An Irish Catholic Priest, whose church is located a five-minute walk away from the Martin Place Lindt cafe where the Sydney siege occurred, shared his observations with the Catholic Herald on Wednesday. Although he acknowledged a "flat secularism" that is strong in both Sydney as "anywhere", Father Brendan Purcell of St Mary's Cathedral reports that he witnessed a wave of online prayers across the social media platforms.
Father Purcell admitted that he felt helpless during the 16-hour ordeal, and he turned to the Station of the Cross for his own prayer in a time of great need:
"... I spent nearly an hour doing the Stations of the Cross in the little chapel here and found it amazing how each station was a meaningful window into what the hostages were going through".
The Catholic priest then provided examples, such as how the first station represented "being wrongfully 'arrested'" and how "the comforting of Mary, Simon of Cyrene and Veronica" was symbolic of the desperation of the people trying to maintain contact with the hostages, as well as the hostages themselves trying to support each other.
The insight from the Catholic Herald was published a day after a special mass was held by Archbishop Anthony Fisher at St Mary's Cathedral, with New South Wales' Premier Mike Baird among those present. Archbishop Fisher declared that "Hell had touched us" and, in reference to the difficult circumstances that surrounded the birth of Jesus Christ, proclaimed, "our world today is every bit as mixed up as it was at the first Christmas".
According to Father Purcell, "hell" was confronted by the prayers of compassionate Australians this week, and he reminded readers of an age-old truth: "People do turn to God when they need support." In summation, Father Purcell said that, for the thousands who have been affected by the Sydney siege, "We have to reach out", and, refusing to lay blame in the direction of any social group, he added, "community only works when everyone feels at home, so we have got to pull together to get through this".