A Donegal priest has told young people mourning the deaths of friends in a road traffic accident last week to talk about their feelings.
Fr Eamonn Kelly was addressing the many young people at the funeral mass of Raphoe native Una Bowden (47) who was killed along with her two daughters, Ciara (14) and Saoirse (10), on March 26.
The three died when the car in which they were travelling collided with an articulated fuel lorry on the N17 at Castlegar, between Knock and Claremorris, in County Mayo.
While Una lived in Moycullen, County Galway, she was brought home to be buried in her native sod, alongside her late mother, Mary, who died in 1993, and her beloved daughters.
Classmates of Ciara’s from Salerno Secondary School in Salthill, where she was a first year student, and fellow pupils of Saoirse, a third class pupil at Tullykyne National School in Moycullen, travelled to Raphoe for Wednesday’s funeral.
“Sometimes in life things happen that we have no control of, events that for some unknown reason come into our lives, things like the accident that has taken our friends Ciara and Saoirse and their mum Úna from us,” Fr Kelly told the hundreds of mourners at St Eunan’s Church.
“These accidents make us sad. We feel lonely, empty and unwell. These feelings, while they are not nice, are our bodies trying to understand what has taken place.
“It is good to talk about these feelings, to share them with your friends. Much of the time you will find that they have similar feelings.”
The Raphoe-based cleric remembered how life ‘was changed forever’ in a split second when David Bowden’s family was taken from him.
Mr Bowden was in Ethiopia in his role as a project manager with the United Nations when he learned of the devastation that had unfolded. He was getting ready to return home and looking forward to their first night in their newly-finished home as a family when the news was relayed.
Fr Kelly said: “Likewise with grown-ups – we too feel pain and sorrow, alone and lonely. It is good for all of us to talk and to share what is going on inside of us.
“As time passes by, speak about your friends who you have known and have now gone. Remember the funny moments, the silly moments, the we-nearly-got-caught moments.
“Laugh and cry with your friends about these things. Talk to your teachers and ask them how they are doing. Chatting, remembering, sometimes crying, sometimes hugging, all will all get the courage to face the future.”