Murdered teen laid to rest as priest pleads for change
Fr Kevin McNamara told a hushed congregation in St Mary’s Cathedral, Killarney, there was no point in calling on the government to impose laws if people did not act justly and love tenderly.
“The law won’t change our present culture. Laws, rules and regulations will only complicate. What will change things is our heart, we need to change our own hearts,” he said.
Young and old wept openly as they bid a touching farewell to Stephen Lyne, 17, whose body was found with stab wounds, only about 300 metres from his home at Castle Falls, Ross Road, Killarney, early on Thursday last.
Among the Offertory gifts was a piece of unfinished art work Stephen had begun at Killarney Community College, where he was recently among the winners of student awards.
A poem read by a friend of Stephen’s at the start of the Mass spoke of the hard things in life, but also said people had to smile through the rain and the pain and keep up their sense of humour.
An email message was sent by the Kiely family, of Castleknock, in Dublin, whose daughter Rebekah, 15, died in November 2006 after being hit on the head with a baton during a row in which she had not been involved.
Fr McNamara said, despite the June sunshine, there was a lot of pain, uncertainty and anxiety deep in people’s hearts.
It was a very challenging time for people in Killarney, but people in many other parts of the country were suffering in the same way in changing times.
In his homily, he said the manner of Stephen’s death was totally out of character with Killarney which had always been associated with hospitality and a welcome for visitors.
Fr McNamara urged adults to engage with young people and advise them in acting justly, loving tenderly and walking humbly with their God.
During the Mass, Stephen’s maternal grandfather and uncle sang the Hail Mary in French and a young girl sang a song that was special to him, The Arms of an Angel.
Fellow students and teachers from Killarney Community College formed guard-of-honour and an uileann piper played Irish laments as the cortege left the cathedral grounds and its way to Aghadoe cemetery.
Chief mourners were Stephen’s parents, Denis and Lotte, brothers and sisters and a large extended family.
Meanwhile, gardaí in Killarney are continuing their investigations into his murder and a blade found at the scene is being forensically examined. A number of leads are being followed.
The attack on the teenager is understood not have been random and he may have been targeted by people that knew he was on his way home.
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