Building a Church Without Walls
Does Northern Ireland have a community relations strategy? Is anyone making a plan about how citizens in Northern Ireland might develop better relationships with each other, and move beyond the divisive politics of the past?
With the Shared Future document … Read more...
I reviewed Xoliswa Sithole’s documentary, Zimbabwe’s Forgotten Children, on this blog back in March. I hope that the BBC’s recent re-airing of the film has once again highlighted the situation in Zimbabwe, which continues to be precarious for the … Read more...
Secretary of State Owen Paterson has published a summary of the responses to the Eames Bradley Report on dealing with Northern Ireland’s past, revealing an overwhelmingly negative reaction to it.
As the unionist newspaper the News Letter puts it, ‘Ulster … Read more...
Today’s Irish Times carries a commentary by Joe Humphreys titled, ‘Africa Should not be Defined by Single Events.’ Citing the recent example of the successful World Cup in South Africa, Humphreys notes how media coverage changed dramatically from hysterical predictions … Read more...
Yesterday was Ecumenical Day at the novena in West Belfast’s Clonard Monastery. As I’m in a Northern Irish style ‘mixed’ marriage, and live close to Clonard, I appreciate the spirit behind ecumenical day and try and make a point … Read more...
For many, the welcome reception this week of the Saville Report and the British Prime Minister’s apology for the failings of the British Army and the British state in regard to Bloody Sunday have signalled that Northern Ireland may be … Read more...
Ecumenism in Northern Ireland is in what might be described as a quiet stage. Gone are some of the outrageous events of the 1960s, when the Rev. Ian Paisley and his Free Presbyterians staged regular protests against ecumenism outside the … Read more...
Norman Hamilton was installed as the new moderator last night at the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. A pastor for the past 22 years at Ballysillan Presbyterian, in a tough part of north Belfast, Hamilton can speak … Read more...
If the Pope’s team of apostolic visitors want to prepare for their upcoming visit to Ireland, a good place to start would be a new book edited by John Littleton and Eamon Maher, The Dublin/Murphy Report: A Watershed for Irish … Read more...
The Pope has announced the team of apostolic visitors who will conduct an investigation into clerical sex abuse in Ireland. The Irish Times’ Patsy McGarry remarks that the Vatican has sent in ‘heavy hitters.’ McGarry says:
… Read more...THERE HAS never been
David Stevens, Leader of the Corrymeela Community, died from cancer on Sunday at the age of 62. A founding member of the Community Relations Council, Stevens also worked for 25 years in the Inter Church Centre in Belfast, … Read more...