The Portal Archive Eucharistic Congress 2012 | Page 9

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THE PoRTAL
Day 5 - Thursday 14th June 2012
.... continued
Ju
I Oth-1 71h
Yet he became aware of other children in other part of the world who also uffe red becau e of injustice and
poverty. In 1996 he sold his businesses and set up C hildren i n Crossfire. Today che charity supports children in
Tanzania, Ethiopia and Gambia.
In 2005 he fo und out the nam e of the oldier who sho t him. 'lhey met and are now friends. Recon iliation
ame at a cost. H is family suffered mort' than words can tell. But suffering is not the end of the story.
There i no tra c of bittcmc .. or anger in him . Indeed he aid, "Forgiven· . for me was ver y easy. I nc.:vcr had
any anger. Yet I know it is hard to fo rgive. It is important that w move on. Not important that we forget, bul
th at we move on. At some point in Lime we have to draw a line. ot that what th e oldier did was no t wrong, it
was very wrong. But we have to move o n."
He spoke of the media and drew our attention to th e fa c th at som etime th e merua use vi cim s in a sensationalist
way. He said "It does hinder progress and enabli11g people to move fo rward. Victim ;.\ll be used to hit o thers
over the head. ~[hat is not helpful to the victim or the pro -e
of re on iliation."
When asked about th e child abuses ·an dal in Ireland he replied , t•r am not qualified to omment upon that:'
Ri hard' story is one of true re oncilialion. To sit an d listen to him was a great privilege and a truly hwnbling
expcrit:nc:e. Ile put much in to ontext.