Fr Ronan Drury Catholic majority in NI predicted
Catholics could outnumber Protestants in Northern Ireland by 2021, a leading academic has suggested. The 2011 official census figures put the Protestant population at 48 per cent and Catholics at 45 per cent, while more recent figures from 2016 show 44 per cent of working age adults are Catholic and 40 per cent Protestant.
Paul Nolan, an independent researcher, best known for the three Northern Ireland Peace Monitoring Reports, told BBC News NI it is likely that Catholics are close to outnumbering Protestants. “Three years from now we will end up, I think, in the ironic situation on the centenary of the state where we actually have a state that has a Catholic majority,” he said.
Well-known priest’s near – €1m will
The former editor of The Furrow, Fr Ronan Drury has left €890,712 in his will, it has been revealed. A native of Mullagh in Co. Cavan, Fr Drury celebrated a remarkable 68 consecutive Christmas Midnight Masses in his parish. He died on November 16, 2017 at age 93 in Dublin.
As Professor of Homiletics, he not only trained and inspired students in Maynooth, he supervised an annual course at the Irish College in Rome for students preparing for ordination.
He became editor of The Furrow – a pastoral journal – in 1977 following the death of the founding editor Canon JJ McGarry. He continued as editor up until his death.