Courtney McGrailCobh parish held a candlelit vigil on Sunday to remember the thousands of refugees who have lost their lives at sea and the suffering of those fleeing conflict in Syria and Iraq.
The event, organised by Cobh solicitor Don Ryan in association with Trócaire and Cobh Cathedral, followed a Mass celebrated by Bishop William Crean.
In his homily Bishop Crean said even if war does not touch our lives we cannot go on living as if it is not happening. “What is happening now we cannot ignore.
“The sheer volume of people who have been displaced from their homes in Iraq and Syria cries out to Europe and the world to respond,” he said.
A candlelit procession made its way from the cathedral to Cobh harbour, a site where coffin ships departed carrying Irish emigrants escaping the Great Famine, and a commemorative wreath was launched bearing the Syrian, Iraqi and Irish flags.