After more than a decade of closed doors and legal battles, St. Brigid’s Roman Catholic Church in New York’s Alphabet City is restored and open again for worship. Built between 1848 and 1849, St. Brigid’s, on Avenue B and Eighth Street, is among the earliest surviving works of famed architect Patrick Keely, a Tipperary native,Read more..
Parishioners and friends of historic St. James Parish, founded in 1855 on Chicago’s South Side by Irish immigrants who’d escaped the Great Starvation, spent Easter in a prayer vigil in front of their padlocked church, imploring the Archdiocese (and the Pope, via his Twitter @Pontifex) to stop the wrecking ball, due in only a fewRead more..
Malala Yousafzai, the 15-year-old Pakistani girl who survived a violent attack by Taliban gunmen in retaliation for her advocacy of girls’ education, is the recipient of the 2012 Tipperary International Peace Award. Yousafzai, a native of the Swat Valley region of Pakistan, gained prominence in 2009 after writing a blog for BBC Urdu chronicling herRead more..
Bono isn’t the only activist in his family. For some time now, his wife Ali has helped campaigner Adi Roche with the Irish-based Chernobyl Children’s Project, which was founded to help the thousands of children whose lives were affected by the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Russia. Ali is currently campaigning to have the BritishRead more..
On July 18, 2001, Dorothy Marie and Gwen Hennessey of the Sisters of St. Francis of The Holy Family, left their fellow sisters and friends to report to Pekin Federal Correctional Institute in Illinois. They were sentenced to six months for a November 2000 protest at the School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Georgia.Read more..
Actor Martin Sheen was awarded Amnesty International’s Enduring Spirit Award for his tireless dedication to social justice. Of Irish and El Salvadorian heritage, he has been an activist for the rights of South and central Americans, protested political repression in Central America, and promoted more liberal political asylum policies in the U.S. The West WingRead more..
John Cardinal O’Connor (1920-2000) Cardinal John O’Connor, the archbishop of the New York Archdiocese, died on May 3 at the age of 80 at his residence in New York City. The cause was cardiopulmonary arrest, a result of his battle with brain cancer. With his passing, the Vatican lost a powerful spokesman and Irish AmericaRead more..
New Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley is renewing this harbor city’s long Irish ties not only by his stunning election in a predominantly African-American city but also as leader of the area’s most popular Celtic rock band, O’Malley’s March. Brimming with knowledge of Irish history and rebel song, the 37-year-old former lawyer and city councilman wasRead more..