Hi °C | Lo °C Church leaders from both Protestant and Catholic churches have visited survivors of the Massereene Army base shooting, offering a united message of hope and strength.
Church of Ireland Bishop of Connor Alan Abernethy and the Catholic Bishop of Down and Connor Noel Treanor made the journey to Antrim Area Hospital yesterday afternoon.
They met and chatted with the two pizza delivery men injured after they were caught up in Saturday night’s ambush.
Bishop Abernethy and Bishop Treanor said during the meeting they prayed with the two victims.
Speaking outside the hospital both men said dissident republicans had no community support for their actions.
However Bishop Abernethy said he doubted whether the terrorists would listen to him.
“It's very clear to me across this community that there's such revulsion for what happened, such revulsion.
“There doesn't seem to be any support in the community for these kind of acts and that needs to be heard loud and clear.”
But the clergymen said it was important that they visited the hospital together.
They also thanked staff for their efforts in the aftermath of the shooting.
Among the staff was Angela McErlane, a leading nurse in medicine at the hospital.
“I had heard the news and rang the hospital to see what I could do,” she said.
“Nurses are trained to deal with emergency situations on a day to day basis, but many had never experienced a situation like Saturday night.”
Donna Hanna, a lead nurse, was on call on Saturday night.
“I thought we had passed those days,” she said.
“And I really hope we don’t see any more.”
