Sunday, November 11, 2012

Belfast Maze priest Monsignor Tom Toner dies

Monsignor Tom TonerMonsignor Tom Toner, a Catholic chaplain at the Maze during the IRA's 1981 hunger strike, has died.

He was in his mid-70s, and had been ill for some time.

Monsignor Toner was formerly of St Agnes's parish and St Peter's Pro-Cathedral in Belfast. 

He was a senior figure in the Diocese of Down and Connor.

Msgr Toner also did a lot of inter-denominational work in Belfast.

He pioneered a shared society through a partnership with Dean John Shearer, the Church of Ireland Dean of Belfast, which brought the two cathedrals together.