President honours kidnapped priest [Fr Michael Sinnott]

[Yellow_Belle]

SOME OF the stories of 2009 brought us triumph in the face of adversity, and one such story was that of kidnapped Columban priest Fr Michael Sinnott, President Mary McAleese said yesterday.

At a reception in Áras an Uachtaráin, Mrs McAleese told Fr Sinnott the story of his captivity “started out very badly; it did not start out a good story. It was a very bad story, the kidnapping of a priest of almost 80 who was not in the full of his health.

“It had the potential to be a real tragedy,” she added, “with at times it seemed, small chance of a happy ending.”

Yet, she said, he had come home fresh and well and was with his family in the Áras just days before the celebration of his 80th birthday.

“It really is a privilege for this house to welcome a man of such courage, faith and grace under fire.”

MORE