[4] As the post-Famine population of Belfast grew, so too did sectarian attitudes, especially among those moving into the city from rural districts all over Ulster looking for work.
[5] In this respect historians Sean Connolly (academic) and Gillian McIntosh refer to Dorrian's "pugnacious" presiding over the rapid expansion in priests, churches and religious houses in contrast to the "scholarly but ineffective" Bishop Denvir.
[citation needed] At a meeting of the parish priests held in the chapel of the Diocesan College, 6 November 1885, immediately after the funeral of Dorrian, Patrick MacAlister was elected Vicar Capitular of Down and Connor.
McAllister was then named by Pope Leo XIII as Dorrian's successor as the 24th Lord Bishop of Down and Connor.
[citation needed] In November 2017 the historic chapel of Belfast's Mater Infirmorum Hospital was re-opened after extensive refurbishment.