Learn More about the World Peace Prize Awarding Council

Father Sean McManus, founder-president of the Capitol Hill-based Irish National Caucus and Chief Judge of the World Peace Prize Awarding Council, was born in 1944 in County Fermanagh. It is one of the six counties in Northern Ireland in a parish divided by the British imposed border.

In 1972, church and state exiled him to the U.S. because he refused to be silent about injustice in Northern Ireland. In 1974, he founded the Irish National Caucus: “Thus McManus became Britain’s nemesis in America, the driving force that would eventually erode Britain’s influence within the U.S. government.” (American Policy and Northern Ireland. Professor Joseph E. Thompson).

Fr. Mc Manus has an unequaled and unprecedented record of working on Capitol Hill on the Irish issue. He has amassed substantial goodwill for the Irish cause and is praised highly for the non-partisan way he has pursued his mission. He has based his mission solidly on the teaching of the Catholic Church: Action on behalf of Justice is a constitutive dimension of the preaching of the Gospel. (Justice in the World. 1972).

In 2013, Fr. Mc Manus was chosen to serve on the World Peace Awarding Council (WPPAC). The South Korea-based council consists of twelve international and interfaith members. In 2013, Fr. Mc Manus was selected to be the Chief Judge of WPPAC. Additionally, he has authored several books—most notably his Memoirs: My American Struggle for Justice in Northern Ireland.

The prime promoter of the books is Barbara Flaherty, Executive Vice President of the Irish National Caucus. She is the Executive Vice President of the Irish National Caucus and a judge and Corporate Manager for the World Peace Prize Awarding Council. A teacher and educator, she has also spent many years working in the non-profit sector. She has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Secondary Education from The University of Maryland, College Park, and holds a Master of Science Degree in Secondary Education from Western Maryland College, graduating with a 4.0 average.

Barbara has spent two decades teaching history in the Prince George’s County, Maryland system. She said, “I love teaching, and I have worked with the best-trained educators in the country.” In 2005, she received the Outstanding Educator Award. She is now the Executive Vice President of the Irish National Caucus. She commented, “It is an honor to be working with both the Irish National Caucus on very important, human rights issues.”

Her late husband, Martin, a Galway native, first introduced her to the Irish cause at the age of 18, and since then she has been continually involved. Barbara also serves as the prime promoter of Fr. Mc Manus’s Memoirs, My American Struggle for Justice in Northern Ireland and his novels, Mac Ireland: Fight For Irish Freedom, Mac Ireland: Irish Struggle Continues and Mac Ireland: The Cause Endures.

On October 24, 2013, in Seoul, South Korea, Barbara was presented with the World Peace Prize by the World Peace Prize Awarding Council (WPPAC) and was sworn in as Roving Ambassador for Peace. Additionally, she has been appointed as a Judge and Corporate Manager for WPPAC.