United in grief

THE head of the Catholic Church in Ireland was applauded by mourners at the funeral of murdered PSNI officer Ronan Kerr when he called for an immediate end to the futility and evil of violence.

Cardinal Sean Brady was speaking as PSNI officers and senior GAA members stood side by side and helped carry Mr Kerr’s coffin into a packed Church of the Immaculate Conception in Beragh, Co Tyrone.

Mr Kerr, 25, was killed when a booby trap device exploded under his Ford Mondeo at his Omagh home last Saturday.

Mr Kerr’s killing has sparked unanimous cross-community condemnation and has led to unifying images that would have been unimaginable during the Troubles, not least the attendance of Northern Ireland’s First Minister and DUP MLA Peter Robinson at a Catholic mass with his Sinn Féin Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and Taoiseach Enda Kenny.

In his powerful and moving address Cardinal Brady told mourners that the people of Ireland have clearly said never again to the evil and futility of violence and the murder and mayhem of the past.

“This was an evil deed, an offence against God and a complete rejection of the belief that human life is sacred.

“Choose life, I say. Choose goodness, choose peace. That is what God is asking of you,” he said.

The cardinal’s address was greeted with waves of applause by mourners.

Mr Kerr’s brother Aaron also read a tribute poem but said the perfect words had escaped him. “I never thought what was next would bring us to tears but now is not the time to weep, Ronan passed quickly and softly to sleep.”

Speaking after the funeral Mr Kenny said Ireland was united in opposition to those who murdered Ronan.

“I have been at many funerals over the years but this one, symbolically, was as powerful as you could get. Every strata of Irish society across this island was represented here today. In fact Ireland united against this kind of action,” he said.

The widow of the last policeman to be killed by dissident republicans in the North said the turnout sent a strong message to the perpetrators. Kate Carroll’s husband Stephen was gunned down by the Continuity IRA in Craigavon, Co Armagh, in March 2009. She said: “I am so glad of the turnout. It has sent a really strong message to the perpetrators that we don’t want this.”

Mr Kerr’s coffin was interred at the cemetery at the Church of St Patrick in nearby Drumduff, where the young officer had grown up.