Heartbreaking scenes in New Ross as Aisling is laid to rest
THERE were heartbreaking scenes in New Ross parish church on Saturday as hundreds of mourners attended the funeral Mass of popular local teenager Aisling Dolan, who was killed in a horrific accident on the N11 at Enniscorthy four days earlier.
Mgr Joe McGrath, joined by several members of the local clergy, celebrated the Mass for the 19-year-old. He said: ‘Who could ever imagine that a day like this could dawn in our lives. Yes, it happens, but it always happens to others. This morning it suddenly becomes our reality.’
Describing Aisling, late of Stephen’s Court, New Ross, as a vibrant, determined, talented girl on the ‘runway of life’, Mgr McGrath said she was taken suddenly from her family, friends and neighbours through no fault of her own. He said the added heartbreak was that her mother Breda was in a hospital bed that morning recovering from the injuries she sustained in the accident.
‘She is very much in our prayers and thoughts this morning. It’s a day when the family would prefer to lock the door and be at home. However, it isn’t humanly possible and probably unhealthy to try to deal with a tragedy like this alone.’
He called on the community to continue to support the family. ‘On behalf of everybody we extend our sincere sympathies and promise our support today and into the future.
‘Words can be very empty on a morning like this; sometimes they can offend, they certainly can go unheard amid the confusion,’ he said, urging people to comfort the Dolan family not only through words alone, but with hugs and gentle smiles. Mgr McGrath said: ‘It’s necessary for us to work our way forward into some kind of hope.’
He said Aisling would have worked out her future. ‘ Those who knew and loved her know what she would have achieved during the rest of her life. Sadly, that isn’t going to be. All the
goodness and talents that made her the person she was – none of that disappears into thin air. There is more to us than meets the eye.’
A family member read the poem On The Death Of The Beloved.
It’s closing lines: ‘May you continue to inspire us: To enter each day with a generous heart/To serve the call of courage and love/Until we see your beautiful face again/In that land where there is no more separation/Where all tears will be wiped from our mind/And where we will never lose you again,’ elicited sobs of grief from mourners.
St Mary’s Secondary School choir sang beautifully during the Mass and were praised by Mgr McGrath for their contribution to ceremony, which took place poignantly before the New Ross Communion.
Aisling was laid to rest in St Michael’s Cemetery, Tinnahinch, Graiguenamanagh, afterwards in one of the biggest funerals the town has seen in recent times.