The "terrible events" in the US this week were an attack on civilisation and all of humanity, the Bishop of Waterford and Lismore, Dr William Lee, said yesterday.
He told people who packed Waterford's Catholic Cathedral on Barronstrand Street for an ecumenical service that everyone had been deeply moved by the enormity of the tragedy.
"We have shed many a tear, watching indescribable scenes on our televisions as estimates of the number of dead and injured grew and grew.
"Young children deprived of their mums and dads. Families deprived of sons and daughters, relatives and friends. It was heart-breaking, and words fail us," he said.
The Church of Ireland dean, the Very Rev Peter Barrett; the Rev Stephen Hancock of the United Methodist and Presbyterian church; and Ms Anna Wade of the Society of Friends also participated in the ceremony, one of many attended by thousands of people throughout the south-east.
