Fr Troy condemned outright the murders of two British soldiers by the Real IRA at the weekend and the fatal shooting of a PSNI officer by the Continuity IRA on Monday. ''There is no justification for these killings. The law must pursue anyone who kills no matter what the motive must be. That is without question,'' he said. Former police Ombudsman Dame Nuala O'Loan also spoke to The Irish Catholic and supported Fr Troy's call for dialogue. ''I don't know of any conflict that was resolved without dialogue.'' She extended her sympathies to the families affected. ''It is very stark and very terrible,'' she said but ''it is important that we don't over react'' she added, referring to calls in some quarters for internment. She called on the community to help the police. ''The community needs to take another step forward and engage as a whole. If they did, the information would eventually come out. People will have to report strange happenings, strangers in their area, even knowledge around where guns are hidden. I would say help the police, don't judge the value of what you have to say.'' Fr Troy came to public attention for his successful efforts to defuse the stand-off between North Belfast communities over the route taken by Catholic schoolchildren to the Holy Cross school in Ardoyne. In that dispute, Fr Troy approached the loyalist community to mediate between the sides. Now based in the parish of St Joseph in Paris, the Passionist told The Irish Catholic that many of his parishioners had expressed their sadness that violence had again come to the streets of NI.''I have received so many phone calls and texts from people who are genuinely afraid again because of these developments.'' The killings, he said, represented ''a frightening reminder of how fragile peace remains''.Meanwhile, the Catholic bishop in whose diocese the two British servicemen were gunned down last Saturday, has said there must be no refuge for their killers.
Bishop Noel Treanor of Down and Conor stressed: ''There must be no support in the community for those who would attempt to drag our society back to the futility, destruction and horror of a violent past.'' Speaking in the immediate aftermath of the March 7 shootings, Cardinal Brady also condemned the killings. ''I am shocked and deeply saddened to hear the awful news. My thoughts and sympathy go at once to their loved ones and to those injured in this attack. I hope that those who planned and carried it out will be brought speedily to justice.'' Since the shootings, the local community united in opposing the actions of the Real and Continuity IRA, engaging in an ecumenical service of prayer near the barracks.
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Sotto Voce
(Source: IC)