When many people hear the words ‘Holy Cross’ - short for Holy Cross Girls Primary School – the words take them back to a dark time.  

Holy Cross is a Catholic School in a loyalist area, Upper Ardoyne or Glenbryn. 

In 2001, community tensions boiled over and led to loyalist residents protesting nationalist parents from Ardoyne taking their kids to schools through their part of the area. 

That protest became notorious for its viciousness. 

Two clerics, one Catholic, one Protestant became synonymous with the events of Holy Cross and attempts to resolve them.  

 They were Fr Aidan Troy and the Rev Norman Hamilton. 

Fr Troy joined Ciarán Dunbar in the BelTel studio with the Rev Hamilton down the line. 

The BelTel brings you some of Northern Ireland's top journalists, Allison Morris, Sam McBride and Suzanne Breen to name but a few, giving you the inside stories behind what is in the news. Presented by Ciarán Dunbar, the Bel Tel investigates, debates and informs every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

The BelTel

Holy Cross: Clerics Fr Troy and Rev Hamilton on the protest and resolving it 

For much of the world, the Troubles in Northern Ireland were about Catholics and Protestants fighting each other.  

With those labels being used as shorthand to this day to describe members of the two main communities, it's easy to see why.  

 But whilst for some the conflict clearly included a religious element, the role of religion is certainly up for debate.  

 But what about peacebuilding – what role did Christians have in ending the conflict?   

 Professor Gladys Ganiel’s research focuses on the role of religion in conflict in Northern Ireland.  

 She has written a new short book – it's entitled Christianity and Peacebuilding in Northern Ireland. 

She joined Ciarán Dunbar.  

God, Religion, the Troubles, and the Christian Peacebuilding  

Paddy Mackin and Eamon MacMahon's bodies were found on the morning of the 13th of July, 1983.  

They both had been blasted with a shotgun as close range.   

The murders of the 34 year olds were first blamed on INLA leaders Dominic and Mary McGlinchey.  But their families don’t believe that – they believe “other republicans” were involved.  

They claim that an informer recruited by Captain Robert Nairac helped set up their loved ones   They say this man later fled Northern Ireland after Freddie Scappaticci tipped off MI5 that his identity had been compromised.  

The story was broken by our political editor, Suzanne Breen. 

Families search for truth over 1983 south Armagh murders  

At 37, Jason Arday became the University of Cambridge’s youngest black professor.  

However, he is now at the center of a plagiarism accusations which have cast a shadow over his career – and thrust him into the international limelight.   

Parts of his CV have been rubbished, and his most implausible claims about his personal life and achievements have been ridiculed.   

Arday resigned from Cambridge last week saying he was under an "unrelenting level of public scrutiny and personal attack".  

 The controversy has sparked intense debate.  While allegations against Arday have become a focal point for right-wing press and far-right groups online, many academics argue the case has been caught up in a wider culture war.  

 Ciaran Dunbar is joined by Kurtis Reid, to talk about Jason Arday – what he says, and what his detractors and defenders say. 

Holy Cross: Clerics Fr Troy and Rev Hamilton on the protest and resolving it

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