Father Ted, initially, an Irishman (3)
I believe the answer is:
pat
'an irishman' is the definition.
(Patrick is a common Irish name)
'father ted initially' is the wordplay.
'father' becomes 'pa' (pa can mean dad or father).
'initially' says to take the initial letters.
The first letter of 'ted' is 't'.
'pa'+'t'='PAT'
(Other definitions for pat that I've seen before include "Some butter, maybe" , "Conveniently; light touch" , "well-rehearsed" , "Gentle stroke of the hand with fluent repetition" , "'Light touch, on the back say (3)'" .)