DONEGAL VICTIMS OF OMAGH BOMB BLAST LAID TO REST
Donegal Victims of Omagh Bomb Blast laid to rest
By Connie Duffy
"A strange and alien place," "a place of indescribable grief", "a terrifying evil." Just some of the phrases used by Buncrana curate, Fr Shane Bradley at the Requiem Mass in St Mary's Church. Cockhill, Buncrana yesterday (Wednesday) for the three young Donegal victims as he attempted to put into words the feelings of relatives and friends trying to come to terms with the terrible aftermath of last Saturday's horrific bomb blast in Omagh which claimed 28 lives.
People of this county are still trying to get to grips with the scale of the tragedy that wiped so many innocent lives from the face of the earth.
The Buncrana victims, 12 year old, Shaun McLaughlin, 12 year old James Barker and 8 year old Oran Doherty were laid to rest amid heart rending scenes of grief. Their two Spanish friends, Rocio Abad Ramos (23) and Fernando Blasco (12), here as part of an exchange trip, were buried in their native country on Tuesday.
One doesn't have to be in the Co. Tyrone town to feel the grief and sorrow this act of madness has caused. On this side of the border too the shock and horror of this most heinous and cowardly of acts has expressed' itself in many ways. Books of condolences have been opened in all the major towns, special meetings of the County Council and Urban Councils have been held while the public in general have joined in the public grieving with messages of support, floral tributes, visits to their "friends and relatives in the Omagh area and. as one might rightly expect, expressions of disgust at those who caused the 500lb explosion in the town centre.
In the wider sense new security measures have been introduced which will also see more intense Garda activity along the border.
But it was yesterday's scenes at St Marys Church, Cockhill, Buncrana which probably summed up the feeling of the nation. Local curate and Omagh native, Fr Shane Bradley said they found themselves in a "strange and alien place" as a result of what had happened to the three young boys and their two Spanish friends.
"We the people of Buncrana are in a strange and alien place today, one that nothing or no one could have ever prepared us for. This place is a place of indescribable grief, a land of dark shadow and of appalling pain for which there are no words. And while all of us are in this place, at the heart of it are three devastated, broken-hearted families from among us and two Spanish families as well as two other local families whose children have been seriously injured as well as families often visiting Spanish students."
Fr Bradley added this was a place that no one. absolutely no one should ever have to visit.
"We come here against our will as a result of a terrifying, evil act as people, who seem to have such a distorted grip on reality, that they thought they could further their cause by planting that bomb. Their action has not only wounded over 200 people and caused emotional havoc for thousands of people but has brought our Spanish visitors and ourselves to this brutal, brutal place. I can only pray that they may see truly what they have done and repent in contrite sorrow."
The Bishop of Derry, Dr Seamus Hegarty asked the congregation to pray in their charity for those who were in any way responsible for last Saturday's atrocity that they would receive the grace of repentance and seek forgiveness for what they had done.
"They all stand very guilty before Almighty God. they have done a great wrong and committed a grave sin. I want them to hear this call, a call made more out of pastoral concern and charity than of anger. I ask them to repent and resolve firmly to give up their immoral trade in destruction and death, not temporarily or conditionally but permanently and to seek God's forgiveness for the atrocity they had done. Unless you repent, no ideological or political consecration will even begin to exonerate you. from the great sin against God. against humanity and against this community of which you now stand guilty," he said.
By Connie Duffy
"A strange and alien place," "a place of indescribable grief", "a terrifying evil." Just some of the phrases used by Buncrana curate, Fr Shane Bradley at the Requiem Mass in St Mary's Church. Cockhill, Buncrana yesterday (Wednesday) for the three young Donegal victims as he attempted to put into words the feelings of relatives and friends trying to come to terms with the terrible aftermath of last Saturday's horrific bomb blast in Omagh which claimed 28 lives.
People of this county are still trying to get to grips with the scale of the tragedy that wiped so many innocent lives from the face of the earth.
The Buncrana victims, 12 year old, Shaun McLaughlin, 12 year old James Barker and 8 year old Oran Doherty were laid to rest amid heart rending scenes of grief. Their two Spanish friends, Rocio Abad Ramos (23) and Fernando Blasco (12), here as part of an exchange trip, were buried in their native country on Tuesday.
One doesn't have to be in the Co. Tyrone town to feel the grief and sorrow this act of madness has caused. On this side of the border too the shock and horror of this most heinous and cowardly of acts has expressed' itself in many ways. Books of condolences have been opened in all the major towns, special meetings of the County Council and Urban Councils have been held while the public in general have joined in the public grieving with messages of support, floral tributes, visits to their "friends and relatives in the Omagh area and. as one might rightly expect, expressions of disgust at those who caused the 500lb explosion in the town centre.
In the wider sense new security measures have been introduced which will also see more intense Garda activity along the border.
But it was yesterday's scenes at St Marys Church, Cockhill, Buncrana which probably summed up the feeling of the nation. Local curate and Omagh native, Fr Shane Bradley said they found themselves in a "strange and alien place" as a result of what had happened to the three young boys and their two Spanish friends.
"We the people of Buncrana are in a strange and alien place today, one that nothing or no one could have ever prepared us for. This place is a place of indescribable grief, a land of dark shadow and of appalling pain for which there are no words. And while all of us are in this place, at the heart of it are three devastated, broken-hearted families from among us and two Spanish families as well as two other local families whose children have been seriously injured as well as families often visiting Spanish students."
Fr Bradley added this was a place that no one. absolutely no one should ever have to visit.
"We come here against our will as a result of a terrifying, evil act as people, who seem to have such a distorted grip on reality, that they thought they could further their cause by planting that bomb. Their action has not only wounded over 200 people and caused emotional havoc for thousands of people but has brought our Spanish visitors and ourselves to this brutal, brutal place. I can only pray that they may see truly what they have done and repent in contrite sorrow."
The Bishop of Derry, Dr Seamus Hegarty asked the congregation to pray in their charity for those who were in any way responsible for last Saturday's atrocity that they would receive the grace of repentance and seek forgiveness for what they had done.
"They all stand very guilty before Almighty God. they have done a great wrong and committed a grave sin. I want them to hear this call, a call made more out of pastoral concern and charity than of anger. I ask them to repent and resolve firmly to give up their immoral trade in destruction and death, not temporarily or conditionally but permanently and to seek God's forgiveness for the atrocity they had done. Unless you repent, no ideological or political consecration will even begin to exonerate you. from the great sin against God. against humanity and against this community of which you now stand guilty," he said.
Further Information
Publisher: DONEGAL DEMOCRAT
Ref: DOD/001
Published Date: 20-Aug-98
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