Funeral hears of late Stephanie’s home of warmth and love

AT STEPHANIE Fitzpatrick’s funeral on Thursday, Father Robert McNamara paid tribute to the warmth of Stephanie’s family, writes Owen Ryan.

Fr McNamara addressed a packed church in Lisdoonvarna, with many more listening outside to the homily.

“When I was just in my first week here in Lisdoon, Marian asked me to drop in to see Biddy. I arrived, Biddy had the kettle on, and she asked Marian to put out the good jug for the priest.
It was far I was reared from jugs!

“Anyway, Biddy then produced this wonderful brown bread, for which I later discovered she was famous, and it was in the sharing of that bread that love and warmth and hospitality became really present, and God was there too undercover.

“As the philosopher Wittgenstein had written over his doorway: ‘bidden or unbidden, God is present’.

“That home of hospitality and love and welcome was the home that Stephanie came from, and it was a home of faith as well.

“When poor Biddy heard that Stephanie had passed away, her first words were: “Well God must have wanted her. Welcome be the will of God.”’

He also said there was huge support for Stephanie’s family in evidence.

“Look at the love and friendship and support and neighbourliness that is surrounding the Fitzpatrick family today.

“You can’t bottle it, you can’t scientifically measure it, but it is no less real for that. And we believe that all goodness and kindness and truth and loyalty and friendship are ultimately found in God, and they become up close and personal in Jesus.”

Also during the homily, Father McNamara said, “Some have asked recently, ‘how could God allow something like this to happen?’

“It’s a fair question. My take on that, if it helps you, is that life is a very mixed bag, and that where God is to be found is to give us the grace to cope with what life throws at us, if we have the humility to ask Him, to help us learn and grow from terrible experiences like this, and then be of some help to someone else, and wouldn’t that be a lovely way to honour Stephanie’s memory?”