When Fr Ciarán O’Callaghan CSsR gets up every morning and looks out from his bedroom window in Clonard Monastery he sees, just metres away, the tall and forbidding so-called peace wall that separates Catholics and Protestants in west Belfast. The wall, one of more than 40 such structures in Belfast and of well over 100…
Catholic leaders need to encourage young people in the community to seriously consider policing, PSNI Chief Constable George Hamilton tells Martin O’Brien “We might not have government but we still have the law, which is pretty important for policing, so all is not lost”, deadpans George Hamilton, Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern…
Martin O’Brien meets a remarkable sister with a thirst for justice The first thing that strikes you about Sr Majella McCarron, a pioneering advocate for justice and peace within her congregation, is that she is no shrinking violet. Sr Majella, a sprightly, feisty 77-year-old who hails from Derrylin, Co. Fermanagh, is happy to talk for…
Westminster’s Cardinal Vincent Nichols tells Martin O’Brien about Pope Francis’ programme to reform the Church Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster and president of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, is the foremost Catholic Church leader in these islands, one of the Pope’s principal advisors in the appointment of bishops and a major figure…
For some, he has blood on his hands. But, any objective judgement of Martin McGuinness reveals a remarkable man, writes Martin O’Brien Martin McGuinness, genial and ruthless guerrilla leader turned statesman, now fighting serious illness, has been one of the most significant figures in the history of these islands over the past five decades. From…
Jeffery Donaldson – one of the North’s most prominent unionists – tells Martin O’Brien about his journey of faith, his hopes for the future, plans for the Pope to visit and getting on with his Catholic neighbours
Eminent Church historian Msgr Ambrose Macaulay speaks to Martin O’Brien
Martin O’Brien meets onetime BBC political correspondent Martina Purdy, now Belfast’s Sr Martina of the Blessed Sacrament
Rev. Ken Newell recalls shaking off ‘a cramped evangelical mind-set’ with Martin O’Brien
Lord Robin Eames tells Martin O’Brien about his hopes for the future of democracy in Northern Ireland