UNITED IN DEATH UNITED IN LIFE
UNITED IN DEATH UNITED IN LIFE
AT TEN minutes past three on a warm Saturday afternoon the only sound that could be heard on Ballybofey's Main Street was that of babies crying.
Somehow it seemed appropriate that the anguished voices of the young should be searing through the minute's silence for the dead of Omagh.
Thirty lives lost - two of them unborn to a mother who herself was one of the fatal victims. An eighteen month old baby killed by the blast. The slaughter of the Innocents.
Outpouring of sympathy
In Ballybofey we gathered in front of the Butt Hall to join in the nationwide outpouring of sympathy for all who had perished and for those left behind.
Twenty-two miles from Omagh. Forty-two miles from Buncrana. But as close as we could get to those suffering the loss of loved ones whose names have been written on the bloodied scroll of the North's recent history.
Sacrifices in the name of a cause that long ago ceased to be a just one.
One week on and like most towns and villages throughout the country, Ballybofey remembered.
All local shops shut down from 2.30pm. to 3.30pm. as a mark of respect and outside McElhinney's Stores - itself touched by the troubles of what we'd hoped would be the past - they queued to sign the book of condolence.
The three representative members of the clergy, Fr. Kieran McAteer, Rev. Stanley Irvine and Rev. Patricia McBride, chaplain to the Royal and Prior Comprehensive School, Raphoe, recited prayers and readings during the brief and simple ceremony.
They had come to stand together with the people of Omagh, Buncrana, and Spain, they said.
At times it was difficult to hear the words over the lone microphone but this was more a time for reflection, for prayers and for hope.
Hope
The hope that we would never again have to assemble under such circumstances. The hope that the evil deed that devastated the County Tyrone town and reverberated far beyond it would be the final act in a tragedy that has gone on for too long.
As we exchanged greetings in an offering of peace we didn't stop to query the denomination of the hands we shook.
We didn't close our ears to any one of the prayers of the faithful read out by representatives of all the local denominations. .
We came to remember the dead
We came to remember the dead of Omagh. Each and every one of them.
They had been united in death.
Now we were united in life. The way it should be.
The way it must be.
AT TEN minutes past three on a warm Saturday afternoon the only sound that could be heard on Ballybofey's Main Street was that of babies crying.
Somehow it seemed appropriate that the anguished voices of the young should be searing through the minute's silence for the dead of Omagh.
Thirty lives lost - two of them unborn to a mother who herself was one of the fatal victims. An eighteen month old baby killed by the blast. The slaughter of the Innocents.
Outpouring of sympathy
In Ballybofey we gathered in front of the Butt Hall to join in the nationwide outpouring of sympathy for all who had perished and for those left behind.
Twenty-two miles from Omagh. Forty-two miles from Buncrana. But as close as we could get to those suffering the loss of loved ones whose names have been written on the bloodied scroll of the North's recent history.
Sacrifices in the name of a cause that long ago ceased to be a just one.
One week on and like most towns and villages throughout the country, Ballybofey remembered.
All local shops shut down from 2.30pm. to 3.30pm. as a mark of respect and outside McElhinney's Stores - itself touched by the troubles of what we'd hoped would be the past - they queued to sign the book of condolence.
The three representative members of the clergy, Fr. Kieran McAteer, Rev. Stanley Irvine and Rev. Patricia McBride, chaplain to the Royal and Prior Comprehensive School, Raphoe, recited prayers and readings during the brief and simple ceremony.
They had come to stand together with the people of Omagh, Buncrana, and Spain, they said.
At times it was difficult to hear the words over the lone microphone but this was more a time for reflection, for prayers and for hope.
Hope
The hope that we would never again have to assemble under such circumstances. The hope that the evil deed that devastated the County Tyrone town and reverberated far beyond it would be the final act in a tragedy that has gone on for too long.
As we exchanged greetings in an offering of peace we didn't stop to query the denomination of the hands we shook.
We didn't close our ears to any one of the prayers of the faithful read out by representatives of all the local denominations. .
We came to remember the dead
We came to remember the dead of Omagh. Each and every one of them.
They had been united in death.
Now we were united in life. The way it should be.
The way it must be.
Further Information
Publisher: DONEGAL PEOPLE'S PRESS
Ref: DP/039
Published Date: 26-Aug-98
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