BOMB REOPENS ANXIETY FROM 1998 ATROCITY
Bomb reopens anxiety from 1998 atrocity
IT should have been a quiet Mothering Sunday in the quiet market town of Omagh yesterday.
Instead, parishioners across the area were asked to pray for Nuala Kerr, whose 25-year-old police officer son Ronan had been brutally murdered the day before in a terrorist car bomb. One family friend said that Ronan's brother had travelled back from Australia especially to be with the family to celebrate Mother's Day..
A significant part of Omagh was under lockdown yesterday in the wake of the murder. A security cordon of over a mile had been set up around the murder scene on the Gortin Road, which was enforced strictly by the police helicopter, a spotter plane and dog handlers. Some residents who passed through the cordon shook hands with police as they went.
Priest Kevin McElhennon of Christ the King Chapel, at nearby Strathroy, said the incident had reopened old wounds from the Real IRA's horrendous bomb in the town in 1998, which killed 29 people and injured hundreds.
"There is a numbed silence and shock that words can't reflect," he told the News Letter after morning mass yesterday.
"People have a hidden fear and anxiety. The community in Omagh is still taking time to recover from the past and learning to live with memories of the past."
Only minutes beforehand, he told a packed-to-capacity chapel: "A terrible darkness descended upon our community yesterday with the brutal murder of Ronan Kerr."
He called on parishioners to pray for Ronan's mother, "especially on this Mother's Day - what she must be suffering today is unimaginable". He also prayed for Mr Kerr's family, friends and colleagues in the PSN1.
The crime was "a rejection of God and it was a rejection of our country", he said. And the community stands united in "absolute and clear condemnation" of it and in opposition to the "misguided, blind, morally wrong and sinful ideology" of those responsible, who were trying to "drag us down the dark road of the past", he said.
The priest went on to quote the apostle Paul: "You were in darkness once but now you are in light...have nothing to do with the futile works of darkness...but expose them by contrast."
His application of the passage was direct; his flock "have a clear moral obligation to provide to the authorities any information that would assist in the investigation of this crime and in bringing those responsible to justice".
After the service his parishioners strongly backed him.
"We thought we were done with this sort of thing," Jack McCann told the News Letter.
"I have lived in Omagh all my life and I think everyone I know would agree. Taking human life is wrong, this was the life of a young Catholic man."
Loreto McAnea said the community was united. "There are no words that express the revulsion and absolute misunderstanding of those responsible for this." she said. "A marathon passes by the scene of this bomb every year. We thought we had seen the last of this - anyone could have come past the scene of the bomb."
Josie McGaghran described the murder as "absolutely disgusting". She added: "They are evil people. We had a lovely sermon this morning condemning the whole thing. We are praying for all those affected."
The Kerr family home, just outside Omagh at Beragh, was also surrounded by a police cordon yesterday, which was lifted to let first minister Peter Robinson through in the afternoon. The night before, deputy first minister Martin McGuinness visited the home to pay his respects.
IT should have been a quiet Mothering Sunday in the quiet market town of Omagh yesterday.
Instead, parishioners across the area were asked to pray for Nuala Kerr, whose 25-year-old police officer son Ronan had been brutally murdered the day before in a terrorist car bomb. One family friend said that Ronan's brother had travelled back from Australia especially to be with the family to celebrate Mother's Day..
A significant part of Omagh was under lockdown yesterday in the wake of the murder. A security cordon of over a mile had been set up around the murder scene on the Gortin Road, which was enforced strictly by the police helicopter, a spotter plane and dog handlers. Some residents who passed through the cordon shook hands with police as they went.
Priest Kevin McElhennon of Christ the King Chapel, at nearby Strathroy, said the incident had reopened old wounds from the Real IRA's horrendous bomb in the town in 1998, which killed 29 people and injured hundreds.
"There is a numbed silence and shock that words can't reflect," he told the News Letter after morning mass yesterday.
"People have a hidden fear and anxiety. The community in Omagh is still taking time to recover from the past and learning to live with memories of the past."
Only minutes beforehand, he told a packed-to-capacity chapel: "A terrible darkness descended upon our community yesterday with the brutal murder of Ronan Kerr."
He called on parishioners to pray for Ronan's mother, "especially on this Mother's Day - what she must be suffering today is unimaginable". He also prayed for Mr Kerr's family, friends and colleagues in the PSN1.
The crime was "a rejection of God and it was a rejection of our country", he said. And the community stands united in "absolute and clear condemnation" of it and in opposition to the "misguided, blind, morally wrong and sinful ideology" of those responsible, who were trying to "drag us down the dark road of the past", he said.
The priest went on to quote the apostle Paul: "You were in darkness once but now you are in light...have nothing to do with the futile works of darkness...but expose them by contrast."
His application of the passage was direct; his flock "have a clear moral obligation to provide to the authorities any information that would assist in the investigation of this crime and in bringing those responsible to justice".
After the service his parishioners strongly backed him.
"We thought we were done with this sort of thing," Jack McCann told the News Letter.
"I have lived in Omagh all my life and I think everyone I know would agree. Taking human life is wrong, this was the life of a young Catholic man."
Loreto McAnea said the community was united. "There are no words that express the revulsion and absolute misunderstanding of those responsible for this." she said. "A marathon passes by the scene of this bomb every year. We thought we had seen the last of this - anyone could have come past the scene of the bomb."
Josie McGaghran described the murder as "absolutely disgusting". She added: "They are evil people. We had a lovely sermon this morning condemning the whole thing. We are praying for all those affected."
The Kerr family home, just outside Omagh at Beragh, was also surrounded by a police cordon yesterday, which was lifted to let first minister Peter Robinson through in the afternoon. The night before, deputy first minister Martin McGuinness visited the home to pay his respects.
Further Information
Publisher: NEWS LETTER
Ref: NL/820
Published Date: 04-Apr-11
Related Images
There have been no images archived for this article.