January 30, 1972, was an uncharacteristically bright and sunny day for an Irish winter in Derry, Northern Ireland.  It was the day of a planned peaceful protest march against the policy of internment without trial instituted by the British Army; a policy that, while allegedly created to curtail sectarian violence, was itself hypocritically sectarian in its targeting of … [Read more...] about The 50th Anniversary of Bloody Sunday

Fr. Nicholas Callan was born in 1799 in County Louth. He was the fifth of six children born to a prosperous farming family. Noting that their son was remarkably clever, they sent him to the best private school available, which was run by a Presbyterian Clergyman (in the wake of the recent Penal Laws, there were few Catholic school options) while entrusting his Catholic … [Read more...] about Fr. Nicholas Callan, Forgotten Genius

On August 9, 1971, British Army Saracen armored cars rolled out at 4:00 AM onto the streets of Belfast to begin Operation Demetrius, the forcible internment of Irish Catholics suspected of being involved in paramilitary activity without charge or trial. Ironically, the British Army was now interning members of the community that they claimed upon their arrival to be protecting … [Read more...] about The Ballymurphy Massacre

There was a time when mouse clicks and tweets did not drive reporters; they actually went out, sometimes at great personal peril, to find the news.  One such reporter and a pioneer of investigative journalism was Irish American Nellie Bly. Nellie Bly was born Elizabeth Cochrane on May 5, 1864 in Cochran's Mills, now part of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.   Her father, Michael … [Read more...] about Nellie Bly