First anniversary another step in 'journey of healing' for Creeslough

Fr John Joe Duffy chose his location as carefully as his words on Saturday.

The Creeslough-based curate became the public face of his community last October in the wake of an explosion that ripped the very heart from the parish.

Ten people, including three children, lost their lives on October 7, 2022. On Saturday, an estimated 1,500 attended a memorial service too mark the first anniversary.

Fr Duffy was one of the many clergy who stood beneath a towering sycamore tree, just yards from last year’s fatal explosion. A year ago this week, on the morning of Jessica Gallagher’s funeral, he stood in the same place. Somehow, remarkably, he found the strength himself to be a bedrock for his parishioners in the face of a living nightmare.

Ten bells puncture the silence as Creeslough remembers and reflects

Around 1,500 people attended a memorial service on Saturday afternoon to mark the first anniversary of the Creeslough explosion, which claimed 10 lives, including three children

“I decided to pick the spot for the anniversary standing beside this tree,” Fr Duffy told the assembled media.

“I came to that tree the first morning before the funerals began with a member of the Gardai who is based in Donegal Town. We both prayed at that tree. It was something that gave me a focus for the week ahead.

“Just at this lane, as we were walking back down, a little boy came on his way to school. The joy in the midst of heartache of a boy on his way to school was something that gave me great hope.”

Fr Duffy told how he had garnered great strength from the bereaved families.

He said: “It is a day of great sadness, of acute sadness, but a day of personal reflections, a day of fond memories of loved ones who were lost in the tragedy.

"The last year has been a difficult journey: a journey of mourning; a journey of healing; a journey of learning to cope. Particularly, for those that this tragedy took ten beautiful souls from and for those who were injured in body and all of us who were injured in mind.”

In reflecting on the last year, Fr Duffy spoke of a journey. He and his people were the focus of unprecedented attention over the past 12 months.

“The journey of recovery will continue for all of us for a long time to come,” he said. “Unlike most journeys that we set out in life, in this journey of Creeslough, we know neither the length or duration of the road ahead. We know that we will travel it together, each of us linked together.

“This day is another step in the long journey ahead.”

The Church of Ireland Bishop of Derry and Raphoe, Andrew Forster, paid tribute to his ‘friend and dear brother’, Fr John Joe.

“He found great strength, great courage and great grace,” Bishop Forster said. “He has always had the right word at the right time.”

Bishop Forster said the last year has been ‘such a painful’ one for the community.

“These families have carried themselves with such grace and dignity over the last year,” he said. “It has also been a year when we’ve seen the best of people, how people have supported each other, care for each other and loved each other through the pain and heartache.

“We have seen the best of the community of Creeslough, but beneath that there is this immense heartache, this immense sense of loss, this immense sense of tragedy and pain.”