Using an abandoned church in Northern Ireland as a film festival venue to show horror movies like The Exorcist and The Omen is a “cheap stunt” as well as “cynical and crass”, says Belfast-based priest Fr. Patrick McCafferty. The former Holy Rosary Church which will host the movies has been closed since 1980 and is Read more
Accessing social housing takes Catholics in Northern Ireland six months longer than Protestants, a newly released study says. Where Protestants wait about nine months to be placed in social housing, Catholics wait 15 months on average, the report from the Equality Commission says. The report – ‘Statement on Key Inequalities in Housing and Communities in Read more
Bonfires commemorating a Protestant victory over Catholics in 1690 Ireland are sinful. That’s the Rev. Frank Sellar’s view, anyway. Sellar, who is the moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland said the bonfires are “a means by which we pass on to succeeding generations the sins of our fathers.” The fires are lit in loyalist Read more
A former Manchester United footballer has started his studies towards the priesthood. Former Northern Ireland international Phil Mulryne, 34, has enrolled at the Pontifical Irish College in Rome. During his time as a footballer Mulryne dated a model, Nicola Chapman. He was once sent home from the Northern Ireland squad in 2005 after breaking a Read more
Ian Paisley was probably the most fiery, uncompromising and bellicose Ulster politician throughout the Troubles. But late in life, one of the most turbulent figures in Northern Ireland politics throughout the 20th century underwent a transformation. The man who constantly declared “No surrender” to Republican views, suddenly agreed to share power in a Northern Ireland Read more
Northern Ireland politician Rev. Ian Paisley, who was infamous for his anti-Catholic rhetoric, yet came to share power with his enemies, has died. Rev. Paisley died in Belfast on September 12, aged 88. He had a history of heart ailments. He served as First Minister of Northern Ireland for a year when power was first Read more
The Catholic Church has backed unionist politicians’ moves to block legalised same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland. A Sinn Fein motion to introduce same-sex marriage legislation is likely to be defeated in the Northern Ireland assembly next week. Unionist parties will introduce a “petition of concern” against the move. Under the rules of the Stormont assembly, Read more
The murders of more than 100 Catholics during the Troubles in Northern Ireland involved members of the security forces, according to a new book that draws on recently declassified official documents. The book, Lethal Allies: British Collusion in Ireland, concludes that systematic collusion existed between the security forces and loyalist assassins during the 1970s. It Read more
United States President Barack Obama has argued that parish schools are an impediment to the establishment of a lasting peace in Northern Ireland. Speaking in Belfast to a crowd composed mainly of children, Obama said “segregated schools” block the path to full reconciliation. “If towns remain divided, if Catholics have their schools and buildings and Read more
Authorities in Northern Ireland have announced plans for a criminal investigation into the killing of 13 civilians by British troops on “Bloody Sunday” in 1972. An earlier investigation, the Savile inquiry, concluded that soldiers of the Parachute Regiment had opened fire on unarmed Catholic demonstrators in the town of Derry without provocation. To date no Read more