Diocesan Press Release

Bishop of Kingston to represent Archbishop of Canterbury at Omagh

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 21 August 1998

The Rt Rev Peter Price, Bishop of Kingston-upon-Thames, is to represent the Archbishop of Canterbury at the memorial service in Omagh tomorrow afternoon, Saturday 22 August.

Bishop Peter and Mrs. Dee Price were in Omagh following last Saturday's explosion. Dee Price comes from the town and her mother still lives there. Despite early anxieties when the news reached the Prices in Donegal on holiday, Dee's mother was safe.

Bishop Peter comments: "When we visited Omagh on Monday and Tuesday we witnessed not only the terrible devastation but the many hundreds of people grieving the loss of loved ones. Five of Dee's mother's neighbours were killed. Watching the young people making their way to the wakes of friends, many still at school, was heartrending. As we visited the town centre in the dusk of Monday evening the coffins carrying the bodies of a pregnant mother and her mother passed us in the hearse. It was a poignant moment. Please pray for those who have lost loved ones and those who will be scarred mentally and physically for the rest of their lives.

"I spoke to Archbishop Robin Eames this morning and offered him the condolences of the Diocese of Southwark. He talked of the great strain the peace process is under and asked for continued hope and prayer that the terrorists will not be able to de-rail all that has been achieved in recent months."

Ends.