St Peter’s Cathedral, the cathedral church of Down and Connor, which had opened as a pro-cathedral in 1866, was re-opened after extensive renoations, costing more than £6,000,000, on Sunday, 6th February 2005, at 3.00 pm.

Cardinal Keith O’Brien, Archbishop of Edinburgh, came for the occasion, but did not forget his ancestry.  Before travelling to Belfast for the re-opening of the Cathedral, he decided to spend two nights in Ballycastle, arriving on Friday, 4th February 2005 and staying in the Parochial House, with the Parish Priest. 

The Cardinal's mother was Alice Moriarty, a native of Ballycastle, and Cardinal Keith spent the first eleven years of his life here, attending the local primary school. 

He celebrated  both the Saturday Vigil Mass and the 10 am Sunday morning Mass in the local parish church, St Patrick's and St Brigid's, with Father Maurice Henry PP and Father Kevin McGuckien CC.

After Mass he met the members of the congregation outside the church and it was amazing how many of them he remembered.  Former primary school classmates brought up the gifts in the Offertory procession at both Masses. This was a wonderful experience for his classmates and they are still talking about it. The collectors on Saturday evening were John Blaney, Seamus McFadden, Desmond Elliott, John Harkin and Michael McGaughey. The team for the Mass on Sunday morning were. Jennings, John McClements, Charles Stewart, Brian Duffin and George Campbell.

The participants and the Cardinal were thrilled to be involved in this great occasion.