Attack ‘must be turning point in male violence against women’
ASHLING Murphy’s death must be a turning point, Bishop Brendan Leahy insisted yesterday.
In his homily on Saturday morning the Bishop of Limerick said we need to “shout from the roof tops” that violence against women is unacceptable.
The cleric revealed he’d been present last October at Ashling’s graduation at Mary Immaculate teacher training college.
Addressing the congregation at Ashford Church in Killeedy he said: “I would have been present at her graduation day last October.
“Always on graduation day, as I watch the graduates pass by while applauding their achievement, I think of them, their family and the future ahead of them.
“I would have thought of Ashling in the same way, but little could I have thought that in a few short months, that this shining star would have been eclipsed with such darkness on Wednesday last.
“But even in the midst of the overwhelming sadness and shock that has gripped the nation, there is an unmistakable sense that her light is breaking through, that it is not something ‘going out’ but, instead, is leading to a turning point.
“We owe that to her memory, to ensure her journey did not end on Wednesday but rather marked a new and better beginning for how women are treated, how they are respected and, indeed, protected.”
Bishop Leahy said that the shock and grief that has overwhelmed the nation these past few days was in part because Ashling could have been someone we all knew and “was obviously someone very, very special”.
He added: “Thinking of the appalling violence as Ashling suffered, let’s acknowledge to one another just how vital it is to promote a culture that is clearly and unambiguously opposed to violence, especially violence against women.
“We need to shout this message from the rooftops.”