He was posted from Rome to the Ardoyne area of Belfast, where he became parish priest.[1] He also became head of the board of governors of Holy Cross Primary school, a Catholic school in a Protestant area.[1]
In June 2001 Loyalist protestors began picketing the school, claiming that Catholics were regularly attacking their homes.[1] The harassment escalated from sectarian taunting to stones, bricks, fireworks and blast bombs after the school holidays.[1] He walked with the parents and children daily for three months.[1]
During this time he received a series of death threats.[1] On one occasion police offered to escort him to the border with the Republic of Ireland as there had been a threat to kill him that weekend.[1] He turned down that offer as well as an offer of the use of an apartment in Belfast owned by the Irish government.[1]
In April 2003 a 17 year old took their own life in Holy Cross and the experience he had dealing with the deceased's family led him to publish a book, Out Of The Shadow: Responding To Suicide in 2009.[3]
In December 2024 papers declassified under the thirty-year rule revealed that the government of the Republic of Ireland had offered him the use of a flat leased by the Department of Foreign Affairs in Belfast after he received death threats.[4] He declined the offer as he didn't want to leave Ardoyne and feared that drawing publicity to the threats would have an adverse effect on the children.[4]