Malachi O'Doherty

When the Secretary of State, William Whitelaw, met Cardinal Conway to discuss the case of James Chesney, the bomber priest, an appalling prospect loomed before them. It was that the public disclosure that a Catholic priest was an IRA bomber would confirm the prejudices of Loyalism against the Catholic church and make all priests legitimate [...]

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For the day that we learnt that a priest had bombed Claudy and that his cardinal, the bishop, the police and the Government all knew and all agreed to transfer him to another parish instead of prosecuting him.

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This picture was taken at midnight on the Summer Solstice at White Park Bay in County Antrim, looking North, with a little help from a half moon. (On a nikon d70s at iso 200, f 1.8 and shutter speed of about 2 seconds.)

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Ed Moloney Voices From The Grave Two Men’s War in Ireland Faber and Faber ISBN 978-0-571-25168-1 A lot of courage went into this book so it should be better. I want to concentrate on the first part, which is unfair to David Ervine whose interview completes the book, but the story of Brendan Hughes has [...]

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Normally a plane flies over my home every five minutes through the day. I have often sat out in the garden in sunshine and marvelled at how accustomed I had become to what you’d expect would be a major disruption; having to break off conversation, for instance, as another roar descends. Now that the planes [...]

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This was the view from our picnic over Cushendall bay yesterday afternoon, April 11.  Anyone know what they were up to?

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Revelations last week that the Primate of Ireland, Sean Brady (a cardinal) had administered oaths of secrecy to children who had been sexually abused by Brendan Smyth (a priest) led to calls from many Catholics for his resignation. Others were more supportive and thought a good man (Brady) was entitled to forgiveness for his mistake [...]

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The Pope is patronising us. The BBC reported his letter as an apology butit was nothing of the kind, for he takes no responsibility at all for abuse or cover-up. He is sorry in the way he might be sorry for the Haitian earthquake, sorry it happened. The most distinctive feature of his pastoral letter [...]

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Sean Brady, the Catholic Primate of Ireland and a Cardinal, participated in a church tribunal in 1975 at which two sexually abused children were sworn to secrecy. The punishment for the priest who had raped them: he was stripped of his power to hear confessions and the Nortbertine order, of which he was a member, [...]

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Mo Mowlam surprised us all before she shocked us. She was a heartening break from the sequence of plummy male Secretaries of State whose job had been to speak implausibly for the people of ‘Nawthen Arlan’ and their desire for peace. It is a pattern we have now returned to, despite the sense then that [...]

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