Downpatrick priest attacked before Mass was due to retire this week
brutal attack
' before celebrating Mass on Sunday in Co
Down
was due to retire this week.
Canon John Murray was seriously assaulted at St Patrick's Church in Downpatrick after he was asked to hear someone's Confession. He was due to retire on Thursday.
The assault is believed to be linked to the death of a father of two, believed to be aged in his 50s, who was found dead at an address in the Marian Park area of Downpatrick at about 12pm.
A 30-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder and remains in police custody.
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Earlier on Sunday, it was reported to police that at about 10.10am, a man walked into St Patrick's Church and hit Fr Murray on the head with a bottle.
Fr Eddie McGee, spokesman for the Diocese of Down and Connor, said Fr Murray remains in a serious 'but stable' condition.
Fr Murray, who is in his 70s, is 'highly respected and well-liked', he said, adding that it is 'difficult to comprehend that this would happen to a priest'. He said some elderly priests will feel 'very vulnerable'.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Fr McGee said the local community is also feeling 'very vulnerable', noting that the attack took place on Sunday morning as Fr Murray was preparing to celebrate Mass.
'It's very hard to capture just the shock and the horror expressed yesterday by the parishioners and others who experienced this brutal attack on Fr John Murray,' he said, adding that this was compounded by the subsequent fatality.
'This is an absolutely shocking series of events in what is a really historic and beautiful town of Downpatrick, it's very hard to capture how people are experiencing this morning.'
Supt Norman Haslett, district commander for Newry, Mourne and Down, said on Sunday that officers suspect the attack may be linked to the subsequent death.
A vigil was held locally on Sunday night for both victims at St Brigid's Church, with local SDLP councillor Conor Galbraith saying there was an 'element of fear' locally.
'People are still fearful, but I think the fact that we have an arrest of the suspect who is potentially linked to both incidents, it's taken a wee bit of pressure off I suppose, knowing that someone has been taken off the streets,' he said.
Mr Galbraith, who knows the family of the deceased, said they are 'devastated'.
'There's no real words that can describe what I witnessed yesterday,' he said.
He described the deceased as a 'quiet man, who kept himself to himself'.
'He got up to do his work and he came home, and that was it. He was very helpful in the community. If people needed something done, he would have been the first person to offer his support,' he said.
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