News

Order leaders meet senior Catholic clergy

SENIOR members of the Orange Order met Catholic leaders in Belfast yesterday. The order's grand master Edward Stevenson and Belfast grand master George Chittick were among those who met clergy including Bishop of Down and Connor Noel Treanor and Fr Michael Sheehan, administrator of St Patrick's Parish in Belfast city centre.

St Patrick's Church on Donegall Street has been a parading flashpoint since a loyalist band was filmed marching in circles outside playing sectarian music on July 12 2012.

Violence also flared at a later march.

The clerics and Orange Order leaders discussed issues including parades, the Haass proposals, child poverty and educational underachievement during yesterday's two-hour meeting. Another loyal order, the Royal Black Institution, met Catholic leaders in February.