notes “Padre,” said Barbara Thompson, a spokeswoman for the Manhattan district attorney’s office.

Ajemian was arrested last week while trying to enter a taping session of NBC’s “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, near where other NBC shows are taped and the famous Christmas tree is put up, Thompson said.

Court papers say Ajemian referred to himself as “your priest stalker” in one note and complained of not being allowed in to see an earlier taping of the O’Brien show.

“Is this the way you treat your most dangerous fans?” the note said.

The letters and e-mails, which started coming in September 2006, continued even after Ajemian was asked to stop and were “intended to cause annoyance and alarm,” Thompson said. The priest could face up to a year in prison if convicted on charges of aggravated harassment and stalking.

Ajemian also has been in contact with O’Brien’s parents, Thompson said.

The Archdiocese of Boston said in a statement that Ajemian had been placed on leave and was no longer allowed to minister publicly. O’Brien, a native of the Boston suburb of Brookline, Mass., has participated in fundraising activities for the archdiocese.

An NBC spokesman says O’Brien is not commenting on the incident.

A telephone message left Wednesday night at St. Mary-St. Catherine of Siena Church in Boston’s Charlestown neighborhood, which Ajemian gave as his address, was not immediately returned.