Karen Frances McCarthy

As a journalist, McCarthy began covering US politics for a variety of newspapers, including Irish Examiner.[1] and the Riz Khan Show on Al Jazeera English.[2] In 2007, she was an embedded reporter in Iraq. She was one of the first to write about Sunni Awakening Councils in Anbar Province, Al Qaeda HQ in Baqubah, for The Irish Times.

In 2006, McCarthy wrote and produced Made in America[3] for RTÉ in Ireland, about the challenges and triumphs of the human spirit of four young Irish people who emigrated to the US in the early 1990s on the eve of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement that changed the economic and political climate of Ireland.[4] The series was nominated for an Irish Film & Television Academy Award for Best Documentary Series.[5]

In 2010, McCarthy's first book The Other Irish was published by Sterling Publishing Inc. For this work, she was named one of Ireland's top female broadcasters who have had an international impact.[6] The book was supported by Ireland's Department of Foreign Affairs as part of the country's Reconciliation and Anti-Sectarian Fund as a cultural outreach project. The announcement of support for these projects was made on 28 November 2012.

Northern Ireland is still a very divided society. We saw the potential for sectarian activity to flare up again this summer, so it's clear that, despite the enormous progress made since the Good Friday Agreement was signed, great challenges remain. We are supporting these projects to help overcome the problem of sectarianism and to promote reconciliation in Northern Ireland as well as strengthening community relations across the island of Ireland. I am grateful to the groups and individuals who carry out this critical work. It remains as important as ever that we support their efforts.[7]

As part of the reconciliation effort, McCarthy travelled throughout Ireland, talking to various Protestant communities, including the Ulster Scots Agency,[8] the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland,[9] the Linen Hall Library,[10] and the Monreagh Heritage Centre.[11] It was also supported in the media by Ian Adamson, OBE,[12] and William Humphrey DUP MLA in the Belfast Telegraph.[13] She appeared on RTÉ's History Show with Miles Dungan, NPR with Kathleen Dunn,[14] the BBC's Saturday Morning Radio Show[15] with John Toal. The book was reviewed favourably by the Huffington Post,[16] and by Prof. James Flannery of Emory College for the Irish America Magazine.[17]

In 2011, McCarthy stopped covering politics and began to contribute features articles on spirituality, existential belief systems and philosophy of religion for Salon,[18] Huffington Post Religion[19] Beliefnet,[20] the Belfast Media,[21] and The Irish Voice.[22]

McCarthy worked with Deepak Chopra to produce TV shows based on Chopra's books Alchemy and The Crystal Cave. Martin Sheen as Arthur, Robert Guillaume as Merlin, and Johanna Cassidy as the narrator offered a dramatic reading designed to teach those seeking a deeper meaning in their lives that they may locate wisdom by seeking their "inner wizard."

In 2011, McCarthy had what she has described as an awakening. In 2020, she described the events leading up to this in a memoir Till Death Don't Us Part: A True Story of Awakening to Love After Life, which was published by White Crow Books. It is described a true and transformational story of one woman's extraordinary journey from skepticism, through tragedy, into awakening to the knowledge that her dead fiancé is communicating from the hereafter. The story recounts McCarthy's change in focus and career path, and how she moved toward Spiritualism and writing about spirituality as a result of these experiences.

It was described by NYU Professor Ernest Rubeinstein as "a story that doesn't just save us from our fear of death but also from the vague uneasiness and sense of disconnection that sometimes infect a life." It does this by emphasizing the existential implications of continued existence for this life and how joy and purpose come from having an open mind, an open heart, the courage to heal, and from being willing to embrace and share the compassion offered us from the unseen world.

Feature article versions of the story appeared in the British magazine Psychic News[23] and Salon.com.[24]

In the first week of its release, Till Death Don't Us Part was ranked No. 1 New Release in its category on Amazon.[25]

McCarthy was interviewed about the book, mediumship, the afterlife, and awakening by Alan Steinfeld for New Realities TV,[26] and by Melanie Alberts on Psychic Playdate.[27] She gave lectures at the Edgar Cayce Center of New York[28] and the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Centre[29] in Scotland.

The book was described by Academy Award® Nominee Juanita Wilson as "A gripping modern love story that transcends all boundaries." Peabody Award winner Alexandra Lipsitz was quoted as saying, "Her experiences made me believe in things I never thought I could believe in." Susan Shapiro, New York Times bestselling author of Unhooked & Byline Bible, wrote "It's a fascinating transformational journey that challenges all our assumptions about death." Author Jennifer Belle wrote, "A news reporter and former diehard skeptic, McCarthy gives us an entertaining, impeccably researched, and brilliantly written page-turner about continuing love after life, that will move, amaze, and provide deep comfort with its glorious, inspiring, and deafening ring of truth."[30]

It also received favorable praise from Tricia J. Robertson, former President of the Society for Psychical Research, Minister David R Bruton MBA, President Spiritualists' National Union & Principal of the Arthur Findlay College, Nancy Eubel, former co-executive director of Association for Research and Enlightenment, and Victor and Wendy Zammit, co-authors of A Lawyer Presents the Evidence for the Afterlife.[31]