Response to shootings: Faith
Lorena Vazquez of Milwaukee holds the hand of her son, Juan Rodriguez, 10, during a midday prayer service Friday at Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist downtown in response to recent mass shootings. Vazquez was with her five children as people of all faiths gathered at the church to pray for help, compassion and answers in light of the shootings in Gilroy, California; El Paso, Texas; and Dayton, Ohio.
More than a hundred voices echoed off the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist walls in prayer on Friday afternoon.
Those gathered prayed for help. For the ability to turn their sorrow into action.
“Turn my sadness into compassion,” they prayed, using the words of James Martin, the Jesuit author and speaker. “Turn my tiredness into advocacy. Turn my paralysis into the freedom to act.”
Building on that sentiment — the freedom to act — there was a sense of urgency at the service for those lost in the mass shootings in Gilroy, California, El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio.
There have been 254 mass shooting in the United States this year, according to Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as a shooting of four or more people.
That means there have been more mass shooting than days in the year.
We live in a culture of violence, said Bishop Jeff Haines, and it’s become part of our social fabric. In urging attendees to act, Haines and other speakers asked
those in attendance to reflect on racism’s role in the shootings.
“There’s been a consistent influence of the white supremacist movement,” Haines said.
The prayer service was co-sponsored by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, Urban Initiative MKE, the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist and the Family of Four Eastside Parishes.
Along with Haines, the speakers were: Pardeep Kaleka, executive director of Interfaith Conference; Mary Words, chairwoman of the Black Catholic Ministry Commission; and Father Jose Gonzalez, associate pastor of the Cathedral.
The shootings have left Milwaukeeans upset, but not surprised, said Haines, adding, “They have become an epidemic.”
Despite this reality, Kaleka said he’s hopeful for a better future. Kaleka is the son of Pardeep Singh Kaleka, who died in the 2012 shooting at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in Oak Creek.
“We’re depending on the faith community to see past (the shootings),” said Kaleka. “There are better days ahead.”
For many, that hopefulness is difficult to find. Gonzalez said he’s spoken with many people who are fearful.
“There’s so many things that can be taken from us,” Gonzalez said.
More than a half dozen Milwaukee police officers attended the service. “We were invited to come to the church,” said Milwaukee Police Officer Carlos Felix. “It’s important to the community.”
Light flickered from 42 candles — one for each of the victims in Gilroy, El Paso and Dayton — on the altar.
Hugo Rios, a 23-year-old Milwaukee man, said prayer was helping him to process the shootings.
“It was a tragedy that happened,” Rios said. “It’s human life.”