Mourners at the funeral Mass of a 39-year-old farmer who shot himself after killing another man in a land dispute were urged to rally around the man's family in the weeks and months ahead when the tragedy has faded from the media spotlight.
Fr Eddie Aughney told mourners at the funeral of Michael Kehoe that the sense of shock and sadness which had hung over the parish of St Mullins following the deaths of Mr Kehoe and James Healy would continue for some time.
"The headlines will go away today or tomorrow or the next day. The headlines will move on, but when it happens at home like this, it doesn't move on. But we have to keep it up and be patient and try and do the helpful and Christian thing," he said.
Mr Kehoe died after shooting himself with his legally owned shotgun at around 6pm on Saturday in an outhouse on his farm at Coolyhune, Co Carlow, some seven hours after he shot Mr Healy, a father of one, in a dispute over a portion of the farm.
Yesterday Mr Kehoe's older sister, Catherine, and his younger brother, John, led 300 or so mourners who packed Glynn church for the funeral Mass of the bachelor farmer who had worked the 50-acre hilltop farm overlooking the Barrow river.
Fr Aughney said the past few days had been extremely traumatic but he had tried to focus on something to sustain him and help him from "getting caught up in the upset and hasty judgments which come when something sudden and tragic happens".
He recalled how someone at the scene of the tragedy on Saturday night commented: "The Light of Heaven to the two of them", and he believed the comment "showed a marvellous understanding of God and Christianity", which could help all of them.
"It reveals a patient understanding of human nature and the things that can happen. We are all a mixture of good and not so good, and the balance is a delicate one. One day we can be one way, the next day we can be another way," he said.
Fr Aughney said that people throughout their lives did things that led them to wish that they could turn back the clock. Unfortunately this wasn't possible, but help was available from God and from the Bible with its many parables and stories.
"If we learn anything from the stories of the Bible, we learn that God does not turn his back on a person who has made a mistake. Michael made a mistake, but if we learn anything from the Bible, surely to God we must learn that one," he said.
Fr Aughney told how he had contacted Fr Larry Malone who was saying the funeral Mass for Mr Healy at the same time in Paulstown in Co Kilkenny, and they had observed that prayers would be said for both bereaved families at both Masses. Mr Kehoe's coffin was carried from the church by neighbours and cousins to St Mullins cemetery.
