It’s vitally important in such an untimely and tragic circumstance, that the emphasis of the horrendous event is put solely on our friend, Tom O’Gorman.
We want to focus on the bright light that Tom not only was but also brought to so many people he encountered, enriching their lives in the process and leaving an impenetrable mark.
We all know that people have different qualities, different opinions, different traits and skills. Incorporating these given attributes define who feels affiliated to you and who embraces you as a person. With that in mind, a massive congregation turned out to honour their fallen comrade in St.Teresa’s Church on Clarendon St. on Tuesday night. Their united grief was evident. Their longing for answers to so many questions was palpable. Their feeling of loss and sorrow was filtered not only down through the Church by those who knew and loved Tom, but it has also encompassed the empathy of society as a whole.
The Prayers offered on the night were contemplative, inspiring and comforting. Where does one turn in an hour of darkness other than the saviour of light – the beacon of hope – the one place that the unknown is known, their faith in God.
Although Tom had a strong professional portfolio, it was his personality that garnered his multitude of friends. Tuesday night, a packed Clarendon St. Church captured the essence of what it is to be a good person. The sombre atmosphere provided few inescapable laughs, but there were noted exceptions with anecdotal tales of Tom’s eagerness to debate, his laudable impressions, and witty sense of humour.
Strongly noted too was his outstanding faith and absolute defender of the unborn human life. His ardent work for many years in the Pro Life Campaign made him friends across the world. Many of his friends and colleagues gathered in Buswells Hotel afterwards to share stories and fond memories that are unquestionably saved firmly in their memory bank forever.
Bad things all too often happen to good people, and Tom was a good person. His belief in God was part of his goodness. All too often not only Irish society, but the society of the western world flippantly takes for granted the true meaning of good and bad, what’s right and wrong. But the truth is that good and bad exists and right and wrong are real phenomena.
Those who knew and loved Tom can contemplate a way forward in the sanctity of knowing that. They know their friend was a good person, it’s one of his many endearing qualities that he leaves with us and that in turn provides us with an understanding that will eventually allow us to push forward and be better people from knowing him.
The feeling of not knowing why this happened to Tom is very strong. The feeling we have that we may never know why this happened to Tom is even stronger.
But the most prevalent feeling by those who witnessed it on Tuesday night, myself included, by his family, close friends and colleagues, was the feeling of a faith. A faith stronger than the darkness of this evil act, a faith that reunited those left behind with the utter conviction of a knowledge that Tom is indeed in a better place. That feeling is slowly pushing its way forward through the mire of disbelief, astonishment and shock. That feeling of faith is the strongest of all.
R.I.P. Tom O’Gorman