Catholic churches across Armagh today appealed to their parishioners for information about the Disappeared — people murdered decades ago by the IRA and INLA and buried in secret.
The bodies of at least nine people remain hidden despite several years of efforts to get the killers to reveal where they hid their victims.
Catholic primate, Archbishop Sean Brady ordered the pulpit appeal in response to a request from the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims.
The appeal has also been published on church notice boards and in parish bulletins across the archdiocese, in the coming weeks the appeals will be rolled out through parishes the length and breadth of Ireland.
In 1999 the IRA gave a list of locations where it said bodies had been buried, but the remains of only four of the Disappeared who were murdered during the 1970s were recovered and the trail went cold in 2003.
While most of the victims were people from Northern Ireland the IRA branded as informants or collaborators, one body being sought is that of SAS man Captain Robert Nairac who disappeared after visiting a South Armagh pub while on an undercover mission in 1977.
Archbishop Brady described the issue of the Disappeared as "unfinished business from the Troubles".
The Independent Commission, headed by former Northern Ireland Civil Service chief Sir Kenneth Bloomfield, has been making a determined effort to end the pain of those who lost loved ones and want to give them a proper burial.
Last year it set up a special confidential telephone line and Post Office box number to encourage people to come forward with information.
Sir Kenneth has warned against the danger of families raising their hopes of success too high.
Information given to help locate bodies cannot be used against the informant for a criminal prosecution.
PA