ARCHBISHOP SPEAKS OF UNBEARABLE PAIN GRIEF
Archbishop speaks of unbearable pain and incredible grief
UPWARDS of 1,000 people gathered at St. Macartans RC Church, Augher, on Tuesday morning to say goodbye to Mrs. Avril Monaghan, and her baby daughter, Maura, who perished in the bombing.
There were similar scenes yesterday (Wednesday) at the funeral of Mrs. Mary Grimes, Mrs. Monaghan's mother, of 16 St. Patrick's Road, Deroar, who was laid to rest after a funeral service at the Church of the Immaculate Conception at Beragh.
The service was conducted by her brother-in-law, Rev. Fr. James Grimes, who had also conducted the funeral of Mrs. Grimes' daughter, Avril and granddaughter.
Wednesday's sad service was attended by the RC Primate of all-Ireland, Archbishop Sean Brady, who said that the fact the atrocity was carried out under the pretext of patriotism, added shame to the outrage and sorrow felt by so many.
"Today, once again, our hearts go out to the Grimes family as we gather for the funeral of Mary, loving wife, devoted mother, and outstanding grandmother," he said.
"The death of a beloved wife and mother always brings great pain and sorrow, but when that death coincides with the tragic killing of her daughter, Avril, and granddaughter, Maura, the pain becomes unbearable, the grief incredible," the Archbishop told mourners.
"If this triple tragedy were due to natural causes or an accident it would be already immensely sad. But this is the work of fellow human beings and our hearts are filled, not only with sadness, but with anger and outrage," he said, and added: "That it was carried out under the pretext of patriotism, adds shame to that outrage and sorrow."
He said the prayers offered for the forgiveness of the bombers were yet another example of the wonderful courage and dignity which the Grimes family and so many other families had shown.
"We know that there are people who cannot find it in their hearts to share those sentiments at this time. We also know that God pardons those who turn to Him with sincere heart, no matter how terrible the sin. But we mortals find it more difficult to forgive. It would make it easier if those responsible were to show remorse and indicate a change of heart," the Primate said.
He continued: "The efforts made in recent days to offer an explanation show that the bombers realise that something went terribly wrong. They need to go further, much further. They need to realise that their whole campaign is utterly wrong and totally evil and completely devoid of justification.
"How could the murder of baby Maura, of baby Breda Devine, of eight-year-old Oran Doherty, of nine teenagers, of 12 adult women and four adult men, all of them innocent victims, be other than something very evil?" Archbishop Brady said.
He said that if those responsible would not listen to the voice of the ballot box, then let them listen to the voice of revulsion, expressed so clearly and so powerfully and so consistently.
"Let them listen to the voice of their own conscience and ask: 'Is this the kind of person I really wish to be? Are these the kind of values I wish to live by?' Let them answer those questions honestly and end this senseless campaign of violence permanently now," he said.
The Archbishop said that bombs killed, maimed, wrecked and destroyed, and Saturday's experience had to galvanise all people to reject the path of violence totally - once and for all.
He said the Omagh bomb had united a community in grief, and called for the experience to bring people together to work to ensure that the hopes of peace were not ruined, and in the belief that lasting peace was ultimately a devine gift as well as a human task.
Not to do so, he said, would be the final surrender to those who instilled terror and inflicted violence.
"We owe it to the memory of those who have died to make sure that this does not happen and to do all we can to guarantee that they have not died in vain," the Archbishop said.
During the service, Fr. Grimes prayed for forgiveness for the people who carried out the bombing, and the parish priest, Rev. Fr. Arthur McAnerney, expressed sympathy on behalf of the whole community to all the families suffering in the aftermath of the atrocity.
During Tuesday's poignant service, in which family members played a large part, one of the priests told mourners that in the disposable age in which people lived, human life was sacred - not disposable.
It was the first of many funerals to take place, and the church was filled to capacity with mourners.
Such were the numbers to attend, that hundreds who were unable to secure a place inside the church, stood outside, where the service was relayed to them by a PA system mounted on the walls of the 150-year-old chapel.
The cortege was met at the gates by the participating clergy and altar boys, and both coffins were blessed by Mrs. Monaghan's uncle, Fr. Grimes, who conducted the service.
Leading the mourners were Mr. Michael Monaghan and his children, and wider family circle. Relatives and friends took part in the service.
Among the clergy to assist was the Bishop of Clogher, Dr. Joseph Duffy, who said he, like so many others, found it difficult to find the right words to say.
Faith
"When all is said and done, all we have to fall back on, on an occasion like this, is our faith in the goodness of a God that loves us, in and through all the suffering that comes our way - suffering that we don't understand", he said.
He said everyone was conscious that the sadness and grief in the Clogher Diocese was joined with other bereaved or injured in the same terrible bombing.
"It occurs to me that we are bereaved as a nation, as a country, north and south, Protestant and Catholic, and we feel betrayed that those Spanish people who trusted in our warmth and hospitality have had their trust so cruelly abused. We feel for them from the bottom of our hearts", he said.
"We must, all of us, once again face the insanity, perverse insanity, the deep-rooted, deep-seated nature of the evil that has caused all this suffering and pain. It has to be said again and again, violence of any kind is the enemy of peace and we must together exorcise it, take it out by the roots once and for all. Our whole future depends on this", the Bishop said.
Rev. Fr. Lawrence Dawson, the parish priest, told mourners that the healing process usually began slowly with the families, and probably began at the funeral as people joined in prayer.
He said the tragedy took place on the Feast of the Assumption, and on Saturday morning Mrs. Monaghan had taken part in the church's celebration, but since then it had been a time of grief and waiting and hoping, allied with the great qualities of prayer, support and help from so many people.
Healing
"I know this morning there is no hatred or bitterness in your hearts, but certainly hurt and grief. And so we begin the healing process in our lives, to give a favourable judgment to Avril as she takes her little angel with her to Heaven, and her mother who will be buried tomorrow (Wednesday), and to all the other people who were killed in this tragedy, he said.
Later in the service he urged people not to let the manner of Mrs. Monaghan and her daughter's death obscure the purpose and focus of her life.
He described her as a loving wife and daughter, and added: "She goes to God with full hands, with Maura and her two unborn children, and we cannot forget them, they are very much part of this morning's ceremony."
He said that life could be hard at times, and Mr. Monaghan now had a particularly hard cross to carry, but he would find support in those around him and from those in the parish who would carry him through.
Fr. Dawson went on to thank those who took part in the service, including the choir, organist, readers and the media, who, he said, carried the funeral message sensitively beyond the walls of the church to give hope and consolation to those who were suffering elsewhere that morning.
He also thanked the RUC for managing the traffic, the nurses and doctors who had helped those injured and who died.
"As we prepare to say our farewell to them let us remember that nothing that we have loved will ever be lost," he said.
Fr. Grimes, from Whitecross parish, Co. Armagh, said the terrible explosion in Omagh on Saturday had shattered not only the Monaghan and Grimes' families but many other families throughout the country, and the reason for it could not be explained.
Heartbreak
"There are those who have no regard for the sanctity, the sacredness, the holiness of human life, and those people are responsible for us being here today and for the grief and the sorrow and the heartbreak that they have caused."
Fr. Grimes said Mrs. Monaghan's faith had been handed on to her from a wonderful father and mother, it was a faith shared with her in a wonderful family, shared by a wonderful husband and by wonderful little children.
"I never heard a complaint from her. She accepted all that God sent her with a great love, patience and endurance. I have no doubt that today that she and Maura and Mary her mother have already joined that vast crowd in the ever-lasting joy and happiness of Heaven," Fr. Grimes added.
He urged those who carried out the atrocity to listen to the words of Christ.
"He has told us that no murderer will enter his kingdom. He has told us 'vengeance is mine I will repay.
"We try as He taught us to avoid hateful and vengeful thoughts. We try to forgive and that is not easy...
"We must try and pray for forgiveness for those who caused that most awful act of murder in Omagh. We ask the Lord to forgive those men," he said.
Mrs. Monaghan and her daughter are survived by Mrs. Monaghan's husband, Michael, the couple's daughters, Aoibheann and Eilisha, and their son, Patrick.
They are also survived by Mrs. Monaghan's father, Michael Grimes, and wider family circle.
Burial took place to the adjoining cemetery, where Mrs. Monaghan, her unborn twins, and her daughter, were laid to rest together.
One of the most touching scenes followed the service, when Mr. Monaghan, surrounded by his family, carried his sleeping son, Patrick, only a toddler, in his arms to the graveside.
UPWARDS of 1,000 people gathered at St. Macartans RC Church, Augher, on Tuesday morning to say goodbye to Mrs. Avril Monaghan, and her baby daughter, Maura, who perished in the bombing.
There were similar scenes yesterday (Wednesday) at the funeral of Mrs. Mary Grimes, Mrs. Monaghan's mother, of 16 St. Patrick's Road, Deroar, who was laid to rest after a funeral service at the Church of the Immaculate Conception at Beragh.
The service was conducted by her brother-in-law, Rev. Fr. James Grimes, who had also conducted the funeral of Mrs. Grimes' daughter, Avril and granddaughter.
Wednesday's sad service was attended by the RC Primate of all-Ireland, Archbishop Sean Brady, who said that the fact the atrocity was carried out under the pretext of patriotism, added shame to the outrage and sorrow felt by so many.
"Today, once again, our hearts go out to the Grimes family as we gather for the funeral of Mary, loving wife, devoted mother, and outstanding grandmother," he said.
"The death of a beloved wife and mother always brings great pain and sorrow, but when that death coincides with the tragic killing of her daughter, Avril, and granddaughter, Maura, the pain becomes unbearable, the grief incredible," the Archbishop told mourners.
"If this triple tragedy were due to natural causes or an accident it would be already immensely sad. But this is the work of fellow human beings and our hearts are filled, not only with sadness, but with anger and outrage," he said, and added: "That it was carried out under the pretext of patriotism, adds shame to that outrage and sorrow."
He said the prayers offered for the forgiveness of the bombers were yet another example of the wonderful courage and dignity which the Grimes family and so many other families had shown.
"We know that there are people who cannot find it in their hearts to share those sentiments at this time. We also know that God pardons those who turn to Him with sincere heart, no matter how terrible the sin. But we mortals find it more difficult to forgive. It would make it easier if those responsible were to show remorse and indicate a change of heart," the Primate said.
He continued: "The efforts made in recent days to offer an explanation show that the bombers realise that something went terribly wrong. They need to go further, much further. They need to realise that their whole campaign is utterly wrong and totally evil and completely devoid of justification.
"How could the murder of baby Maura, of baby Breda Devine, of eight-year-old Oran Doherty, of nine teenagers, of 12 adult women and four adult men, all of them innocent victims, be other than something very evil?" Archbishop Brady said.
He said that if those responsible would not listen to the voice of the ballot box, then let them listen to the voice of revulsion, expressed so clearly and so powerfully and so consistently.
"Let them listen to the voice of their own conscience and ask: 'Is this the kind of person I really wish to be? Are these the kind of values I wish to live by?' Let them answer those questions honestly and end this senseless campaign of violence permanently now," he said.
The Archbishop said that bombs killed, maimed, wrecked and destroyed, and Saturday's experience had to galvanise all people to reject the path of violence totally - once and for all.
He said the Omagh bomb had united a community in grief, and called for the experience to bring people together to work to ensure that the hopes of peace were not ruined, and in the belief that lasting peace was ultimately a devine gift as well as a human task.
Not to do so, he said, would be the final surrender to those who instilled terror and inflicted violence.
"We owe it to the memory of those who have died to make sure that this does not happen and to do all we can to guarantee that they have not died in vain," the Archbishop said.
During the service, Fr. Grimes prayed for forgiveness for the people who carried out the bombing, and the parish priest, Rev. Fr. Arthur McAnerney, expressed sympathy on behalf of the whole community to all the families suffering in the aftermath of the atrocity.
During Tuesday's poignant service, in which family members played a large part, one of the priests told mourners that in the disposable age in which people lived, human life was sacred - not disposable.
It was the first of many funerals to take place, and the church was filled to capacity with mourners.
Such were the numbers to attend, that hundreds who were unable to secure a place inside the church, stood outside, where the service was relayed to them by a PA system mounted on the walls of the 150-year-old chapel.
The cortege was met at the gates by the participating clergy and altar boys, and both coffins were blessed by Mrs. Monaghan's uncle, Fr. Grimes, who conducted the service.
Leading the mourners were Mr. Michael Monaghan and his children, and wider family circle. Relatives and friends took part in the service.
Among the clergy to assist was the Bishop of Clogher, Dr. Joseph Duffy, who said he, like so many others, found it difficult to find the right words to say.
Faith
"When all is said and done, all we have to fall back on, on an occasion like this, is our faith in the goodness of a God that loves us, in and through all the suffering that comes our way - suffering that we don't understand", he said.
He said everyone was conscious that the sadness and grief in the Clogher Diocese was joined with other bereaved or injured in the same terrible bombing.
"It occurs to me that we are bereaved as a nation, as a country, north and south, Protestant and Catholic, and we feel betrayed that those Spanish people who trusted in our warmth and hospitality have had their trust so cruelly abused. We feel for them from the bottom of our hearts", he said.
"We must, all of us, once again face the insanity, perverse insanity, the deep-rooted, deep-seated nature of the evil that has caused all this suffering and pain. It has to be said again and again, violence of any kind is the enemy of peace and we must together exorcise it, take it out by the roots once and for all. Our whole future depends on this", the Bishop said.
Rev. Fr. Lawrence Dawson, the parish priest, told mourners that the healing process usually began slowly with the families, and probably began at the funeral as people joined in prayer.
He said the tragedy took place on the Feast of the Assumption, and on Saturday morning Mrs. Monaghan had taken part in the church's celebration, but since then it had been a time of grief and waiting and hoping, allied with the great qualities of prayer, support and help from so many people.
Healing
"I know this morning there is no hatred or bitterness in your hearts, but certainly hurt and grief. And so we begin the healing process in our lives, to give a favourable judgment to Avril as she takes her little angel with her to Heaven, and her mother who will be buried tomorrow (Wednesday), and to all the other people who were killed in this tragedy, he said.
Later in the service he urged people not to let the manner of Mrs. Monaghan and her daughter's death obscure the purpose and focus of her life.
He described her as a loving wife and daughter, and added: "She goes to God with full hands, with Maura and her two unborn children, and we cannot forget them, they are very much part of this morning's ceremony."
He said that life could be hard at times, and Mr. Monaghan now had a particularly hard cross to carry, but he would find support in those around him and from those in the parish who would carry him through.
Fr. Dawson went on to thank those who took part in the service, including the choir, organist, readers and the media, who, he said, carried the funeral message sensitively beyond the walls of the church to give hope and consolation to those who were suffering elsewhere that morning.
He also thanked the RUC for managing the traffic, the nurses and doctors who had helped those injured and who died.
"As we prepare to say our farewell to them let us remember that nothing that we have loved will ever be lost," he said.
Fr. Grimes, from Whitecross parish, Co. Armagh, said the terrible explosion in Omagh on Saturday had shattered not only the Monaghan and Grimes' families but many other families throughout the country, and the reason for it could not be explained.
Heartbreak
"There are those who have no regard for the sanctity, the sacredness, the holiness of human life, and those people are responsible for us being here today and for the grief and the sorrow and the heartbreak that they have caused."
Fr. Grimes said Mrs. Monaghan's faith had been handed on to her from a wonderful father and mother, it was a faith shared with her in a wonderful family, shared by a wonderful husband and by wonderful little children.
"I never heard a complaint from her. She accepted all that God sent her with a great love, patience and endurance. I have no doubt that today that she and Maura and Mary her mother have already joined that vast crowd in the ever-lasting joy and happiness of Heaven," Fr. Grimes added.
He urged those who carried out the atrocity to listen to the words of Christ.
"He has told us that no murderer will enter his kingdom. He has told us 'vengeance is mine I will repay.
"We try as He taught us to avoid hateful and vengeful thoughts. We try to forgive and that is not easy...
"We must try and pray for forgiveness for those who caused that most awful act of murder in Omagh. We ask the Lord to forgive those men," he said.
Mrs. Monaghan and her daughter are survived by Mrs. Monaghan's husband, Michael, the couple's daughters, Aoibheann and Eilisha, and their son, Patrick.
They are also survived by Mrs. Monaghan's father, Michael Grimes, and wider family circle.
Burial took place to the adjoining cemetery, where Mrs. Monaghan, her unborn twins, and her daughter, were laid to rest together.
One of the most touching scenes followed the service, when Mr. Monaghan, surrounded by his family, carried his sleeping son, Patrick, only a toddler, in his arms to the graveside.
Further Information
Publisher: TYRONE CONSTITUTION
Ref: TC/0093
Published Date: 20-Aug-98
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