Paras on guard at padre's funeral

64 E have come here today Wto pay tribute to a young and zealous priest — a man of peace and a man of God — whose violent death at the hands of callous and brutal terrorists has deeply shocked us all," said Archbishop Beck of Liverpool in his address at the Requiem Mass on Monday of Fr. Gerard Weston, M.B.E., who was killed in the Aldershot outrage.
Both the Mass and Burial were ill the church of St. Peter and Paul, Crosby, Fr. Weston's home parish — in which his parents still live and ill which lie was ordained by Cardinal, then Archbishop, Heenan in 1960 and who presided in the sanctuary during the concelebrated Mass.
"This appalling and indiscrimate killing, in which other innocent people lost their lives, is a crime which cries to Heaven for vengeance. But we are not here to think of vengeance," Archbishop Beck said.
"We are here to affirm our hope -.-.-in the resurrection, in God's mercy and eternal life."
Fr. Weston had known his life was threatened, and accepted this as part of his priestly work. His sister had told what he said to her only hours before he died. He had no fears, she said, he was doing God's will and if he died lie would be doing his duty as a priest.
There was no doubt that the death of this young priest was
a sharing in the sacrifice of Christ. Its consequences were unpredictable, the Archbishop said.
The other concelebrants of the Mass were Bishop Gray, Bishop Tickle, bishop in ordinary to the Forces, and six college friends ordained wills Fr. Weston in 1960 — Fr. Tom Bradley. Army Chaplain, Ger many, Fr. Gerard Willacy, Army Chaplain, Folkestone, Fr. Joseph Weston (no relation) Kirkby, Fr. John Thompson, formerly secretary to Bishop Harris and now Religious Adviser to the B B.C. in Manchester, Fr. John O'Toole, of Menevia, and Fr. Michael Turner, of Lancaster.
Strict security was main tained at the Mass, and only holders of passes which were scrutinised by police were allowed into the church. Eight hundred people crowded inside, and an overflow of about 1,000 were in the church grounds and on both sides of the main roadt where mounted police controlled the traffic.
Paratroops provided a guard
and carried the coffin from the church to the adjoining cemetery, where Cardinal Heenan conducted the Final Commendation.
No volley was tired, as a chaplain is a non-combatant member of the Forces, but 25 Army chaplains approached the grave and saluted as the coffin was lowered.