A MULTI-FAITH service was scheduled to be held yesterday at St
Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne, for the victims of last week's
Malaysian Airlines disaster, writes Muriel Porter, Australia
Correspondent. Thirty-seven Australian citizens and residents,
including 18 from Victoria and Sister Philomene Tiernan RSCJ, a
member of staff at Kincoppal-Rose Bay School of the Sacred Heart,
Sydney, were among the dead.
Delegates travelling to Australia for the international HIV-AIDS
conference, currently being held in Melbourne, also died in the
crash.
The Archbishop of Melbourne, Dr Philip Freier, was due to preach
at the service, which would be attended by members of the Dutch,
Malaysian, Indonesian, British, Belgian, German, US, and Canadian
communities.
Dr Freier assured those who were grieving of his prayers. "The
tragic loss . . . reminds us that, in this globalised world, we are
intimately connected with the suffering of people far away, and in
conflicts we often don't understand."
