Omagh rememberance marred by McGuinness's presence

David

"Terry Waite telling us about good Jews who work for peace and bad Jews who persecute Palestinians;"

Presumably the Palestinians are sweetness and innocence.

John Patrick Kelly

Ruth Dudley Edwards, I seriously suggest you get your facts right before making offensive, innaccurate comments. As a member of the choir involved I would like to advise your "Presbyterian friend," through you, that there were several Protestant chor members taking part in yesterday's performance, many of whom are my friends. I'd also like to verify that not everyone "blessed themselves," I myself am a Catholic and as there was actually no official moment of blessing to be observed, I happened to be one of those who didn't. You should be ashamed of yourself and the grotesque critique you have attempted to write! However we take comfort in the fact that you are in a minority and thankfully your bitter views don't reflect those of the majority.

Frank Pulley

Pleeeeessssse! Let's let the Irish stew quietly boil dry. Then perhaps we can throw the cauldron away too. There is not a day in the year that doesn't romanticise the anniversary of some act of bigoted legendry.

Maria Caldwell

the omagh waterford peace choir consists of both catholic and prodestant members. who have come together across borders of both religion and polotics to sing together to promote peace through there music. the theme of the event was "the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it". if you read the end of the song you so quickly slated you would find the last line reads. Lead me through darkness till light shines anew, and that was the reason the council picked the song. I think it is appauling that you would come on here and slate these young people who have both the courage and spirit to work for a better world were religion race and ethnicity do not matter and i think before you critisise a group like them you should first know what you are talking about.

Terry Waite

I can only feel sorrow for Ms Dudley Edwards. I could hardly believe that anyone could write such a twisted account of what was a most moving service.Here is a copy of what I said:

I was born just before World War two started and have distant memories of the dark years of that war. Soldiers marching past our home en route to their barracks and then to the front. An enemy plane crashing just a few hundred yards from where we lived. Doodlebugs that shook our house as they passed overhead en route for Liverpool or Manchester. I remember being desperately frightened.

The true horror of warfare was brought home to me when I was almost in my teens. A television newsreel showed skeletal figures being thrown into a mass grave. It shocked me deeply and I have never forgotten those pictures. All this was brought back to me when last week I read Schlinders List-that remarkable story of the German industrialist who did his utmost to protect the Jewish workers in his charge. Although I knew of the atrocities I was deeply shocked that human beings could behave in such a bestial manner as some members of the dreaded SS behaved. There is little doubt in my mind that the unjust suffering endured by the Jewish people has left a permanent scar on their corporate psyche..

Remarkably many have been able to turn that suffering round. It has given them a deeper insight into suffering and they have been able to use that insight to relieve suffering in others. Some have not been able to take that road and indeed some inflict further suffering on their Palestinian neighbours. Anyone who has attempted to work for reconciliation in that part of the world will appreciate the difficulties. They will know that a polarized situation pulls at the mediator so that he or she can become a figure of suspicion on both sides.

No one, I repeat, no one who has experienced deep suffering will underestimate the power it has. It can blind individuals to reason. It can cause them to cry out for revenge. It can tear communities apart. How can it be managed? Some would say that Justice is the answer and indeed we should always seek for justice. However, we know that in a flawed and broken world complete justice is hardly ever experienced. We do not live in a world where we can experience absolute justice.With justice as with so many other things in life, we frequently have to settle for something less than the absolute.It is far from easy to recognize that fact.

As I read the book last week I was truly shocked by the atrocities committed so many years ago just as I am shocked and pained by the terrors human beings inflict on one another today. I cannot give a complete answer to the question I pose regarding how to deal with suffering. I know that every man, women and child who has suffered deeply has in some measure to deal with the issue for themselves. Yes, there can be support groups and understanding helpers and criminal trials but at root the individual has to face the wound that has been inflicted on them. It is not for anyone to judge how the other responds to suffering. It is simply true to say that some responses lead to bitterness and virtual self destruction. Others can transform the situation and lead the individual into new depths of compassion and understanding. I cannot,nor would I attempt to offer any false or easy solution to the effect the scars inflicted by suffering have had on this community and individuals within it. I am here today as I wish to stand in solidarity with those who weep and mourn. In all humility I would also like to say that my faith teaches me that it is not inevitable that suffering need destroy. How hard the words of Jesus seem when he tells us to love our enemies. If we are to do that we need to know the real transforming power of love. How hard his words seem when he tells us to love our neighbour as ourselves. 'It is too hard Lord' would be an understandable response when we have faced the depth of injustice and agony. It is hard but in the words of Jesus lie the wisdom of the ages and the clue to the healing of individuals and communities.

Austin Barry

I'm sorry, Mr Waite, but your comments about the Jewish people were inappropriate, bigoted and contemptuous of the event you were attending. It was just a cheap shot dressed up in that florid style for which you are infamous. Shameful, just shameful.

Frank Pulley

Self righteous, sanctimonious twaddle Terry Waite, which is what we always get from self-appointed arbiters in congenital religio/ideological territorial disputes steeped in misreported history. Get it into your head, some people do not want such conflict to end: it is their raison d'etre. Neither Jesus nor Mohammed, will alter that, not least because they are dead and their deluded flocks have psychiatric disorders that cause them to believe otherwise. Get over it and get on with your life and stop interfering in things about which you can do SFA, other than pontificate.

Ruth Dudley Edwards

I have passed on to my Presbyterian friend John Patrick Kelly's remark, but he might pass on to the choir the tip that at an event with a large Protestant audience, perhaps Catholics might think twice about blessing themselves.
The Omagh Waterford choir sang very nicely: my problem was with a particularly egregious hymn I wish they'd drop from their repertoire. As for the ceremony in general, it was gross of Sinn Fein to hi-jack it and it is a pity Terry Waite allowed himself to be used.