A PRIEST in Derry has urged people not to let churches and places of worship be turned into “fortresses”.
Fr Michael Canny was responding to recently released figures showing that there are on average three attacks on places of worship per week across Northern Ireland.
Fr Canny said: “That includes churches, of course, Orange halls, maybe parochial halls and cemeteries unfortunately. These are places albeit that are only buildings but nevertheless there are people who have tremendous emotional attachment to them so they (attacks) do cause a lot of hurt.”
Statistics show that places of worship in the Derry and Strabane area have been targeted on average once a week in the last three years. However, Fr Canny believes that figure did not reflect the reality.
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“I suspect that occasionally attacks might go unreported because it might be in the form of graffiti or something like that on a wall and people might paint it out before it gets too much publicity and maybe don’t even report it to the police at all.”
While some organisations were trying to raise money to make places of worship and cemeteries more secure, the Derry priest believed this was not the best approach. He said that even people who did not attend churches regularly often had an emotional attachment to particular places of worship.
Fr Canny said: “I personally think that what we need is vigilance and a bit of good sense and, certainly, places of worship and cemeteries are places that people frequent regularly and they shouldn’t be turned into fortresses.”
Churches and cemeteries were often places of solace and comfort for vulnerable people and they should be kept open to the public, he said.
The Derry cleric said those who attack churches and other places of worship should not be allowed to dictate how accessible they are to the wider public and to people who need them.
