BAREFIELD gathered as a parish “with broken-hearts” for a vigil on Sunday evening following the deaths of Vanessa Whyte and her two children James and Sara in a Fermanagh shooting on Wednesday.
All three were the source of thousands of prayers at a vigil held in the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Barefield on Sunday. The church was packed to capacity with people of all ages gathered outside united in grief, despair and devastation.
Crowds were vast but there was a silence throughout the village due to the numbness, shock and devastation rippling through Barefield.
Among the congregation were locals from Barefield, Doora, Ruan, Ennis and many more parts of Co Clare while friends of Vanessa, James and Sara travelled from Fermanagh to attend including representatives from St Patrick’s hurling club in Lisbellaw and Maguiresbridge St Mary’s gaelic football club in Fermanagh.
Members of the Whyte family including Vanessa’s mother Mary and her siblings Geraldine, Regina, Anita, Stephen and Ivor tuned into the service online. Hundreds of their friends and former teammates with St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield club were inside and outside the church for the sixty four minute vigil.
Parish priest in Doora/Barefield, Fr Tom Fitzpatrick welcomed everyone from near and far. “There are so many people from far beyond the bounds of our parish here to remember for a little while together the people we’ve been talking about for the last few days, Vanessa, her son James and daughter Sara”.
He admitted, “the unspeakable tragedy that has befallen our parish is difficult to speak about and comprehend or get our minds around”.
People gathered to pray and support the Whyte family. He confirmed they “decided to stay at home” for the vigil. “They felt it would be easier to pray at home”. He continued, “Watching in tonight, I have some sense of how heartbroken you are from being with you the last few days”.
In a message to the Whyte family, Fr Fitzpatrick told them, “you’re not alone, we’re all thinking of you here and we have been the last few days”. He added, “we’re thinking of ye, I know a connection is already established between us”.
Fr Fitzpatrick noted, “we’re here not because we have answers, we couldn’t possibly have any answers but we need a place to bring our questions, our sorrow, our anger and our prayers in silence. We come not to explain the awfulness of what has taken place but to lament it”.
Everyone in the parishes of Barefield and Doora are “walking in the shadows of the cross,” he explained. “What affects an individual or a family in a parish affects everyone”.
Candles were lit to remember Vanessa (45) and her teenage children, James (14) and Sara (13). “The church is full of light now, at midnight these will be the only light we see, showing so much light these people brought to the world,” Fr Fitzpatrick said. “For such a large crowd there is still a silence and we can feel God in our midst”.
According to Fr Fitzpatrick, “Vanessa was a person who gave and gave”. He added, “Vanessa was a mother, daughter, sister, aunty and a great friend to so many people. She was a woman who loved her children fiercely, she wanted the best for them, she worked hard and she laughed a lot, she carried burdens that we may never fully understand, her life was incredibly precious. James and Sara were new lives just beginning, so full of life, so loved but taken away too soon. We find it impossible my dear friends to make sense of it, we cannot rationalise what should never have take place”.
“We come this evening with broken hearts. We’re gathered here becaude of a tragedy, a sorry that cannot ever be measured. In the face of such unbelievable loss, we find ourselves like our blessed mother at the foot of the cross in Calvary asking the question why,” he said. “When words fail us my dear friends, our prayer, presence and shared silence speaks volumes”.
Due to the love held for Vanessa, James and Sara, the level of grief is much greater, Fr Fitzpatrick highlighted. “This heartbreak is the price we pay for love, it is love which will help Vanessa’s family over the weeks and months to come”.
Referencing the loss felt by the Whyte family, Fr Fitzpatrick said, “Mary was Vanessa’s beloved mother, her grief is a very deep ocean indeed, no mother should ever have to endure”. To her wider family he said, “you have lost a sister, a niece and a nephew, there are no words which can feel the space they have left behind, you’re not alone, you are helped by a community of people walking with you through the darkness”. He said, “your loss is our loss too, your grief is shared by all who loved Vanessa and her children, in your darkest hour may not find comfort but help”.
He continued, “The community of Doora/Barefield must rise, not with solutions but with support, a hand to be held or a meal to be delivered, we must speak the names of Vanessa, James and Sara we must honour their lives with our own lives, by choosing love, by protecting the most vulnerable by building a world where peace is strong”.
Vanessa’s life must be remembered for how she lived it and not how it ended, Fr Fitzpatrick said. “We must remember Vanessa not just for the way she died but the way she loved her life, she loved her children, she gave it her all till the very end. We must remember James and Sara not just as victims of violence but children who played and laughed, they had dreams which will sadly never be fulfilled but they were dreams which mattered because they were theirs”.
Two John O’Donoghue poems ‘On the death of the beloved’ and ‘Beannacht’ were read during the vigil while the song ‘Gone too soon’ left many of those in attendance quite emotional.
Police in Northern Ireland have launched a murder investigation into the deaths of Vanessa, James and Sara. A man who was a member of the same household remains in a serious condition according to the PSNI.
Detective Chief Inspector Neil McGuinness stated this weekend, “Our investigation is ongoing and we are working tirelessly to determine the exact circumstances of this tragedy”.
