The hardships faced by those in poverty: Fr Paddy O’Kane
I was returning late at night from a holiday in Tenerife with my brother Hugh and his wife many years ago.
Does O’Kane every sit still? I hear you ask.
It was minus seven and his car would not start.
As we tried to restart the engine we had to take breaks from the pain which bit into our bones by returning regularly to the attendant’s office.
Eventually. we gave up and booked in for a few hours at the airport hotel.
It was the worst cold I had ever experienced.
It got me thinking about those who ‘sleep rough’ and a story that I had come across years earlier to do with the severe pain that freezing cold can bring.
The year was 2000 and I was on pilgrimage to Oberammergau in Austria.
Our trip included a visit to Dachau Concentration Camp in Southern Germany.
It was my first visit to such camps and reading the account of what happened in the visitors’ centre I discovered that hundreds of priests and bishops, who had spoken out against Hitler and his regime, had died there.
I discovered a Carmelite convent next to the visitors’ centre and we had Mass there.
This centre had accounts of what happened to the prisoners including a story about the horrific experience of some priests.
At first when they arrived many got comfortable office work, whether out of pity or because they were well educated.
When a new commandant arrived he was furious about this.
He had the priests sent to a part of
Article source: http://www.derrynow.com/features/the-hardships-faced-by-those-in-poverty-fr-paddy-okane/31699