A week ago Lyra McKee, a reporter who covered Northern Ireland, was shot dead by the “New I.R.A.” while she was traveling in a police van. She was 29, and she had been named by Forbes magazine as one of Europe’s most influential young journalists. In 2014 she had written an essay about her experiences as a gay teenager in conservative Belfast society.
She died one day before the 21st anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, which brokered peace in Northern Ireland.
Her funeral was held in St. Anne’s in Belfast. The leaders of the largest nationalist and unionist parties, Arlene Foster and Mary Lou McDonald, sat side by side. British P.M. and leader of the opposition, Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn, also attended.
The Rev. Martin Magill, delivered the eulogy. He said: “Since Thursday night, we have seen the coming together of so many people in various places and the unifying of the community against violence. ... I am, however, left with the question. Why, in God’s name, does it take the death of a 29-year-old woman, with her whole life in front of her...”
At that point, according to the article in the New York Times, the 1000 mourners in the church and the hundreds standing outside in the cold, began to applaud. Then those in the back stood. Then those in the middle. Then the politicians in the front.
Finally Father Magill was able to finish his sentence. “...the death of a 29-year-old woman, with her whole life in front of her to get us to this point.”
Why indeed?
For the complete story, see Patrick Kingsley, “Funeral Shows Northern Ireland’s Progress, and Its Regression,” New York Times, (Apr. 25, 2019), p. A8.
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