Mags GarganBrave priest used faith to overcome ordeal
An Irish priest caught up in a dramatic siege in a Sydney café this week has said he turned to prayer during the seige lockdown.
Three people died, including the gunman, and four were injured after a siege of more than 16 hours ended when armed police stormed a the café where an Islamist cleric held 17 people hostage.
Fr Brendan Purcell, a priest of the Dublin archdiocese working at St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney for four years, said the area around Lindt café in Martin Place, including the cathedral and adjacent school, was in lockdown during the siege.
“There were no Masses or other events in St Mary’s on Monday and the schoolboys were kept on site till around 4pm,” said Fr Purcell. “Personally, I didn’t know what to do during the siege, especially as we were so near to it, so I spent nearly an hour doing the Stations of the Cross in the little chapel here.”
Fr Purcell, who is adjunct professor in the School of Philosophy at Australia’s Notre Dame University, said the terror incident “has brought Australians together” as the tragedy is “shared by everyone”, and many celebrities have led a call for prayers.
“This incident has touched thousands of lives and people turn to God when they need support,” he said.
Members of the Muslim community feared reprisals following the siege, but Fr Purcell said: “No-one is blaming one particular group or community.
“One of the positives from the event has been its unambiguous condemnation by all the main Muslim leaders here,” he said. “We have to reach out. Community only works when everyone feels at home, so we have got to pull together to get through this.”