BY MICHAEL BRESLIN
The Prior of Lough Derg, Monsignor Richard Mohan has spoke of his shock and sorrow at the murder of an Iraqi priest, Fr Ragheed Ghani (35), and three sub-deacons who were with him as he left a church in Mosul in Northern Iraq after celebrating Mass there.
Fr Ragheed, then a Deacon studying in the Irish College in Rome, where he was sponsored by the Clogher diocese, ministered at half a dozen Lough Derg pilgrimage seasons and, as the writer can testify, he was immensely popular with the pilgrims.
Mgr Mohan, who is a native of Coonian, revealed to the 'Herald' the contents of the last letter he received from Fr Ragheed, in May. It reads:
'Dear Father Mohan, How are you doing? How is everybody? Just a letter to give you my best wishes at the opening of a new season. Christians in Iraq are going through very tough times, so let us keep each other in prayer. I still have a wish to go and spend a few weeks in Ireland. I have had so much of terrorism and survived many times certain death. My best regards to all your friends. God bless'.
Mgr Mohan said he got the news of the tragedy from a friend of Fr Ragheed, Fr Joe Gormley, a native of Omagh who was at the Irish College in Rome with him.
"When Ragheed came to work in Lough Derg, the Gormley family were very good to him, in fact he called the Gormleys of Omagh his 'Irish family'. Because of the attempts on Rahid's life, his friends organised a number of people to keep guard outside the church during Mass time as we did during Penal times, in case somebody came along with a car bomb.
"They insisted that Ragheed would never travel around on his own. On that particular day, after the Sunday Mass, Ragheed left in a car with four others, three sub-deacons and the wife of one of them. They had just gone down to the corner from the church when their car was stopped and the wife was ordered out of the car. They then riddled the car with bullets and, having done that, they booby -trapped the car, so it was 10 o'clock that night before the security forces dismantled the bomb and the bodies were taken out.
"This was on Sunday, and they were buried the next day".
Mgr Mohan then recalled some of the attributes which Raghed possessed that made him such a hit with the Lough Derg pilgrims.
"He was a lovely character. He was very bubbly and very talented. His popularity stemmed from a genuine love of people. He was a really genuine character. It wasn't just put on. He was funny and good fun to be with.
"He was a really caring sort of character, and he connected with people, whether praying or just talking to them. He really got through to people. People from another country find it difficult enough to engage with the mentality of the Irish people but I have to say that Ragheed was really delighted to meet people on Lough Derg".
Mgr Mohan recalled an early morning ritual when the two would meet before heading into the Basilica for the 6am Mass: "At around 5.50, I would always walk through the kitchen and I would say, 'Good morning, Ragheed. How are you this morning?', and he would always reply, 'Not bad at all'. He loved this local colloquialism".
Fr Ragheed was a qualified civil engineer in Iraq but, after a few years, he decided to study for the priesthood. This was in the regime of Suddan Hussein, a Sunni Moslem who, ironically, tolerated other faiths. This was confirmed by Fr Ragheed himself to the writer during one Lough Derg pilgrimage.
The present Bishop of Clogher, Bishop Joseph Duffy agreed to sponsor his studies in the Irish College in Rome and, so, between 1996 and 2003, Ragheed spent his Summers on the island. Being a Deacon, he could not celebrate Mass, but he did most everything else.
For instance, he took the Evening Prayer which has, at its heart, the homily. In his, Ragheed traced his remarkable journey from Iraq to Ireland and, then, to Lough Derg, poking gentle fun at the thought of people going about barefooted in constant prayer and fasting.
Then, came the crunch: "And, as if that wasn't enough, we have the midges".
That raised the roof for, just about that time of day, the midges invade the Basilica, although since Ragheed's time, the prayer 'beds' are now protected by 'midge busting' machines.
For all those fortunate enough to have known him and, particularly, for Mgr Mohan, his memory will endure: "When he finished is studies in 2003, he s aid he had to go back to Iraq.
"He was asked why and he said: ''That's where I belong. It is my place'. He knew what he was letting himself in for".
