Town united amidst grief

Town united amidst grief

13 August 2025

THE Downpatrick community has been praised for its response to last weekend’s horrific events in which one man was murdered and the town’s parish priest brutally assaulted as he prepared to celebrate Mass at St Patrick’s Church.

Mr Stephen Brannigan (56) was murdered in his Marian Park home, with his body discovered a short time after 75 year-old Canon John Murray was viciously beaten on Sunday morning.

A special Mass was held yesterday at St Colmcille’s Church led by the Bishop of Down and Connor Alan McGuckian, who was joined by local clergy.

The morning service took place as police enquiries into Mr Brannigan’s murder and the assault on Canon Murray continue.

A 30 year-old man has been arrested in connection with both incidents which police believe are linked.

On Sunday evening, several hundred people attended a community-led prayer service at St Brigid’s Church, with a number of them joining Bishop McGuckian and members of the Brannigan and Murray families yesterday morning.

Bishop McGuckian said those closest to Mr Brannigan and Canon Murray “must feel a terrible sense of uncertainty like walking on water” and said there are great people in the local community which gives him great heart.

He said there are also great priests who have been responding “in just an almost impossible situation”.

Bishop McGuckian said Downpatrick “had come together” after the tragedy which left one family mourning the loss of a loved one and Canon Murray’s family at his bedside in hospital.

During his address, the bishop said when he heard on Sunday night that hundreds of local people had gathered spontaneously to come together to pray for Mr Brannigan and Canon Murray, and to be a support to one another, 

“it gave him a sense that in this community there are the resources to really come together and be strong for one another, for Fr John and for all the families who are wounded and hurt by what has happened”.

Bishop McGuckian continued: “There are great people in this community and that gives me great heart. There are great priests here as well and they have been responding in just an almost impossible situation.

“They have been responding to one another with real grace and maturity and human decency and Christian charity, and it is very encouraging.”

Turning to members of the Brannigan and Murray families, he said: “I suppose my encouragement to them and to everybody who’s really floored by what has happened is to be patient to begin with, to be patient with themselves and with each other and ultimately to trust that there is a strength that doesn’t come from ourselves, that comes from God, and that they can rely on that.”

Bishop McGuckian said he had passed on the well wishes from the community to Canon Murray, who is recovering from his injuries at the Royal Victorian Hospital.

“I was with him right on Sunday night and he was very grateful to know that people were thinking of him, praying for him,” he told the congregation.

“He was very quiet. He was lying still at the time. Yesterday I didn’t see him because he was too tired and there were things going on that he needed space, but I have heard that he is increasingly comfortable.”

On the theme of hope and courage, the bishop said hope could sound ephemeral until it is really needed.

“Hope only kicks in when things are really bad, when we cannot do it ourselves,” he said.

“And here, the people of Downpatrick are just being asked to face into dealing with the reality that we cannot make sense of, we cannot handle, and that’s when the great Christian virtue of hope kicks in.”