It was 1949 when Michael McErlain first set out for Knock. In those days, the journey from Belfast could take up to eleven hours involving a train to Dublin, a transfer at Claremorris, followed by a bone-shaker bus to the pilgrimage site. “I don’t remember much about it,” said Michael, “Other than the train –…
For years I would meet all kinds of people in ‘The Green Room’ just outside the television studios. It was where BBC guests, were supposed to relax before going on air. I wondered why they called it that because it wasn’t actually green. It turns out this was an old theatre tradition, where walls were…
Catholics in rural areas can expect an increase in Eucharistic services led by lay people in the years ahead, the Bishop of Derry has said. “There would certainly have to be,” Bishop Donal McKeown told The Irish Catholic, when asked whether there would be more Eucharistic services, in future, where priests are not available to celebrate…
Bishop Donal McKeown, who is set to retire, has always made a point of walking the streets of Derry to meet the people. It is a town he has come to love. “There is an energy about Derry,” said the Bishop, “and it is a blessing to be part of that. He was appointed Bishop…
EXCLUSIVE The Diocese of Derry – which dates back to the Twelfth Century and is one of the oldest in Ireland – may cease to exist within a decade, according to its outgoing Bishop. In a wide-ranging interview with The Irish Catholic, Bishop Donal McKeown suggested that his successor may be the last Bishop of…
When Bishop Donal was appointed auxiliary bishop in Down and Connor, a brother priest joked: “How the hell did you slip through?” He still laughs at the memory. Bishop Donal, the son of a watchmaker, is conscious that his time as Bishop of Derry is coming to a close. He formally resigned on April 12…
It was a decade ago that I first encountered a Muslim in Belfast, for many years, a city of Catholics and Protestants, and few dissenters. His name was Yousef, and he had come to Ireland to escape persecution. We met on the Falls Road – the west Belfast, where it is more common now to…
Memories of being stopped at loyalist blockades haunted my mind as I watched scenes of fuel protests across Ireland. I remember quite well being stopped at Belfast’s Ormeau Bridge, which was blocked off by loyalist women and wee children, standing defiantly. I beckoned the police officer who was standing on the bridge, redirecting traffic. I…
Between Christmas and Easter, I attended a humanist funeral. It was not by design. I had assumed the deceased was of another Christian denomination, and there would at least be a religious element to the service at the crematorium. “Oh my God,” I thought as the humanist ‘minister’ rose to speak about John (not his…
Before Jesus left for the Mount of Olives to sweat his own blood at Gethsemane, scripture records that the Lord and his disciples sang a hymn – a line easily overlooked in the mysteries of Holy Week. This song, possibly Psalm 118, was something that struck musician and composer Patrick Davey – who was possibly…