VIDEO: Karen Buckley Funeral: Family’s horrific journey to a day of grief
Exactly two weeks later, after their worst fears had been realised, they sat among family and friends, united on an unseasonably cold April day in their parish church to mourn their daughter Karen.
Some 300 mourners had started to fill the small Church of Saint Michael the Archangel in Analeentha from 11am yesterday.
A white marquee erected in the grounds in front of the church obscured the view of the adjacent national school where Karen attended as a child. The school’s Green Flag flew at half mast.
The parish of Mourne-abbey was mobilised to accommodate the huge crowds that descended on the rural community south of Mallow.
Volunteers from the local Clyda Rovers GAA Club donned hi-vis jackets and directed the traffic down country lanes and into fields donated by farmers for use as car parks.
The marquee could not cope with the crowd that gathered to remember Karen, and the congregation spilled into the church grounds and onto the road. Heads were bowed as parish priest Fr Joe O’Keeffe concelebrated requiem Mass with 19 priests from the diocese and beyond.
The ceremony celebrated a well-travelled young woman who loved life.
Her brothers Brendan, Kieran, and Damien brought to the altar three gifts that reflected her youthful exuberance. Brendan presented a picture of Karen’s first day in Analeentha NS where she began her education just metres away from where her coffin was placed.
Kieran brought Karen’s nursing uniform to the altar. This, her cousin Padraig Hurley told the congregation, was to reflect the fact she was known for being a kind and caring nurse “whose smile would light up the ward”.
Finally, Damien offered the dress Karen wore to Brendan’s wedding to Niamh. “Karen had a love of fashion and always wanted to look her best,” he said of his cousin’s favourite dress.
In his homily Fr O’Keeffe urged those bereft by Karen’s “utterly inappropriate” passing to turn to their faith. “Within the scope of human reason, a tragedy such as this simply doesn’t make sense. Therefore we either despair or find our strength in faith,” he said.
The intermittent showers that drifted in and out throughout the ceremony turned to a hard, cold rain as the requiem Mass came to its conclusion.
The words from Celtic Woman’s version of ‘Goodnight My Angel’ filled the church and reverberated from the outdoor loudspeakers and throughout the Clyda Valley. “Goodnight my angel. Time to close your eyes. And save these questions for another day.”
As they did at her removal on Monday night, Karen’s friends from the University of Limerick nursing class of 2014 yesterday ignored the elements to form a guard of honour for their friend.
The hearse then wound its way down the churchyard and on to St John’s Cemetery in nearby Burnfort where Karen was to be interred beside her grandparents.
In the months to come, the question that has haunted Mourneabbey for the last two weeks will not go away — why was the life of this kind, caring, young woman cut so short in such a horrific manner?
Yesterday, however, was a time for both mourning Karen and celebrating her life. Those questions will be saved for another day.
