Parishioners in the Catholic diocese of Armagh were urged yesterday to help the search for the remains of victims murdered by the IRA and buried in secret.
Catholic Primate of All-Ireland Archbishop Seán Brady agreed to the appeal being made after he was approached by the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains, which was set up in 1999 to locate the so-called disappeared.
The IRA admitted to killing and burying Séamus Wright, Kevin McKee, Jean McConville, Columba McVeigh, Brendan Megraw, John McClory, Brendan McKinney, Danny McIlhone and Éamon Molloy.
On the morning the commission was set up in May 1999, the body of Éamon Molloy was left in a coffin in Faughart graveyard in Co Louth.
The remains of Mr McClory and Mr McKinney were found in searches by the Garda Síochána in June that year.
Ms McConville's remains were recovered by walkers on a beach in Co Louth on 2003.
Priests referred to the appeal during Mass in parishes throughout Armagh diocese yesterday while a notice drafted by the commission and displayed in churches explained the nature of the appeal and how any information would be treated.
The notice described the victims as "people who have been killed by paramilitary organisations and buried in secret".
The commission appealed for information in relation to the cases to be given through an international, confidential telephone number and a PO box number.
"Any information given to the commission will be treated as strictly confidential and may only be used to locate and identify the remains," the notice read.
It also said the commission's work was "strictly non-political".
"Their sole purpose is to return the victims' remains to their families so that they can give them the Christian burial they have so far been denied."
The commission had established "good working relationships with interlocutors from the INLA and the Provisional IRA. Both organisations have given their support to the campaign to locate the remains and have provided much information to date on most of the cases.
"In spite of this, the commission has only had limited success."
The commission said it sought "as much information as possible from as many sources as possible" about all the cases, including those in relation to which it has already received information.
"This current effort provides a real opportunity to end the harrowing ordeal for the families concerned." The appeal will be widened to all parishes in Ireland in January.
The commission is also examining disappearances for which no organisation has claimed responsibility: those of Charles Armstrong, Gerard Evans and British army officer Robert Nairac, all of whom disappeared from Co Armagh, and Séamus Ruddy, who disappeared in France.
Responsibility for Mr Ruddy's disappearance has been attributed to the INLA.