Parishes mourn bomb victims

by Christopher Howse CATHOLIC parishes this week mourned victims of Saturday's IRA bomb at Harrods.
Sergeant Noel I.ane, 28, and Mr Philip Geddes, 24, who died in the bombing, were Catholics.
Cardinal Hume and clergy of Westminster diocese visited the injured — Catholic and nonCatholic — on the afternoon of the bombing.
Cardinal Hume received a telegram from Cardinal Casaroli on Monday on behalf of the Pope. It said: "The Holy Father asks you to convey his sympathy to those injured in the bomb outrage in central London, a brutal act of cynical and mindless hatred.
"He prays that God will grant eternal rest to those who died and comfort those families and the relatives of all the victims."
Mr Geddes, a journalist with the Daily Express; had gone to Mass at Brompton Oratory shortly before his death. Sgt Lane attended John Fisher School in Purley, Surrey, as a boy, and was a parishioner of St Joseph's church, Redhill.
Catholic clergy who visited victims in hospital, including several Catholics, found that they and their relatives welcomed their sympathy. One priest who had seen the shocking injuries of those at Westminster Hospital, said that it was essential that the bombing should not be allowed to set one part of the community against another.
Cardinal O'Fiaich, the Primate of Ireland, said: "The car bomb in London was a monstrous crime against God and humanity. It was utter blasphemy to inflict such an appalling toll of death and injury on innocent men, women and children, who were preparing to celebrate the coming of the Prince of Peace."
Bishop David Konstant and Dr Mark Santer, his Anglican counterpart in central London, said on Saturday evening: "Our hearts go out to the families of those killed by the IRA in Knightsbridge.
"Let the bombers know clearly that they are murderers, and not only them but all who cooperate with them.
"The IRA has deliberately chosen the Christmas season for its campaign of terror and murder.
"This adds blasphemy to the sin of murder. It mocks the Christmas message of peace. It is always peace — peace with justice — that we must work hard and pray for. It is not the bomber who will change people's hearts but the child in the manger."