Hundreds of silent, weeping people lined streets in bitter cold Monday to watch the tiny white coffin of James Bulger pass and mourn the 2-year-old whose killing has gripped Britain in grief and anger.
The Catholic funeral "Mass of the angels," in a church adjacent to an unemployment office and surrounded by public housing, was televised live across the country from the Kirkby section of Liver-pool.The abduction and killing of little Jamie and subsequent arrest of two 10-year-olds for his murder has prompted a wave of public soul-searching by Britons wondering at the state of their society.
The Rev. Michael O'Connell, pastor of Sacred Heart Church near the home of the toddler's parents Ralph and Denise Bulger, led the traditional Catholic Requiem Mass for a little boy just short of his third birthday who already loved dancing to Michael Jackson music and making people laugh.
"His death is not in vain," O'Connell said in his homily. "Somehow James Patrick has touched the whole world. The death of an innocent little child is causing us to do something to make life better."
Earlier he prayed, "Comfort us with the knowledge that the child for whom we grieve is entrusted now to your loving care . . . take him into your arms and welcome him into paradise where there will be no more sorrow, nor weeping, nor pain."
The service ended with the playing of Eric Clapton's song "Tears in Heaven," written in memory of the tragic death of the musician's 5-year-old son two years ago. Also supplementing traditional hymns was Michael Jackson's "Heal the World," chosen as a message to society by Jamie's parents.
Detective Superintendent Albert Kirby, who led the police investigation of Jamie's abduction and killing, read one of the scripture passages at the Mass. Community leaders and top local Catholic and Anglican church officials were also present.
Around 1,000 mourners, many of them parents with small children, some crying, stood in the cold to hear the service.
Police in Liverpool, with fresh memories of mobs screaming for vengeance, called out extra constables and blocked off some streets around the funeral. There were no incidents.