Irish author finding happiness, having Catholic education initially (5)
I believe the answer is:
joyce
'irish author' is the definition.
(novelist James Joyce)
'happiness having catholic education initially' is the wordplay.
'happiness' becomes 'joy' (I've seen this in another clue).
'having' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'initially' suggests taking the first letters.
The first letters of 'catholic education' is 'ce'.
'joy'+'ce'='JOYCE'
'finding' is the link.
(Other definitions for joyce that I've seen before include "James --, Irish writer" , "lady" , "James . . . . ., great Irish novelist" , "dictator's spokesman" , "James ---, Irish modernist author" .)