Sir, - Well intentioned as the letter from David Rafferty and Nichola Hanley (August 20th) is, it simply won't do. The inescapable fact is that the bombers of Omagh are our people and do belong to our country. The history, culture and ethos of our country, to which they refer, has all too often been used to nurse grievances that were real enough. But in that long suckling, deep-seated prejudice and mindless hatred were nourished. They will be harder to eradicate than we might imagine.
The Good Friday Agreement needs to be more than a political accommodation. It must be a call to each one of us to undertake the long, slow, painstaking re-shaping of individual hearts and minds. The headlong rush to secularism is a delusion. There is no easy way out.
We need to have the humility and courage to discover where exactly our minds have been, what damage has been done to them, and what genuine riches our history and culture have still to offer as we set about achieving a healthier ethos. - Yours, etc., Rev Valentine Farrell,
Church of the Holy Family,
Links Road,
Blackpool, England.