Republican News · Thursday 15 July 1999

[An Phoblacht]

Sectarian arson attacks on churches

A Catholic priest, Fr Sean Rogan, who attended the the mother of the three murdered Quinn children last year, has described how the smell of smoke at his chapel after an arson attack reminded him of the Ballymoney attack.

One year to the day from the murder of the three Quinn children by loyalists, St Patrick's in Chapel Hill, Lisburn, suffered minor damage to the side of the building and had a stained glass window broken after an arson attack in the early hours of Sunday 11 July.

Fr Rogan, the parish priest explained: ``This day last year I got a call to attend the boys' mother Chrissie in hospital. The smell of smoke then was the same today when I was alerted to the blaze at the church by the police. It seems so ironic that this happened on the anniversary of the boys' death. One year on and nothing seems to have changed''.

On the same night, another Catholic chapel less than a mile away was attacked.

Fr Brendan McMullan was forced to say Sunday mass outside the church at St Patrick's in Derriaghy, Co Antrim, after it was severely damaged when a flammable liquid was set alight at the front door of the Chapel at 12.30am on Sunday, 11 July.

Phoblacht has learned that a 20-year-old man has been charged in connection with the attack on St Patrick's Church in Lisburn.


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