PAISLEY CONSOLES THE BROKENHEARTED
Paisley consoles the brokenhearted
By MARTINA DEVLIN
HE was conciliatory, sentimental, consoling - this was the Rev Ian Paisley at his most unfamiliar - and his most moving.
The hardline unionist politician stood before the body of a Sunday School teacher killed in the Omagh and spoke movingly of the sorrow that transcended the religious divide.
"There is no difference between a broken mother's heart who is a Roman Catholic and a broken mother's heart who is a Protestant or a Mormon. We are all the same as far as that is concerned,'' he said.
"We have seen 16 members of the Roman Catholic faith buried, one member of the Mormon faith and eleven members of the Protestant faith. Today we feel for them no matter what their beliefs or their political policies are.
"Let me say in this house of God we as a people feel for them, all their tears are the same.''
Not so much as a cough or a sigh disturbed the silence in the tiny Sixmilecross Free Presbyterian Church yesterday, as the congregation listened, rapped, to their Moderator's words.
Then Dr Paisley looked towards the coffin at his feet and drew a touching portrait of Esther Gibson (36), who lay beneath its lily covered lid.
"It was my great privilege this afternoon to visit the Gibson house and hold in my hand our sister's Bible. It was not a Bible that was unused along its margins were little remarks in her very readable hand,'' he said.
"On one of the first pages I opened was a little prayer she wrote about her future. She wrote: 'God, if it pleases you, send me a man of god to be my partner in life.' God sent that man.''
The DUP leader was referring to Ester's fiance Kenneth Hawkes, due to marry her next year. The couple had gone to Omagh for a joint portrait on the afternoon of the explosion.
Esther's uncle, Assembly man Oliver Gibson, produced that picture privately before the service and looked lovingly at it.
"The photographer brought it to me today and I want to put it on her coffin,'' he said.
"He told me his last words to Esther and Kenneth were 'You're together forever now'. Esther intended this photograph for her locket.''
Esther's funeral was not to be used as a political platform, insisted Mr Gibson the family simply wanted to bury her with dignity.
But Dr Paisley, restrained though he was, did castigate successive British governments, Conservative and Labour alike, for failing in their duty to the North's people.
Under a sign that read 'Salvation is of the Lord', Dr Paisley said: "Twenty-eight souls will bear witness against the dishonesty, against the deceit of the present government to fulfill its god-given obligations.''
Dr Paisley may well have found words to comfort them, but Catholic Bishop of Derry, Seamus Hegarty, admitted at another funeral that the vocabulary of sympathy was inadequate.
"Words are very hollow and no matter how we try to choose them or how well intentioned or sincere, they pass over people's heads when people are as traumatised as the bereaved are,'' he said.
A gale howled through windows and doors blew open in St Joseph's Hall as he spoke at the funeral of mother-of-one, Geraldine Breslin (43) in Omagh. The Bishop, one of twenty concelebrating her mass, admitted this past week had been his most trying in 32 years in Holy Orders.
But he was clapped as he told the townspeople: ''If it could become a model for the type of Northern Ireland we want to build, something good will have come of this. In the midst of your trauma you have given a great example.''
Chief among Geraldine's mourners were her schoolboy son Gareth (15), and her husband Mark. Colleagues from Watterson's Clothes Shop in the High Street also attended the funeral, Geraldine was one of three assistants from Watterson's killed.
Alongside priests on the stage which doubled as an altar in the parish hall used for the mass was Seamus Brennan, Government Chief Whip.
He pledged that the people of Omagh would not just have the prayers of the Dail but also its help through tougher security laws.
By MARTINA DEVLIN
HE was conciliatory, sentimental, consoling - this was the Rev Ian Paisley at his most unfamiliar - and his most moving.
The hardline unionist politician stood before the body of a Sunday School teacher killed in the Omagh and spoke movingly of the sorrow that transcended the religious divide.
"There is no difference between a broken mother's heart who is a Roman Catholic and a broken mother's heart who is a Protestant or a Mormon. We are all the same as far as that is concerned,'' he said.
"We have seen 16 members of the Roman Catholic faith buried, one member of the Mormon faith and eleven members of the Protestant faith. Today we feel for them no matter what their beliefs or their political policies are.
"Let me say in this house of God we as a people feel for them, all their tears are the same.''
Not so much as a cough or a sigh disturbed the silence in the tiny Sixmilecross Free Presbyterian Church yesterday, as the congregation listened, rapped, to their Moderator's words.
Then Dr Paisley looked towards the coffin at his feet and drew a touching portrait of Esther Gibson (36), who lay beneath its lily covered lid.
"It was my great privilege this afternoon to visit the Gibson house and hold in my hand our sister's Bible. It was not a Bible that was unused along its margins were little remarks in her very readable hand,'' he said.
"On one of the first pages I opened was a little prayer she wrote about her future. She wrote: 'God, if it pleases you, send me a man of god to be my partner in life.' God sent that man.''
The DUP leader was referring to Ester's fiance Kenneth Hawkes, due to marry her next year. The couple had gone to Omagh for a joint portrait on the afternoon of the explosion.
Esther's uncle, Assembly man Oliver Gibson, produced that picture privately before the service and looked lovingly at it.
"The photographer brought it to me today and I want to put it on her coffin,'' he said.
"He told me his last words to Esther and Kenneth were 'You're together forever now'. Esther intended this photograph for her locket.''
Esther's funeral was not to be used as a political platform, insisted Mr Gibson the family simply wanted to bury her with dignity.
But Dr Paisley, restrained though he was, did castigate successive British governments, Conservative and Labour alike, for failing in their duty to the North's people.
Under a sign that read 'Salvation is of the Lord', Dr Paisley said: "Twenty-eight souls will bear witness against the dishonesty, against the deceit of the present government to fulfill its god-given obligations.''
Dr Paisley may well have found words to comfort them, but Catholic Bishop of Derry, Seamus Hegarty, admitted at another funeral that the vocabulary of sympathy was inadequate.
"Words are very hollow and no matter how we try to choose them or how well intentioned or sincere, they pass over people's heads when people are as traumatised as the bereaved are,'' he said.
A gale howled through windows and doors blew open in St Joseph's Hall as he spoke at the funeral of mother-of-one, Geraldine Breslin (43) in Omagh. The Bishop, one of twenty concelebrating her mass, admitted this past week had been his most trying in 32 years in Holy Orders.
But he was clapped as he told the townspeople: ''If it could become a model for the type of Northern Ireland we want to build, something good will have come of this. In the midst of your trauma you have given a great example.''
Chief among Geraldine's mourners were her schoolboy son Gareth (15), and her husband Mark. Colleagues from Watterson's Clothes Shop in the High Street also attended the funeral, Geraldine was one of three assistants from Watterson's killed.
Alongside priests on the stage which doubled as an altar in the parish hall used for the mass was Seamus Brennan, Government Chief Whip.
He pledged that the people of Omagh would not just have the prayers of the Dail but also its help through tougher security laws.
Further Information
Publisher: IRISH INDEPENDENT
Ref: II/081
Published Date: 21-Aug-98
Related Images
There have been no images archived for this article.