News from around the 32 counties of Ireland

ANTRIM

Prince Philip mocked an Army cadet blinded in an IRA attack by poking fun at his dress sense. As the Queen asked 15-year-old Stephen Menary how much he could see Philip said: "Not a lot, judging by that tie. Stephen was wearing the uniform of the Middlesex Cadet Force, which includes a red, blue and yellow tie. Mr. Menary was 14-years-old when he picked up a torch bomb that was thrown at Territorial Army barracks in west London, by the Real IRA in 2001. He was blinded and lost part of his left arm. The comment, made by the Duke of Edinburgh during a tree-planting ceremony in Hyde Park, London seven years ago, was revealed by Stephen's mum Carol.
(Source: The Belfast Telegraph) 

   
CARLOW

There is now widespread speculation that beleaguered Bishop Jim Moriarty will announce his resignation very shortly as grassroots anger at his handling of clerical sex abuse cases continues to grow. 

Furious parents in parishes around Carlow are threatening to boycott religious sacraments officiated at by Bishop Moriarty if he does not resign in the wake of criticisms contained in the Murphy Report into clerical abuse in the Dublin diocese.

 One parent said that several families in one parish had decided not to allow their children to receive their Confirmation and will hold them back for a year unless the bishop resigns from his position. 


(Source: The Carlow Nationalist)

CAVAN

When a newly restored 146-year-old cathedral opened last week in Perth, Western Australia, complete with a crypt built to hold the remains of its former bishops, it was missing the remains of three Irish bishops, one of whom is from Cavan. The missing prelates at the €25m revamped St. Mary's Cathedral include Perth's first bishop, who was largely responsible for the building of the cathedral, and another who tried to broker a peace deal with Lloyd George on behalf of the Irish forces in 1920 during the War of Independence. The third figure, an auxiliary bishop, is buried in Ireland.

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Nster.com