Violence can never be the answer, because all that it does is foster more hurt and violence and delays the day of justice.
THE MESSAGE AT today’s funeral mass for Barney McGinley was one urging peace and a focus on the gentleman who would be terribly missed by the people who were in his life.
The 63-year-old was shot outside a church in Fermanagh where he was a guest at at wedding last Wednesday. He was rushed to hospital but later died of his injuries.
Today, at St Mary’s Church in Athlone, Father Turlough Baxter told mourners that McGinley was “a patient father, a good friend, always at your side, someone you could trust in”.
“A gentleman is also how some of you have described Barney to me.”
Pride was important for the father of nine, who always strove for “the best of what he could get” for his family.
Speaking about the man’s wife, Bridget, he said she had described Barney as “the love of your life”.
You made a home together and with him travelled to various places and set up many homes, but it was in the end, Athlone where you were most at home.
Indeed home means so much to us. The home that Bridget and Barney made was a special place for each of their nine children. Even to walk into your home over these last few days, gives you that sense, a place set up by people who are proud of where they live.
Police in Fermanagh issued a strong statement after the man’s death, telling the perpetrators “we know who you are” and urging them to come forward. There was concern about possible violence in and around the funeral today and armed gardaí were in attendance. A number of roads around the church were closed off and checkpoints were in place.
In his homily, Fr Baxter told mourners that violence can never be the answer.
“We come here today because the story and life of Jesus calls us to live by a different way. He said; ‘love your enemies, and do good to those who hurt you.’ These words may seem hard to live by when we feel such pain and anger. But they are the only way to truly find a new way of life.”
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