Remember Robert by keeping hope alive, priest tells Mass-goers
Gone was the despair. Gone was the hopelessness and gone was the anguish.
Instead a beacon of hope shone out at yesterday’s Mass to mark the first anniversary of his death.
Midleton’s Most Holy Rosary Church was packed as Father Billy O’Donovan spoke of the trauma of the last 12 months and pointed a way to the future.
He said: “A first anniversary is a special and significant time. In that first year there are so many firsts: his birthday, Christmas, holidays, going back to school ... and many family occasions that have come and gone but Robert was not there.”
The first year was the most difficult time, he said, and everyone’s prayers and thoughts were with the Holohan family, who were sitting at the front of the church.
Fr O’Donovan, who came back from his new parish at Conna for the Mass, reminded the congregation of the special service a year ago when Robert was still classed as missing.
Fr O’Donovan said: “On this Sunday last year we lit a candle for hope for Robert here in the front of the altar.
“The candle burned round the clock in front of the altar and the candle was not put out when he was found and it continued to burn through his funeral Mass and for many weeks afterwards.
“It was, during those weeks, a powerful beacon of hope for the future. Today we have to keep that hope alive.”
Fr O’Donovan spoke of the tremendous response from the country, saying the values that many felt were missing from society were rediscovered.
The Christian value of forgiveness was also spoken of during the service.
Everyone from members of An Garda Síochána to the ordinary volunteers who came from far and wide to search for Robert a year ago were present.
At a low-key ceremony, they heard members of Robert’s family give the readings and saw his mother and father bring gifts to the altar to mark the first anniversary.
Addressing the Holohans and the wider congregation about the future, Fr O’Donovan said: “You as a family will seek to go forward; you as a community will seek to go forward.
“As a family and as a community we will never forget Robert.”
