Paris: Bishops in united front

The bishops visited the Guildhall at 11am on Monday morning, just as staff observed a minute’s silence. They said they felt it was important that they signed the book together as a sign of their solidarity with the people of Paris. Bishop Good wrote, ‘You are all in our prayers’, while Bishop McKeown wrote ‘Make us channels of Your peace’.

Speaking afterwards, Bishop Good said: “The perpetrators of these attacks wanted to generate fear and hopelessness. But what we are seeing, instead, is resilience and calmness in the face of danger.”

Bishop Good said the scale of Friday’s attack was outrageous but he sensed a resilience among Parisians and a determination that they would not give in to the terrorists.

Reflecting on history here, Bishop McKeown said: “We have to keep saying to everyone who’s involved in the killing of civilians and the killing of military personnel that that is not the way to find a resolution. Simply to send in more warplanes, after what happened in Paris, to kill more people in Syria, that is not the way forward. That will not find a resolution.”