OMAGH PRIEST CALLS FOR THE BOMBERS TO BE HANDED OVER
Omagh priest calls for the bombers to be handed over
Call for real movement on both sides
AN Omagh curate has urged both sides locked in the Drumcree stand-off to each give ground in order to diffuse the continuing annual deadlock.
In a front page article in last Sunday's Cappagh Parish News, Fr Kevin Mullan encouraged both Orangemen and Garvaghy Road residents to ease hardened attitudes towards the problem which cripples the North every July.
In the editorial, Fr Mullan also appealed for those who carried out the Omagh bomb attack to be handed over to authorities, "before they become the murderers and bombers of some other people and places."
"There was a horrific eleventh night murder. There were attacks on people. There was destruction of property and road blockages. There was a car bomb in Tyrone and there was an attempt to bomb London.
"All of this is wrong and evil. Some people try to make it legitimate in defense of rights and religion, in aid of a cause. They are playing with fire, unleashing a terrible spirit," the priest warned.
Most people, he said, had moved on from the days of terror in the hope of creating a new era of partnership. And many voiced their Anger at the recent outbreaks of violence which had caused injury and death.
"The Portadown Orange people are wrong to drag all of the North into their dispute. They share responsibility for the destruction caused in various places.
"The entire orange Order should have worn a "look of shame as they stepped out on the Twelfth morning; we understand that some indeed were honestly too ashamed to take part in the parades," he added.
Fr Mullan said he felt the Portadown district should now abandon any further attempt to walk the Garvaghey Road, and at the same time local residents should invite the Orange representatives to walk down the road "and at least ignore them if that is the best they can do."
He continued: "It is time to stop using the parade as an attempt to solve the real
community problems of Portadown and of the North. There are other attempts to cross the divide and plenty of people already engaged in them.
"Political agendas are generally acceptable. The use of violence to further them is not. Nor is the silence that will not say that the creation of one state on the island or the evolution of a pluralist province and the challenge to create defining links with surrounding states is not -served by bombing and killing.
"Politics that cannot clearly reject any offer of help from violence and murder are immature politics."
Fr Mullan went on to state that the Orange resolution on the Twelfth which denounced ecumenism and discouraged contact with Catholic people and clergy was unacceptable.
And turning to those who planted the 350lb car bomb in Omagh's Market Street almost two years ago, the priest reiterated calls for them to be handed over to the authorities.
"Those who murdered and bombed here in Omagh should now be handed in to the Gardai and the RUC before they become the murderers and bombers of some other people and places. What they have done and are doing is evil," he added.
Call for real movement on both sides
AN Omagh curate has urged both sides locked in the Drumcree stand-off to each give ground in order to diffuse the continuing annual deadlock.
In a front page article in last Sunday's Cappagh Parish News, Fr Kevin Mullan encouraged both Orangemen and Garvaghy Road residents to ease hardened attitudes towards the problem which cripples the North every July.
In the editorial, Fr Mullan also appealed for those who carried out the Omagh bomb attack to be handed over to authorities, "before they become the murderers and bombers of some other people and places."
"There was a horrific eleventh night murder. There were attacks on people. There was destruction of property and road blockages. There was a car bomb in Tyrone and there was an attempt to bomb London.
"All of this is wrong and evil. Some people try to make it legitimate in defense of rights and religion, in aid of a cause. They are playing with fire, unleashing a terrible spirit," the priest warned.
Most people, he said, had moved on from the days of terror in the hope of creating a new era of partnership. And many voiced their Anger at the recent outbreaks of violence which had caused injury and death.
"The Portadown Orange people are wrong to drag all of the North into their dispute. They share responsibility for the destruction caused in various places.
"The entire orange Order should have worn a "look of shame as they stepped out on the Twelfth morning; we understand that some indeed were honestly too ashamed to take part in the parades," he added.
Fr Mullan said he felt the Portadown district should now abandon any further attempt to walk the Garvaghey Road, and at the same time local residents should invite the Orange representatives to walk down the road "and at least ignore them if that is the best they can do."
He continued: "It is time to stop using the parade as an attempt to solve the real
community problems of Portadown and of the North. There are other attempts to cross the divide and plenty of people already engaged in them.
"Political agendas are generally acceptable. The use of violence to further them is not. Nor is the silence that will not say that the creation of one state on the island or the evolution of a pluralist province and the challenge to create defining links with surrounding states is not -served by bombing and killing.
"Politics that cannot clearly reject any offer of help from violence and murder are immature politics."
Fr Mullan went on to state that the Orange resolution on the Twelfth which denounced ecumenism and discouraged contact with Catholic people and clergy was unacceptable.
And turning to those who planted the 350lb car bomb in Omagh's Market Street almost two years ago, the priest reiterated calls for them to be handed over to the authorities.
"Those who murdered and bombed here in Omagh should now be handed in to the Gardai and the RUC before they become the murderers and bombers of some other people and places. What they have done and are doing is evil," he added.
Further Information
Publisher: ULSTER HERALD
Ref: UH/1355
Published Date: 27-Jul-00
Related Images
