PAGETWO
Accompanying
one another
Dear readers:
The Annunciation community is walking through the tragedy and horror of the Aug. 27 shooting at an all-school Mass.
Two students were killed. Eighteen were wounded, along with three adults. The suspected shooter, police said, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Trauma was visited upon every person in that church.
The children who were killed — 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel and 10-year-old Harper Moyski — are remembered on page 7, including Fletcher’s Sept. 7 funeral at Mount Olivet Lutheran Church in Minneapolis.
The parents and families of Fletcher and Harper, the children who are in or have recently left the hospital and their families, and the children and adults who were present in the church — all have suffered unimaginable physical and psychological trauma.
Parents and others at Annunciation and across the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis who are wondering how to assist children and their families, parishes and schools, can turn to page 17 for advice from two counselors who are Catholic.
A survivor of the event describes her experience in the church and her faith journey on page 12. As the Catholic faithful of the archdiocese, we are walking with Ellie Mertens and all those impacted by this tragedy — in solidarity, in synodality.
The Church is guiding us as we walk on this journey.
Archbishop Bernard Hebda writes to us on page 3 in this edition’s Only Jesus column. He gently reminds us in a conversation with The Catholic Spirit we share on pages 14-15, that we need to honor and listen to one another, care for each other, and hold these things in our hearts and prayers.
The archbishop leads us in prayer as well, in words and actions at the prayer services we walk people through on pages 4-6.
Father Dennis Zehren’s riveting and faith-filled homily at the first parish Masses at Annunciation after the shooting is printed in its entirety on page 16. The pastor of Annunciation has much to share with us as we seek the light of Christ in a dark time.
His words and those of Archbishop Hebda; Annunciation Principal Matt DeBoer; Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara; Fletcher’s father, Jesse Merkel; Harper’s parents, Michael Moyski and Jackie Flavin; and others can also be found in coverage of the events of Aug. 27 and the days that followed on pages 10-11.
Bishops Michael Izen and Kevin Kenney are also walking with us. Some aspects of their leadership are described on page 16, with their visits to the wounded and their families in hospitals, their presence at the public prayer services and at a special counseling center for children and adults directly impacted by the violence they experienced Aug. 27. The center was set up by the archdiocese and city and state officials to provide free, on-the-spot counseling and resources to meet needs for continued mental health, financial and other assistance. Read more about that effort on page 18.
We mark the Sept. 3 visit to Annunciation by Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha Vance, on page 9.
This issue is a 20-page special report. Only rarely is nearly the entire issue of the official newspaper of the archdiocese devoted to one topic. This is a rare time. (Note: Page 20 also includes canonization coverage
of two young people, Sts. Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati.)
The newspaper will continue to walk with the faithful through its stories, commentaries and photos in the days, weeks and months ahead — we do so with hope that the Catholic community can be a source of healing for its members and for all who come our way.
A fund devoted to the needs of Annunciation church and school and to provide support for those affected by the tragic shooting has been set up by the St. Paul-based Catholic Community Foundation (CCF). It is called the Annunciation Hope and Healing Fund. The foundation is an independent nonprofit that stewards the charitable gifts of individuals, families and Catholic institutions. CCF is not charging any fees to receive, process and steward these gifts.
As of this writing, the fund has taken in $2 million from more than 7,000 individuals. It will be carefully distributed. The Annunciation Hope and Healing Fund can be found online at ccf-mn. org/annunciation-hope-and-healing-fund Please give generously.
May God be with us in this Jubilee year, with its theme Pilgrims of Hope. It happens that before this tragedy, Annunciation discerned a Scripture theme for its school year: “A future filled with hope” from Jeremiah 29:11.
In Christ and through each other, that hope is not lost.
— Joe Ruff, editor-in-chief, The Catholic Spirit
Practicing CATHOLIC
Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the Sept. 5 “Practicing Catholic” radio show included Bishop Michael Izen, who shared about how devotion to Mary in times of suffering can be healing. The program also included Pat Millea, co-founder of the Martin Center for Integration, who talked about therapy efforts in the Twin Cities in the wake of the shooting at Annunciation’s church in Minneapolis Aug. 27. Listen to interviews after they have aired at archspm.org/faith-anddiscipleship/practicing-catholic or choose a streaming platform at Spotify for Podcasters.
CORRECTION
ON THE COVER Ellie Mertens, left, youth minister at Annunciation in Minneapolis, hugs Ella Bradburn (red shirt) and Isabella Manley, who are members of her youth group, during a prayer service at Academy of Holy Angels in Richfield Aug. 27 to support those affected by a shooting at the church that morning. Mertens was inside Annunciation church at the all-school Mass when the shooting occurred. Bradburn and Manley are students at DeLaSalle High School in Minneapolis. DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
FROMTHEARCHBISHOP
ONLY JESUS | ARCHBISHOP BERNARD HEBDA
In Christ, love always wins
Twenty-five years ago, I gathered on an August night with nearly 2 million young people on the outskirts of Rome for an amazing encounter with Pope John Paul II — a man now declared a saint. I was already way too old to find the notion of camping out with so many strangers appealing, but I had been invited to join a group of young pilgrims from my home diocese for World Youth Day. I had already been working for a few years at the Vatican, and had weekly opportunities to listen to Pope John Paul, but there was something remarkable about experiencing him through the eyes of teenagers and young adults. Their excitement when he buzzed the crowd in the papal helicopter was palpable and something I will never forget.
His message that evening was inspiring. At the beginning of the new millennium, he called our youth to be watchmen — sentinelli in Italian. In the ancient world, watchmen collaborated to protect human life. They had to be on the lookout for wolves and marauders, and they looked beyond the horizon to see the first signs of the day to come, which they announced with hope to their sisters and brothers. The saintly pope was calling on our youth to be on the lookout for Jesus as he breaks into the darkness of our world from beyond the horizon, and to joyfully proclaim his presence.
We’ve experienced great darkness in recent days. Senseless violence is always horrific, but especially so when the targets are young children, full of faith and life. I cannot begin to imagine the sorrow piercing the hearts of the parents, families and friends of Fletcher and Harper, the anxiety gripping the families of those who were injured, and the depth of the trauma experienced by all who were at Mass that fateful day.
And yet it is precisely in such darkness that we, and especially our youth, are called as disciples to be watchmen who search for the first hopeful signs of dawn.
I have been amazed by how many young people have been doing just that, coming to Annunciation with their flowers,
En
Cristo, el amor siempre gana
Hace veinticinco años, me reuní una noche de agosto con casi dos millones de jóvenes en las afueras de Roma para un encuentro increíble con el Papa Juan Pablo II, un hombre ahora declarado santo. Recuerdo que hacía calor, y yo era demasiado viejo para la idea de acampar con tantos desconocidos, pero me habían invitado a unirme a un grupo de jóvenes peregrinos de mi diócesis para la Jornada Mundial de la Juventud. Llevaba ya algunos años trabajando en el Vaticano y tenía la oportunidad semanal de escuchar al Papa Juan Pablo II, pero había algo extraordinario en experimentarlo a través de los ojos de adolescentes y jóvenes. Su emoción cuando sobrevoló a la multitud en el helicóptero papal era palpable, algo que nunca olvidaré. Su mensaje esa noche fue inspirador. Al comienzo del nuevo milenio, llamó a nuestros jóvenes a ser centinelas — sentinelli en italiano. En el mundo antiguo, los centinelas colaboraban para proteger la vida humana. Debían estar atentos a los lobos y a los merodeadores, y miraban más allá del horizonte para ver las primeras señales del día venidero, que anunciaban con esperanza a sus hermanos y hermanas. El santo Papa llamaba a nuestros jóvenes a estar atentos a Jesús mientras irrumpe en la oscuridad de nuestro mundo desde más allá del horizonte, y a proclamar con alegría su presencia. Hemos vivido una gran oscuridad esta última semana. La violencia sin sentido siempre es horrible, pero especialmente
And yet it is precisely in such darkness that we, and especially our youth, are called as disciples to be watchmen who search for the first hopeful signs of dawn. I have been amazed by how many young people have been doing just that, coming to Annunciation with their flowers, teddy bears, candles and prayers. They have been leaving beautiful messages that tell me that youthful eyesight may be better than mine. No matter how often it has rained, there has been someone to take up the chalk once again and write and rewrite ‘Love wins’ on the sidewalk at Annunciation.
teddy bears, candles and prayers. They have been leaving beautiful messages that tell me that youthful eyesight may be better than mine. No matter how often it has rained, there has been someone to take up the chalk once again and write and rewrite “Love wins” on the sidewalk at Annunciation.
We have all seen evidence of the love that wins in the heart-felt pleas of Principal Matt DeBoer to move our feet when we pray, and in the compassionate response of his teachers and staff. We have witnessed it as well in the selfless service of Father Dennis Zehren, the pastor, and of Deacon Kevin Conneely and the parish staff, in spite of their own shock.
I was stunned by the loving concern of the folks I visited in the hospital for their classmates and neighbors, and even for the family of the shooter.
Families of those injured, moreover, have repeatedly spoken about the extraordinary and loving help they have received from first responders and hospital staff. We’ve seen that heroic love as well in the large number of counselors, clergy and crisis management professionals who have volunteered their time and expertise to meet with students and teachers and their families.
The love that wins has been obvious, moreover, in those who have brought their comfort dogs and bunnies with the
cuando los objetivos son niños pequeños, llenos de fe y vida. No puedo ni imaginar el dolor que atravesó los corazones de los padres, familiares y amigos de Fletcher y Harper, la ansiedad que se apoderó de las familias de los heridos y la profundidad del trauma que experimentaron todos los que asistieron a la misa ese fatídico día.
Y, sin embargo, es precisamente en esa oscuridad que nosotros, y especialmente nuestros jóvenes, estamos llamados como discípulos a ser centinelas que buscan los primeros signos esperanzadores del amanecer. No importa cuántas veces haya llovido, siempre ha habido alguien que ha tomado la tiza una vez más y ha escrito y reescrito “El amor gana” en la acera de la Anunciación. Todos hemos visto evidencia del amor que triunfa en las sinceras súplicas del director Matt DeBoer para que nos muevan los pies al orar, y en la respuesta compasiva de sus maestros y personal. También lo hemos presenciado en el servicio desinteresado del padre Dennis Zehren, párroco, y del diácono Kevin Conneely y el personal de la parroquia, a pesar de su propia conmoción. Me sorprendió la preocupación amorosa de las personas que visité en el hospital por sus compañeros de clase y vecinos, e incluso por la familia del tirador.
Además, las familias de los heridos han hablado repetidamente de la extraordinaria y amorosa ayuda que han recibido de los socorristas y el personal hospitalario. También hemos visto ese amor heroico en
hope of eliciting a smile from a forlorn child or exhausted parents. We’ve seen it in the Salvation Army volunteers who have kept the families well-fed, and in the professional and college athletes who have made time to be with the children and their families.
I’ve seen nothing but love, moreover, in the members of the archdiocesan staff who have quietly gone above and beyond the call of duty in their efforts to support those at Annunciation. And I’ve been overwhelmed by the texts, emails, letters and phone calls from those around the world who desire to join Pope Leo in his prayers for healing in this difficult situation. Similarly, every time I have gone to Annunciation in these days, I have found people praying the rosary, all out of the love that wins.
This past weekend, Pope Leo canonized two young people — Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati — who were extraordinary watchmen, capable of recognizing the light of Christ on the horizon even in the midst of great suffering. I hope that you will join me in seeking the intercession at the heavenly throne of these new saints, along with that of Fletcher and Harper, for the work of healing that remains to be done. May they remind us, and especially the young students at Annunciation, that in Christ love always wins.
la gran cantidad de consejeros, clérigos y profesionales de la gestión de crisis que han ofrecido su tiempo y experiencia para reunirse con estudiantes, profesores y sus familias.
El amor que triunfa ha sido evidente, además, en quienes han traído a sus perros y conejos de consuelo con la esperanza de trayendo una sonrisa a un niño desamparado o a unos padres exhaustos. Lo hemos visto en los voluntarios del Ejército de Salvación que han mantenido a las familias bien alimentadas, y en los atletas profesionales y universitarios que han dedicado tiempo a estar con los niños y sus familias.
Además, he visto mucho amor en el personal arquidiocesano, que silenciosamente ha superado con creces su deber en sus esfuerzos por apoyar a quienes asisten a la Anunciación. Me han conmovido los mensajes de texto, correos electrónicos, cartas y llamadas telefónicas de personas de todo el mundo que desean unirse al Papa León en sus oraciones por la sanación en esta difícil situación. De igual manera, cada vez que he ido a la Anunciación estos días, he encontrado a gente rezando el rosario, todo por el amor que gana.
El fin de semana pasado, el Papa León canonizó a dos jóvenes — Carlo Acutis y Pier Giorgio Frassati — que fueron extraordinarios centinelas, capaces de reconocer la luz de Cristo en el horizonte incluso en medio de un gran sufrimiento. Espero que se unan a mí para pedir la
intercesión ante el trono celestial de estos nuevos santos, junto con la de Fletcher y Harper, por la obra de sanación que aún queda por hacer. Que nos recuerden, y especialmente a los jóvenes estudiantes de la Anunciación, que en Cristo el amor siempre gana.
OFFICIALS
Archbishop Bernard Hebda has announced the following appointments in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis:
Effective September 5, 2025
Reverend Fernando Ortega, assigned as chaplain to St. John Paul II Catholic Preparatory School in Minneapolis. This is in addition to his current assignment as parochial vicar of the Church of Saint Cyril and Methodius in Minneapolis.
Effective September 6, 2025
Reverend Mark Moriarty, assigned as parochial administrator of the Church of the Sacred Heart in Robbinsdale while the pastor, Reverend Bryan Pedersen, is on sabbatical. This is in addition to his current assignment as pastor of the Church of the Holy Family in Saint Louis Park.
Archbishop Hebda prays for community’s peace, fortitude, consolation after Annunciation shooting
By Joe Ruff The Catholic Spirit
Calling on a God whose love and compassion embraces everyone, who “embraces pain” and took on human flesh “because he loves us,” Archbishop Bernard Hebda led an evening prayer service Aug. 27 that packed the school gym at Academy of Holy Angels in Richfield.
The prayer service was held just hours after — and only two miles away from — Annunciation church in Minneapolis, where a shooting at an all-school Mass killed two students at the parish elementary school and wounded 18 other students and three adults.
The suspect in the shooting, identified by police as 23-year-old Robin Westman, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the scene, police said.
Family members and friends, teachers and staff from Annunciation were joined by students and staff from the academy, by Gov. Tim Walz and U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar and other elected officials.
Hugs and tears preceded the prayer service, which included Auxiliary Bishops Kevin Kenney and Michael Izen; Father Dennis Zehren, pastor of Annunciation; and Deacon Kevin Conneely, who ministers at Annunciation.
Among those in the congregation was Jerry Doyle, 68, an usher at Annunciation, who said he prayed through the day as news of the shooting played out on television.
“I know most everybody at the church,” said Doyle, whose two grown children are graduates of the school. “I know a lot of people that have kids that have gone there. I’m here to support and to pray because God does wonderful things when you do that.”
Asked if there might be hope amid tragedy, Doyle said yes. “Because God answers prayers.”
In his homily at the service, Archbishop Hebda said he wished that he could “unwind the time of this day and that we would be able to repair the great hurt that has occurred. If I had that power, I certainly would. But my brothers and sisters, I’m hoping that in the absence of that, that our presence, the coming together of so many people from so many places and so many traditions would provide some support, some consolation to those who have lost loved ones in this morning’s event, to those whose children or parents were injured and who are still in the hospital, to all of the young children who were there at Mass today. I hope that our prayers this evening might give them a sense that they are not alone.”
The archbishop noted the outpouring of support from “our Protestant brothers and sisters” and the presence at the prayer service of representatives from the Jewish and Muslim communities. Interfaith prayer services were later held Aug. 28 at noon at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul and 5:30 p.m. at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis.
The archbishop said he wished he had the answers for everyone. “I don’t. But I trust, brothers and sisters, that we have a God who does have those answers, a God who loves us and who is patient with us,” he said. Amid the mystery of suffering is the love of Christ, “who embraces us in our pain,”
the archbishop said. “Jesus did that not because he loves pain, but because he loves us. He loves all of those children who were in that church this morning. He loves their families. He loves the shooter.
“He loves all of us, brothers and sisters. And it was out of that love that he, on that day of the Annunciation, took on human flesh, took flesh in Mary’s womb, so that he could be with us in moments like we’re experiencing this evening, moments of great
pain, of great puzzlement. Nobody has the right words this evening, but we know that we have a God who loves us and who is with us even as we suffer.”
The archbishop noted that the words inscribed in capitalized letters at the entry to the now-desecrated Annunciation church are: “The house of God and the gate of heaven.”
“How is it that such a terrible tragedy could take place, in a place that’s the
house of God and the gate of heaven?” the archbishop asked. “It’s unthinkable. It’s unthinkable. But we, brothers and sisters, trust that it’s precisely in that house of God where we’re most at home, where indeed we are able to find hope.”
The angel said to Mary at the Annunciation, “for nothing will be impossible for God,” the archbishop said.
“I’m praying this evening, brothers and sisters, that our God will indeed do the impossible,” Archbishop Hebda said. “That he will bring healing into the lives of those who are forever changed from this morning, that he would cleanse the memories of the innocent children of Annunciation school, cleanse the memories of the teachers and pastor and deacon and staff who were all present, the parishioners who were there, and that indeed he will help them, and all of us, to trust in his son Jesus, who knew unmerited suffering and who died for all of us.”
While the inscription tells of the house of God and the gate of heaven, a statue of Mary is also at the entry to the church, the archbishop said.
“The example of Mary, a mother and a disciple who knew great suffering in her own life, should give each of us courage and hope. If we’re willing to reach out in love to our sisters and brothers in need, we too can make a dwelling place for God, right here in the Twin Cities,” the archbishop said.
The archbishop closed by reading from a telegram he received from the Vatican expressing Pope Leo XIV’s condolences and prayers and imparting his apostolic blessing for peace, fortitude and consolation to Annunciation, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the greater Twin Cities area.
“My prayer for you, my brothers and sisters, is that you might experience that peace, that fortitude and that consolation that Pope Leo desires for each one of us.”
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
Archbishop Bernard Hebda, center, leads a prayer service at the Academy of Holy Angels in Richfield Aug. 27 to support those affected by a shooting at Annunciation church in Minneapolis that morning. Others taking part include, from left, Bishops Kevin Kenney and Michael Izen, and Father Dennis Zehren, pastor of Annunciation.
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
Two men hug before a prayer vigil Aug. 27 at Academy of Holy Angels in Richfield following a shooting earlier in the day at Annunciation church in Minneapolis.
Holy Angels community steps up with support for Annunciation families
By Dave Hrbacek
The Catholic Spirit
In the hours following the tragic shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church during an all-school Mass Aug. 27 in Minneapolis, a wave of shock reverberated and traveled a few miles to Academy of Holy Angels (AHA) in Richfield, a Catholic high school that is close in proximity and strong in solidarity with Annunciation.
Father Mike Tix, school chaplain at Holy Angels, said leaders at Holy Angels immediately engaged in ways their school could help Annunciation’s community, both school and church.
That afternoon, a school-led prayer service was held in Holy Angels’ gym, and school leaders spoke individually with ninth graders who had gone to Annunciation the year before as eighth graders to help them deal with the tragedy.
In the evening, the school hosted a prayer service led by Archbishop Bernard Hebda and attended by Auxiliary Bishops Kevin Kenney and Michael Izen; Father Dennis Zehren, pastor of Annunciation; and Deacon Kevin Conneely, who serves at Annunciation. Both Father Zehren and Deacon Conneely were in the church when the shooting occurred.
“Annunciation (school) is a major feeder — and has been for many years — into Holy Angels,” Father Tix said. A news release by Holy Angels noted that a partnership between the two schools was formed more than 90 years ago and that 85 current Holy Angels students previously attended Annunciation.
“The connections that we have with their families and the students who continue their Catholic education with us at AHA run deep,” the news release said. “Like so many in previous generations, these students and their parents have enhanced our community in immeasurable ways. We here at AHA are heartbroken over the tragedy that occurred.”
As school began the next day, decisions had to be made about school activities, including sports. An important one was the football game scheduled for Friday. It would be the season opener and at home, but just two days after the shooting.
What to do? School leaders, including Principal Heidi Foley and President David
Sorkin, discussed the game and whether it should be played. They asked the same question about keeping the school open. In the end, leaders answered yes to both.
“We felt like we wanted kids to be together,” Foley said, “and take a step in the direction of getting back to a routine and being together.”
The game against Byron was kept on the schedule, but with some intentional twists. The first was having the football team run onto the playing field right before the game carrying an Annunciation banner. On the school banner was an important word: hope.
Fans took notice as they
A Public Lecture by
William Cavanaugh
saw the players with the Annunciation banner, and cheering voices from the stands created “a deafening roar,” Father Tix said. Many people at the game wore green, which is part of Annunciation’s school colors, and some parents from Annunciation school attended the game, Father Tix said.
“It was pretty amazing,” said Father Tix, who brought the crowd to hushed silence when he stood at midfield to lead everyone in prayer before the game. “You could have heard a pin drop at that (point),” he said. He recited a prayer written by Deacon Bruce Richards, head of school at St. Joseph Catholic School in Waconia.
Despite the inspirational events before the football contest, “it was a tough game for those guys to play,” Foley said. “Our head coach, Jim Gunderson, really tried to get the boys in a good frame of mind and play their hardest, but they were all playing with a heavy heart.”
Father Tix, in his 24th year as school chaplain at Holy Angels, also felt sadness. He has performed weddings and baptisms for people with children at Annunciation school. Like others in the Holy Angels community, he will rely on the strength that has been built over decades at the school.
“It’s a tight-knit community,” he said. “It’s grounded in a deep level of faith and compassion. And that’s the thing that’s helping (the school) be able to work through as best as it can right now.”
For Catholics outside of Annunciation and Holy Angels, Father Tix has simple advice, which he heard from the late Pope Francis during his pontificate.
“It’s just being able to listen to one another,” Father Tix said. “It goes back to the witness that Pope Francis would often talk about: Encounter, engage and accompany.”
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
David Sorkin, president of Academy of Holy Angels in Richfield, addresses those gathered at his school for a prayer service Aug. 27 in support of Annunciation’s church and school in Minneapolis.
COURTESY DAVID FREAR
Academy of Holy Angels football players hold an Annunciation banner on the field before their season opener Aug. 29 against Byron.
Interfaith prayer services seek to rally people as ‘pilgrims
By Joe Ruff and Josh McGovern
The Catholic
Spirit
Jewish, Muslim, Greek Orthodox, Episcopalian and Maronite Catholic faith leaders joined Archbishop Bernard Hebda and Bishops Michael Izen and Kevin Kenney for an interfaith prayer service Aug. 28 at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis.
Earlier that day, all three bishops also held an interfaith prayer service at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul.
Hundreds gathered that day in prayer in the wake of the Aug. 27 Annunciation church shooting at an all-school Mass in Minneapolis. Two students were killed and 18 were wounded, as were three adults. The suspected shooter died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the scene, police said.
“We can’t even imagine the horror experienced by those in Annunciation church yesterday morning,” the archbishop said. “I see a good number of people from Annunciation today, some of whom were present for that Mass yesterday. I can’t even imagine what that was like.”
At the Cathedral, Archbishop Hebda said the attack at Annunciation hits home in a particular way. It is “appropriately painful” to hear about loss of life in Ukraine and Gaza, and just as horrible “to think about the trauma that’s experienced by children and families in those places and in any place of violence.”
“But it hits home in a particular way when the tragedy is in our own community,” the archbishop said.
“These children, adults and staff, had entered into the sanctuary where the love of Jesus Christ was present to them. The evil outside tried to get them,” Bishop Kenney said at the Cathedral service. He began to cry as he said, “But the heroic stories we will hear in the days ahead, of how the older children tried to protect the younger children: They put their lives on the line to help the little ones. The community that was there put aside differences and helped one another. And what a lesson that is for us, today, to wake up and see how do we help within the community? How do we reach out? Are we willing? What God has hidden from the wise and the learned he shares with the childlike.”
At the Basilica, the archbishop noted that one of the readings for the evening came from the Book of Revelation as it speaks of a new heaven and a new Earth. It’s a reading that looks forward, not backward, Archbishop Hebda said.
From left at an Aug. 28 interfaith prayer service at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis in the wake of the shooting at Annunciation in Minneapolis are faith leaders Metropolitan Nathanael of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago, Deacon Luke Twito of St. Mary’s Greek Orthodox Church in Minneapolis, Bishop Kevin Kenney, Episcopal Bishop Craig Loya of the Diocese of Minnesota, Bishop Michael Izen and Chorbishop Sharbel Maroun of St. Maron Maronite Catholic Church in Minneapolis. They joined Johan von Parys, the Basilica of St. Mary’s director of liturgy and the sacred arts, Archbishop Bernard Hebda and others.
“While in spite of our prayers, we can’t turn back the hands of time to reverse what happened yesterday, we can rest assured, brothers and sisters, that we have a God who, in spite of how it might seem, has a plan, and that plan involves a new heaven and a new Earth,” the archbishop said.
Faith leaders sharing their thoughts and prayers — with expansive time for meditation and music between comments — included Rabbi Marcia Zimmerman of Temple Israel in Minneapolis, who said in part, “Our Catholic community has been shattered by violence. We mourn those whose lives have been stolen, two children. We pray for those who are injured and carry in our hearts the grieving families, educators, community members, and first responders. In Jewish tradition, it tells us we are all responsible for one another. It calls us to care deeply for the safety, dignity, and humanity of every child, teacher, religious leader, every member of our community. An assault on one community is an assault on every community.”
Imam Matthew Ramadan of Masjid An-Nur
Louis
Mosque in Minneapolis greeted the congregation, wishing God’s peace.
“God reminds us in the Quran, ‘Whoever kills a soul, unless for justice or for corruption in the land, it is as if they had killed all of humanity,” he said. “And whoever saves one, it is as if they had saved all of humanity. The sanctity of life is among the greatest trusts given to us by our Creator.”
Metropolitan Nathanael — who presides over the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago, which has parishes and monastic communities in Minnesota and five other states — said Jesus entered suffering, “bearing the pain of the cross, so that all creation might share in the joy of your rising.”
“In this hour of grief and loss, we confess that our lives, our sorrows, and our tears are not our own,” he said. “They belong to you, oh Lord, who have made us one body in your love.”
Archbishop Hebda joined in the call to make the world a better place.
“We’re so blessed in our community with some of the best resources around the globe,” he said. “Can’t we put our heads together and come up with a way that we might be able to diminish the violence in our community? That we might be able to live as brothers and sisters, that we might be able to heal the hurts that are all too evident in a society in which we’re going through a mental health crisis, a society where people are unable to trust, a society where people are unable to walk forward as brother and sister. That’s our obligation.
“The late Pope Francis in his call for this year to be a Jubilee Year, asked us all to be pilgrims of hope. I ask, in fact, I implore you this evening, brothers and sisters, regardless of your faith tradition, to join together as pilgrims of hope.”
Thursday October 23
5:00 PM Social & Dinner
7:00
JOE RUFF |
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
‘Fletcher
is
being held by
his heavenly Father’: Funeral for 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel
By Josh McGovern The Catholic Spirit
The funeral service for third grader
Fletcher Merkel, 8, was held Sept. 7 at Mount Olivet Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, just over a mile from Annunciation Catholic Church, where he and another student were shot and killed during an Aug. 27 all-school Mass.
Eighteen other students and three adults were injured in the shooting. The suspected shooter died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.
Beneath his white robes, Mount Olivet pastor David Lose wore an Annunciation Catholic School shirt that many in the pews wore. On it were words from Jeremiah 29:11, promising a “future of hope.”
Father Dennis Zehren, pastor of Annunciation, spoke first at the funeral.
“There’s a question that we’ve all been hearing so often at Annunciation, and I know it’s a question that’s come to me so often, and that question is: How are you?” Father Zehren said. “I’m sure you’ve heard that question a thousand times. ‘How are you? What do you need? Do you have what you need?’”
“That’s a question that we’ve been asking ourselves. Do we have what it takes? Do we have what we need? And that’s when Jesus draws near to us and he tells us, ‘Yes. You have what you need. As long as you are with me, you will have what you need. I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. As long as you cling to me and you cling to my people, you will have all that you need.’
“We’re resting on that promise. And that’s what we pledge to you. We will continue to cling to you. We will continue to cling to our faith. We will continue to cling to one another. And we will cling to (the) Merkels, Fletcher, and Annunciation, forever.”
Tess Rada attended the funeral with her daughter Lila, 8, and Lila’s father, Craig Hostetler. Lila, a third grader, was with her class at the all-school Mass during the shooting at Annunciation. Lila said she was physically close to students who were hurt and killed during the shooting.
“That’s a lot for an 8-year-old to wrap her (mind) around,” Rada said. “She knew that somebody was trying to murder all of them. For a while, she kept referring to the shooter as the robber. I think that was because that’s something you can understand. You hear about thieves stealing stuff, but that’s something you can wrap your head around. Something like this is just impossible.”
Rada said this was the worst nightmare come true.
“We take it day by day,” Rada said. “We’ve been to every community event that’s been offered. I’m happy that our community is so tight-knit and is able to help each other through this. But the funeral was really tough, listening to all the people talk about Fletcher, listening to Fletcher’s favorite song.”
Rada said she began to wonder what her daughter’s favorite song would be and how she would plan a funeral as a parent in this situation.
“It could have been any one of us,” Rada said. “All the little boys in his (Fletcher’s) grade were honorary pallbearers and it (was a) pretty stark image. Somebody was saying,
Lila Hostetler, center, a third grader at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis, walks with her parents, Craig Hostetler, left, and Tess Rada, after the funeral for Fletcher Merkel Sept. 7 at Mount Olivet Lutheran Church in Minneapolis. The three attended the funeral wearing Annunciation shirts and bright colors, as requested by the Merkel family.
A motorcade with a
‘I’ve never seen this many kids at a funeral before.’ They’re just so young. They’re too young. They shouldn’t have to deal with knowing that their friend is going to die or is not here anymore.”
Fletcher’s soccer, football and basketball coach, Will Sharpe, said that Fletcher’s story will not end with this tragedy, but will continue through “the legacy of a young boy who lived so much life in only eight years.”
Sharpe said that because of Jesus, death has had no victory over Fletcher. He said he pictures Fletcher sitting in God’s lap.
“Fletcher is being held by his heavenly Father,” Sharpe said. “He is safe. He has made
10-year-old Harper Moyski remembered for life full of laughter
By Josh McGovern
The Catholic Spirit
Fifth grader Harper Moyski, 10, is remembered by her family as being full of laughter, curiosity and bravery.
One of two children killed in the shooting at an all-school Mass in Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis Aug. 27, her life will be celebrated at noon Sept. 14 at the Lake Harriet Bandshell, also in Minneapolis.
Pure magic. That is how Harper’s parents, Mike Moyski and Jackie Flavin, along with Harper’s sister, Quinn, described their loved one in an obituary on the website of the Cremation Society of Minnesota in Edina.
“She was entirely her own person,” the obituary stated. “Her sense of self (was) far beyond her years.”
Harper had an affectionate love for animals, people and the planet, and “No dog ever passed by without a pet or a scratch behind the ears from her,” the obituary said.
Harper and her family set a goal to visit all 63 United States national parks before she graduated from college. In her memory, a memorial tree was planted for Harper by Cremation Society staff. The tree will be part of efforts to help forests in the U.S. recover from wildfires, drought, disease and other natural disasters, the website said.
Others were invited to plant a memorial tree for Harper, as well, in partnership with A Tree to Remember. In doing so, the website said, memories of Harper will be rooted “in our planet for countless years to come.”
Harper also had the ability to talk about fairness and injustice, and she had a “sharp radar for social issues,” her obituary said.
it to his heavenly home and boy do we miss him. Fletcher’s life, though heartbreakingly short, was full. Full of energy, full of joy, full of love. His story will be marked by a legacy only he could leave behind. And may we all choose to honor that legacy through our own lives. I plan to honor Fletcher by living with a sense of determination and a spirit of joy. How will you keep Fletcher’s legacy alive in your life?”
Merkel’s aunt, Erin, said Fletcher’s gift to their family was getting the chance to love him and know him.
“That was Fletcher’s greatest gift,” Erin said. “We love you forever, Fletcher. And we
The obituary recognized Harper’s deep bond with her sister, Quinn.
“(Harper) adored (Quinn), looked out for her, and lit up when they were together,” the obituary read. “That bond will never be broken.”
With a promise to “carry (Harper’s) light forward,” Jackie, Mike and Quinn concluded the obituary by writing, “In her honor, we will continue chasing sunsets, asking bold questions, and loving with everything we’ve got.”
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
white hearse carrying the casket of 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel prepares to leave Mount Olivet Lutheran Church in Minneapolis Sept. 7, after funeral services for Fletcher.
FLETCHER MERKEL
HARPER MOYSKI
Annunciation
Vice President Vance, Second Lady visit Annunciation
By Josh McGovern
The Catholic Spirit
Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha Vance, visited Annunciation in Minneapolis Sept. 3 to pay respects to the families affected by the shooting on Aug. 27. The meetings were private and held out of view from media and protesters.
Along the roads near Annunciation, many gathered with signs protesting gun laws in the United States. Many also appeared protesting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Tensions were high outside the church while Vance was inside. Members of the U.S. Secret Service, Minnesota State Patrol and Minneapolis Police Department blocked roads near the church and diverted traffic, all while protesters shouted vulgarities at them.
Arguments outside the church escalated as some took offense against the protesters’ vulgar language. Matt DeBoer, principal of Annunciation Catholic School, rode his bicycle to Annunciation before Vance arrived and stopped to peacefully disagree with the protesters.
As Vance’s motorcade sped away from Annunciation by police escort, people held “Hate Won’t Make America Great Again” signs and made vulgar hand gestures in the direction of the vehicles. People chanted for gun reform and shouted obscenities.
“We have to be better if you want something to change,” DeBoer said to protesters on the street corner awaiting Vance. “We’ve been in this game long enough. We are better. There’s no greater love than to lay down your life. These kids did that. Be better.”
Roads were taped off a block from the
Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha Vance, prepare to lay flowers at Annunciation church in Minneapolis Sept. 3.
church. The Vances were visible to neighbors across the street from Annunciation and drove by the protesters in their motorcade following the private meetings.
Before the protesters arrived, Amy Smith walked her dog to a quiet street corner near Annunciation church. There, she prayed the rosary. Smith has lived in the Minneapolis
neighborhood for 17 years. Both of her sons attended Annunciation. Since the Aug. 27 shooting, she and some of her friends each night have prayed the rosary together on that street corner.
“This is a good community,” Smith said. Before the shooting, she attended Mass at the church on Wednesdays with her friends and they enjoyed a coffee together afterward. She had a Holy Hour on Fridays at the Annunciation adoration chapel. One evening recently, while praying the rosary outside Annunciation with her friends, she said she saw Archbishop Bernard Hebda show up to pray, too.
“It was really hard to not be there (at adoration) this Friday,” Smith said, noting that the church has been closed since the shooting. “People ask, ‘What’s your favorite place to go?’ I tell them Annunciation. Our previous pastor opened (the adoration chapel), and at that time I was a revert to the faith. I have a 16-year-old and I’ve told him, ‘I’m not going to be a helicopter mom for you. I just need to know that you’re going to adoration and spending an hour with Jesus. Because if I know you’re in there, and you’re talking to him, and you’re open to his grace and listening to him, then I don’t need to be a helicopter.’”
Smith said prayer is “so good” and prayer can heal. She encouraged others to pray.
“Jesus is going to tell you how to live your life,” Smith said she told her son. “Open that Bible and read his words.”
“My heart is broken for so many reasons,” Smith said outside the church.
Smith spoke with a few protesters as they began to arrive, and then quietly left the scene.
TOM HALDEN | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
Catholic community turns to Christ’s light after tragic shooting at
By Rebecca Omastiak
The Catholic Spirit
Dozens of bouquets of flowers lined the sidewalk in front of Annunciation in Minneapolis.
Lit candles and stuffed animals were interspersed throughout floral arrangements and flower wreaths. Handmade signs expressed love and prayers. Chalk art on the church’s sidewalk and on a short retaining wall outside the school contained messages like “God is good all the time, all the time God is good” and “We are spirit strong.” A large wooden cross stood on the sidewalk.
The memorial was for two children who died and 21 other people who were hurt in a shooting during an all-school Mass at Annunciation’s church the morning of Aug. 27.
“My heart is broken as I think about students, teachers, clergy and parishioners and the horror they witnessed in a church, a place where we should feel safe,” Archbishop Bernard Hebda wrote, in part, in a statement issued the day the shooting took place. “While we need to commit to working to prevent the recurrence of such tragedies, we also need to remind ourselves that we have a God of peace and of love, and that it is his love that we will need most as we strive to embrace those who are hurting so deeply.”
A ‘deliberate act of violence’
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said officers responded to the church just before 8:30 a.m. Aug. 27 on a report of a shooting at a Mass at the church. The school Mass was to acknowledge the first week of classes back in session.
Upon arrival, officers and first responders immediately administered aid to the students who were hurt. Those hurt were rushed to area hospitals. Others were brought out of the church to safety.
The families identified 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel and 10-year-old Harper Moyski as the two children who died in the shooting.
As of Aug. 31, city officials reported 21 people were injured in the shooting, including 18 children between the ages of 6 and 15. O’Hara said three adults in their 80s, parishioners of Annunciation, were also hurt. According to O’Hara, the suspected shooter — identified as 23-year-old Robin Westman — was armed with a rifle, a shotgun, and a pistol. Westman approached the church from the exterior and shot through the windows, O’Hara said. O’Hara said Westman was reported dead at the scene of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
O’Hara said investigators believed Westman acted alone. Westman was a former Annunciation student, known then as Robert Westman; the school had previously employed Westman’s mother.
An investigation revealed 116 rifle casings, three shotgun shell casings, and one live pistol round were found at the church. Investigators reported that after four search warrants were executed — including at locations in south Minneapolis, Richfield and St. Louis Park “that are related to this shooter,” O’Hara said — “hundreds of pieces of evidence including writings (and) electronics” were found.
The shooting was a “deliberate act of violence against innocent children and other people worshipping,” O’Hara said. “Our hearts are broken for everyone that’s been affected by this tragedy.”
‘We are shattered’
In the days following the shooting, the parents of Fletcher Merkel and Harper Moyski spoke out.
“We will never be allowed to hold him, talk to him, play with him, and watch him grow into the wonderful young man he was on the path to becoming,” Jesse Merkel, father of Fletcher Merkel, said during a news conference Aug. 28.
Fletcher Merkel “loved his family, friends, fishing, cooking and any sport that he was allowed to play,” Jesse Merkel said. “Please remember Fletcher for the person he was, and not the act that ended his life.”
In a statement issued Aug. 28, per OSV News, Harper’s parents, Michael Moyski and Jackie Flavin, said Harper was a “bright, joyful, and deeply loved 10-year-old whose laughter, kindness, and spirit touched everyone.”
“Our hearts are broken not only as parents, but also for Harper’s sister, who adored her big sister and is grieving an unimaginable loss. As a family, we are shattered.”
Harper’s parents also wrote, “While our immediate focus is on Harper and our family’s healing, we also believe it is important that her memory fuels action. No family should ever have to endure this kind of pain. We urge our leaders and communities to take meaningful steps to address gun violence and the mental health crisis in this country,” according to OSV News.
‘Please continue to pray’
Addressing members of the parish and school community during a news conference Aug. 27, Matt DeBoer, principal of Annunciation Catholic School, said, “I love you, you’re so brave, and I’m so sorry this happened to us today.”
“Within seconds of this situation beginning, our teachers were heroes,” DeBoer said. “Children were ducked down, adults were protecting children, older children were protecting younger children.”
DeBoer referenced Jeremiah 29, from which the school drew its theme for this year: “A future filled with hope.”
“We will recover from this, we will rebuild from this. … We, as a community, have a responsibility to make sure that no child, no parent, no teacher ever has to experience what we’ve experienced today ever again.”
“We lost two angels today,” DeBoer said. “Please continue to pray for those still receiving care.”
In his remarks during the same Aug. 27 news conference, Archbishop Hebda thanked law enforcement, first responders, and parish and school staff.
He returned to the word “hope.”
“Brothers and sisters, we have to be men and women of hope. Already today I’ve been receiving messages from all over our country promising prayers … that is, for me, a source of hope, just as we see families stepping forward to help those who have been impacted by this terrible tragedy.”
The archbishop read from a telegram he received from Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State at the Vatican, indicating Pope Leo XIV was profoundly saddened to learn of the loss of life and injuries in the shooting at Annunciation.
“He sends his heartfelt condolences and the assurance of spiritual closeness to all those affected by this terrible tragedy, especially the families now grieving the loss of a child,” the telegram stated. “While commending the souls of the deceased children to the love of almighty God, His Holiness prays for the wounded as well as the first responders, medical personnel and clergy who are caring for them and their loved ones. At this extremely difficult time, the Holy Father imparts to the Annunciation Catholic School Community, the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis and the people of the greater Twin Cities metropolitan area his apostolic blessing as a pledge of peace, fortitude and consolation in the Lord Jesus.”
‘People are all family here’
Annique London, 55, and a parent who has been involved with the school for the past 11 years, was among those organizing flowers at the memorial outside Annunciation’s church on Aug. 28.
“I had three daughters that came through the school; the youngest just graduated in May. I’m a community member and (I) just came up here today to pay my respects with my daughters and help my youngest process what happened,” London said.
From left, Brook Steege and her daughters, Daisy and Rosie, visit a memorial outside Annunciation church in Minneapolis Aug. 28, the day after the shooting. Both girls are when the shooting took place. Rosie is a third grader and Daisy is a first grader. The family, which also includes Brook’s husband, Brandon Steege, belongs to Annunciation.
Annunciation in Minneapolis
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT students at the school and were attending the Mass
London — who posted a request for food, water and buckets for the memorial flowers to social media — said she expected ongoing deliveries of flowers.
“We’re going to keep them watered and beautiful,” she said on Aug. 28.
Created by Archbishop Austin Dowling in 1922, Annunciation’s first parish Mass was offered on Oct. 1, 1922. Over the course of its history, the parish has become “more secure in its sense of being a church and more skilled in embracing the diversity that is one of the hallmarks of our church today,” its website states. Meanwhile, on Sept. 10, 1923, four Dominican Sisters opened Annunciation School. Guided by “Christian values and civic-mindedness, along with an International Baccalaureate (IB) approach to education,” according to its website, the preschool-througheighth-grade school enrolled 385 students for the 2024-2025 school year, according to the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Office for the Mission of Catholic Education (OMCE).
The closeness of the Annunciation community matters to London.
“People are all family here, whether or not you’re a parishioner. I mean, we’re all members of this community,” London said. “I lost my husband seven and a half years ago to cancer, and this community was absolutely amazing to our family. I can’t begin to tell you how amazing they were.”
Having received such support in a time of need compelled London to support and mourn alongside those present at the memorial.
Parents and students leave Annunciation school and church in Minneapolis shortly after the Aug. 27 shooting that left two dead and 21 wounded.
| THE
Parents and students leave Annunciation with the help of law enforcement shortly after the Aug. 27 shooting.
“I think this is faith in the way that it should be — people coming to give hugs; to look other people in the eye and tell them that you love them; to have a beautiful demonstration from the community; to care for the staff, the students and those that have passed away,” London said.
“This is just the walk of faith.”
Dozens of people varying in age gathered before the memorial. A group of five women began reciting the rosary in front of the church, with others joining in. People exchanged hugs and words of comfort.
Ahmed Warsame said he was driving by the church and school on his way to get gas when he said, “something just compelled me to come here and to be around other people.”
“It’s one of those things that you never thought would happen to your city, your neighborhood, your community,” said Warsame, 25, who grew up in south Minneapolis. “And it’s still kind of hard to process this.”
of St. Mary in Minneapolis. Father Joseph Johnson, pastor of the Cathedral, and Father Daniel Griffith, pastor of the Basilica, both extended their prayers to the Annunciation community.
“Children are the future of our society. Their innocence is a beautiful reminder of all that is good in humanity,” Father Johnson wrote, in part, in a statement posted to social media. “They should always be protected. They are our hope that someday we may live in a community where we do a better job of loving one another as Christ has taught us to do.”
“As people of faith and people of the Twin Cities community, we will come together in prayer and in working for greater justice and peace in our communities, our nation, and throughout the world,” Father Griffith wrote, in part, in a statement posted to social media.
DeBoer highlighted the need to offer care through action in his remarks Aug. 27.
“We can’t change the past, but we can do something about the future,” DeBoer said. “There’s an African proverb that says, ‘When you pray, move your feet.’ So, I beg you, I ask you to please pray but don’t stop with your words. Let’s make a difference and support this community, these children, these families, these teachers.”
Archbishop Hebda agreed.
Warsame, who is Muslim, felt it important to pay his respects and to mourn with the community by visiting the memorial.
“This is a great neighborhood and seeing people here of different religious faiths and different backgrounds all coming together to show solidarity, to show support, it goes to show you that even in the darkest moments, we can still find a way to come together,” Warsame said.
London echoed the importance of reaching out to others.
“What yesterday’s violence showed us is how many people need love and caring, and that we need to always be looking to our neighbors and offering help when they need help,” London said. “And if we did that, love will solve more problems than hate.”
Looking for the ‘light that will scatter every darkness’
Various organizations held evening vigils Aug. 27 as community members grieved. Hundreds attended a prayer service that same evening at Academy of Holy Angels in Richfield.
Acknowledging public officials in attendance as well as members of other faiths both holding prayer services and in attendance at the Academy of Holy Angels’ prayer service, Archbishop Hebda said it was a reminder “that what happened at Annunciation isn’t just something for one parish or one community, but it’s something that has an impact on our whole community, a much broader community, on our whole state (and) on our whole country.”
The archbishop encouraged those gathered at the prayer service to turn to God in “those times when we’re most desolate, when we have so little encouragement or hope.”
“Call to him in your trials. He will answer whenever you call,” the archbishop said. “This evening, brothers and sisters, we come together in our trials, and we trust that God will answer us and he will hear our pain, that he will hear our prayers.”
Prayer services were also held Aug. 28 at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul and the Basilica
“We have to recognize that it’s through prayer and through that prayer of the feet, through that action that we can, indeed, make a difference. That has to be the source of our hope,” the archbishop said Aug. 27.
Annunciation pastor Father Dennis Zehren encouraged the faithful and members of the Twin Cities community to look for the “light that will scatter every darkness,” the “light that will never fade,” the “light not just for us — it’s the light of the world.”
At a Mass celebrated Aug. 30, Father Zehren referred to Sunday’s Gospel reading, during which Jesus tells the parable about places of honor at a banquet and invites his listeners “to take the lowest place.”
“Sometimes we get to sit in nice seats. But sometimes, we have to sit in the dust. And that’s hard; that’s a humble seat. Nobody likes to live there, nobody likes to sit there,” Father Zehren said during his homily. “But maybe the best thing we can do is (to) just sit there. Don’t try to run. Try not to be afraid. As Jesus speaks to us there, he says, ‘Can you just sit with me here in the dust?’ That’s the dust where Jesus fell when he was carrying the cross. That’s the dust that soaked up Jesus’ blood as he was on the way to crucifixion. And Jesus says, ‘Can you just please just stay with me awhile in this humble place, in this lowest place?’ ... Jesus says, ‘Just be with me, in this lowest place.’”
Father Zehren said this was the message when the first bullet punctured the church’s window the day of the shooting — get down, down to the lowest place.
“When we were down there, with Jesus, he showed us something. He showed us that ‘even in this place of fear, even in this place of darkness and death and sorrow, I am Lord even here. I am the one who descended down into hell. And I have seen it, and it has been overcome.’
“We watch for that light because when the forces of darkness and sin and evil and death have done its worst, that’s when God says, ‘Now just watch to see what I will do.’ Because there is no darkness that God can’t bring light from, there’s no sorrow that God can’t spring joy from. There’s no grieving that Jesus can’t bring comfort to. And there’s no dying that Jesus can’t raise to new life. So, we keep watching for that light.”
DAVE HRBACEK
CATHOLIC SPIRIT
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
‘For such a time as this’
Shooting survivor embraces
By Dave Hrbacek
The Catholic Spirit
Ellie Mertens huddled under a pew at Annunciation church in Minneapolis on the morning of Aug. 27 as a barrage of bullets screamed past her, mere inches from her head.
She had arrived a few minutes late for the 8:15 a.m. all-school Mass as the new school year began at Annunciation Catholic School.
After walking in, she went toward the front section of the church on the left side. As always, she wanted to be with the students, specifically the seventh and eighth graders she works with as the parish youth minister, a job she began right out of college three years ago.
That put her near the row of windows on the east side of the church, the bottoms of which were at the same level as the pews. The pew where she chose to sit was a few rows back from the first window.
It was the first window where the suspected shooter, later identified by police as Robin Westman, began to fire from outside the church upon the students, parents, staff members and other Mass attendees.
After the first four shots rang out, Mertens dropped to the ground and crawled under the pew where she had chosen to sit for Mass. Then, gunfire shattered the windows and bullets began pouring through.
As the gunfire continued for several minutes, she pulled out her phone while still under the pew and called her husband, Matt, whom she had married in December 2024.
She got his voicemail. She sent him a text, telling him what was happening and asking him to “please pray.” Her text included this message:
“I love you.”
She thought those would be her final words to Matt.
They weren’t. After more than 100 rounds tore through a church completed in 1962 and left violated and desecrated by the attack, the shooting stopped and was replaced by a brief and eerie silence. Quickly, school leaders, including Principal Matt DeBoer, rushed to clear everyone out of the church and to a safe place. En masse, everyone inside the church ducked and ran out of the church. In their wake were shards of broken glass, pools of blood and chips of wood from bullet-riddled pews. Mertens described the exit scene as “frantic.” People inside were “confused, in utter shock” and also uncertain about what was happening and where to find shelter.
Like the other survivors, Mertens went to the elementary school’s gym, where traumatized students waited for their terrorstricken parents to find them, whisk them out of the building and take them home.
She watched as cries of joy and relief pierced the air when children and parents reunited. Gradually, the gym emptied. Mertens and a few others stood by, waiting to see if their help would be needed.
Finally, the last of the children made their somber exits from the gym.
Mertens will never forget the next scene: parents alone, without the children they hoped to see. These are things that will be seared into her memory forever.
Two students died in the gunfire and 18 students between the ages of 6 and 15 were wounded, as were three adults in their 80s,
mission to help bring Jesus,
healing to Annunciation youth
police said.
But Mertens’ story doesn’t end there; nor does the story of Annunciation as a parish and school. A new chapter is beginning. She clearly sees a message from God in the fact that she survived.
Over the next two days, this 25-yearold woman of deep faith — who attended Catholic elementary school herself — began intensely praying and pouring through her Bible searching for direction about what to do in the aftermath of an unimaginable and hideous act of violence against a school and students she has come to love and care for deeply.
Her search for spiritual and scriptural meaning landed on the Old Testament Book of Esther. One line jumped out at her: “... (a woman) for such a time as this” (Esth 4:14).
Fueled by this verse, Mertens has solidified her focus in going forward from this tragedy. She believes God wants her to be part of the effort to help lead others to himself and toward healing.
In that mission, she is all in.
“Being here now is an answered prayer because I’ve just been praying to be a vessel and an instrument,” she said. “I know I survived this so I can help other people through it.”
The roots of Mertens being an instrument go back to her time at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, where she studied Spanish and psychology until her graduation in May 2022. After attending St. Wenceslaus Catholic School in New
was invited to do volunteer youth ministry at Annunciation by Richfield Young Life (now Crosstown Young Life), which has been a partner with Annunciation for youth ministry. Then, the youth ministry job opened, she applied and was hired right after she graduated.
Mertens works with youth programs serving about 500 to 600 students in grades seven through 12 in her ministry. Some are Catholic, others have different faith traditions, including other Christian denominations. She makes no distinction when it comes to faith practice. “They’re all our kids,” she said.
The job description for Mertens and others who do youth ministry at Annunciation, including Crosstown Young Life, an ecumenical ministry, is simple: Go where the kids are and come alongside them. With love. With compassion. With a listening ear to hear their stories.
“We live in an evil world,” Mertens said. “Jesus has put a call on my life to go make disciples of all nations, and kids need hope. I remember feeling like a worthless middle school girl, comparing myself (to others), never feeling like I was enough, not feeling like my life had purpose. There’s nothing kids need more than an adult to show up for them.”
Showing up is exactly what Mertens plans to do in the days ahead as the Annunciation school and church community forges a path to healing. A healing balm she will bring is her testimony of losing her way, then finding it again in Jesus, who now calls her to help others find him amid the tragedy.
“I was very (much) hurting and broken,” she said of her earlier years, “and trying to fill every void — acceptance, appearance, achievement — in high school and early college days. And due to extremely poor decisions, I totaled my car in an accident at (age) 17. I rolled it five times.”
Prague from kindergarten through eighth grade, she went to New Prague High School, graduating in 2018.
By the time she entered college, she was struggling with several serious issues and eventually drifted away from her faith.
“I was a very lost and broken high school and college girl,” she recalled. “Hopeless. I never would have imagined myself as a youth minister. Yet, I’m glad that that brokenness was turned into beauty to walk alongside kids now.”
The turnaround came during her freshman year of college at the University of Minnesota, when she met missionaries of St. Paul’s Outreach, a West St. Paul-based outreach for college students in Minnesota and across the country. She was drawn to Christ by SPO’s “model of relational ministry, incarnational, coming alongside and having missionaries show up where I was, take me out to lunch, just love me for who I was instead of what I had to offer,” she said. “It changed my life.”
Now, she feels called to simply do the same for those who participate in youth ministry at Annunciation. This calling began shortly after returning to her faith at the university. As her faith deepened, she became vice president of Catholic Students United on campus, now called Gopher Catholic. During that time, she received strong support — and prayer — from Father Jake Anderson, the director of Gopher Catholic and pastor of St. Lawrence Catholic Church and Newman Center.
During her senior year in 2021-2022, she
The only injury was a cut on her elbow that left a scar. On Aug. 27, a piece of glass from a broken church window made a cut on that same elbow.
“How could there not be a call on my life?” she said of her role as youth minister at Annunciation.
She hopes to follow the example of Esther in the Old Testament and has made words from one verse of that book her own.
“I’m called,” Mertens said, “for such a time as this.”
“God doesn’t want me to be scared,” she added. “I survived that (shooting), so I can walk with damaged kids through this.”
Here’s what that will look like for her.
“Jesus Christ can give hope and peace. I’m going to show up and tell kids about him more than ever before, about the hope that they can have in him, about the fact that he understands the pain (they are feeling).”
She said that “what sets our ministry apart is (that) we show up where kids are because that is what God did for us. He became human and showed up for us.”
Just two days after the shooting rocked the Annunciation church and school communities, and rocked the entire Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and beyond, Mertens has crafted a simple resolve and message, one that echoes what her pastor, Father Dennis Zehren is saying, what her principal is saying and what Archbishop Bernard Hebda is saying:
“Horror is not going to win. We are reclaiming our church.”
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
From left, Ellie Mertens, youth minister at Annunciation in Minneapolis, prays with Blanche Dennis of Crosstown Young Life during a prayer service Aug. 27 at Academy of Holy Angels in Richfield. Mertens was inside the church earlier that day when the shooting occurred.
Archbishop Hebda is praying for a ‘healing of memories’ following Annunciation shooting
By Maria Wiering OSV News
Archbishop Bernard Hebda was driving into work Aug. 27 when he heard a voicemail from Father Dennis Zehren, pastor of Annunciation church and school in Minneapolis, that “something had happened.”
The archbishop called the pastor and heard from him the terrible news: Someone had shot through the church’s stained-glass windows during the elementary school’s first all-school Mass of the school year, striking students and other attendees.
“Even at that early point, he (Father Zehren) realized that there had been loss of life, and that was very painful,” Archbishop Hebda, a Pittsburgh native who has led the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis since 2015, told OSV News Aug. 28.
Two children were killed in their pews, and 18 other victims were injured —15 children ages 6 to 15 and three adults in their 80s. The suspect has been identified as 23-year-old Robin Westman, a former Annunciation student who died by a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the church parking lot.
That afternoon, Archbishop Hebda met with Father Zehren, Annunciation Principal Matt DeBoer, and other school leaders and staff, and he spoke to media outside the parish and school during a news briefing. That evening, he led a prayer service that packed the gym of Academy of Holy Angels in Richfield, where he consoled Annunciation families. The following day, he presided at two more prayer services — at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul and the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis, the archdiocese’s co-cathedral. At each service, he emphasized the importance of prayer in and for a suffering community. He has found particular solace in the psalms, he told OSV News, “which speak about people who have experienced tragedies and who are in need of God’s healing.”
The focus on prayer is “the same message for Catholics as for non-Catholics, as for non-believers,” he said in an interview at the Archdiocesan Catholic Center in St. Paul. “Here’s a man that … believes that prayer is important.”
Archbishop Hebda, 65, said that holds true even amid critics weary of expressions of “thoughts and prayers” responding to acts of violence because they perceive them as a
Archbishop Bernard Hebda and Father Dennis Zehren at an Aug. 30 news conference just outside Annunciation Catholic School. Father Zehren and the archbishop were preparing for the first parish Mass since the Aug. 27 shooting at Annunciation’s church, only steps away from the school.
means to avoid action to end gun violence or address public mental health concerns.
“In those times that I’ve had difficulties in my life, I know that I’ve really benefitted from the prayers of others, and so I’ve experienced that prayer is efficacious,” he said. “I’m hoping that’s the case for those who were most directly impacted by tragic events at Annunciation — that they really are feeling … the support of prayers.
“I don’t think that’s a throwaway. I don’t think that’s something to take for granted,” he continued. “I think that has to be our first line of attack, even as we figure out how it is that we move forward.”
However, he added, prayer “doesn’t absolve us from then moving forward and taking actions that minimize the risks of a recurrence of what happened at Annunciation. So I do think we as a community have to be looking at the prevalence of gun violence … and how it is that we’re addressing the mental health crisis.”
Archbishop Hebda told OSV News that he had spoken to at least one parent of each of the Annunciation students killed in the shooting, since identified as 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel and 10-year-old Harper Moyski. While pastors often speak to parents grieving the death of a child, this was the first time he sought to comfort parents whose child was killed in a shooting, he said.
As for the shooting occurring during Mass, reportedly just before the “Alleluia” that precedes the Gospel proclamation, “I can’t think of anything more awful, and I’m already praying for those kids and their teachers, too,” he said.
“How is it that they’re able to come back to Mass — not only to go to Annunciation church, but how is it that they are able to go into any church and to enter into prayer that’s really at the center of who they are?” he asked.
As Archbishop Hebda has spoken with students, teachers and school staff who were present at the Mass and witnessed the shooting, he said they described a sense of togetherness in the face of tragedy as well as the heroics of teachers and older students who sought to help the youngest and most vulnerable. Still, he said, he wonders at what sights and sounds will linger in students’ minds.
“I was speaking to a religious sister who was praying with some family members yesterday. She said one of the students just whispered to her and said, ‘I saw things.’ And you can only imagine what it is that a child would have seen in that situation, right?” he said.
“I’ve really been praying that somehow or another there’s a healing even of those memories, that those memories aren’t what keep people from coming back to the Lord in the Eucharist at Mass, or keep them (from) coming back to a Catholic school, or keep them from going into a church,” he said.
At the Aug. 27 news conference at Annunciation, Archbishop Hebda urged people to offer “prayer of the feet.” That might look like holding vigil in a hospital room, bringing food to a grieving family or donating to Annunciation Hope and Healing
For Those Who Lost a Child Before Birth Service of Remembrance
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Fund organized by the Catholic Community Foundation of Minnesota. That prayer also ranges from students from other Catholic schools writing cards expressing closeness to the Annunciation community, to mental health professionals who have stepped forward to provide trauma services and counseling for school staff and families, he said.
There are policy implications, too, he said, including making sure all of Minnesota’s students receive adequate public resources.
Beginning in 2020, the Minnesota Catholic Conference — the public policy arm of the state’s Catholic bishops — has advocated, albeit unsuccessfully, to the state Legislature and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz for the state’s nonpublic schools to be eligible for state funding provided to public schools for cyber and building security.
“An attack on any school, whether it is a public, nonpublic, charter or another school site, cannot be tolerated or allowed to happen in Minnesota,” stated a 2023 letter from MCC Executive Director Jason Adkins to Walz and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan.
In the aftermath of the Annunciation shooting, Archbishop Hebda said, “A tragedy like yesterday’s reminds all of us that children are children, whether they go to a public school or a private school or a parochial school, and that we as a community have to step forward to offer the same kind of assurances of safety, regardless of where the child goes to school.”
Meanwhile, “no matter what kind of safety efforts, you can’t prevent all events like yesterday’s,” he said. “So I don’t blame that on the state.”
As the Catholic community grieves, Archbishop Hebda highlighted the ways they might show their hope is in Jesus Christ, including through forgiveness of the sole suspect. Robin Westman — whose name was legally changed from Robert Westman in 2020 — grew up in the Catholic community with a mother who had worked as administrative assistant with at least two Catholic schools, including Annunciation from 2016 to 2021.
“Certainly, there must have been great pain in the midst of that life to really engage in the action of such violence,” Archbishop Hebda said. “The amazing thing about our Church is that we’re called to follow Jesus as an example and to be loving, even towards those who hate us or show signs of despising us.”
Archbishop Hebda has also been reflecting on the response of the Amish community to the 2006 West Nickel Mines shooting, in which a gunman barricaded himself in a one-room schoolhouse near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and shot 10 girls, killing five before killing himself.
Amish leaders forgave the gunman, a neighbor.
“They, at the time, spoke so beautifully about forgiveness and compassion, even for the perpetrator,” Archbishop Hebda said. “Boy, I wish we were able to do that. I think it will take some time, but that had an impact on me. I was in Rome (when it happened), so many miles away, but I will never forget that example. I thought, that’s really what we as Catholics have to be able to do as well.
“That’s the gold standard of witness, right? Being able to forgive, as Jesus did from the cross: ‘Father, forgive them. They know not what they do,’” he continued. “That’s the way in which we reach out to those who have been impacted, and the way in which we speak about this — in the way we don’t allow fear or hatred to overcome hope in our lives.”
Wiering is senior writer for OSV News.
JOE RUFF | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
Grateful for prayers, Archbishop Hebda on becoming ‘a community of even greater love’
The Catholic Spirit
Editor’s note: The following interview with Archbishop Bernard Hebda took place Sept. 2 at the Archdiocesan Catholic Center in St. Paul. The interview appears in its entirety. It has been lightly edited for clarity.
Q Archbishop, you have guided us through these really terrible, tragic days. How are you doing?
A I feel really privileged to be here, even though it’s a very difficult time.
One of the beautiful parts of being the archbishop, or even being a pastor in a parish, is that people share so many stories with you. I’ve certainly experienced a great grief, in the families who are directly affected and also in our community at large. But I’ve also heard some really powerful stories of how it is that people have reached out to one another, how they’ve been instruments of God’s grace and love in the lives of others. I had the opportunity to hear about people speaking about the importance of forgiveness in situations like this.
And so, in the midst of the darkness, I’m already seeing some of those glimpses of light that Father (Dennis) Zehren spoke about in his beautiful homily on Saturday evening (Aug. 30). Certainly, it’s a time (that) calls us all to deeper prayer and reflection, but it’s, for me, been also a time where I’ve really had a sense of God’s presence, even in the midst of these difficulties.
Q What about those times you’re alone?
A It’s particularly in those times when I’m alone (that) I have that sense that the Lord has me here for a reason and that he’s been present with me personally, most especially as I’ve had the opportunity to hear those stories from others, and to reflect upon them, and to give God thanks for how it is that even in these really trying times that there are such wonderful signs of light.
One of those blessings has been (I’ve been) able to visit some of those in the hospital who were impacted. And just listening to them speak about their experiences, or where God has been in their trial, has been inspiring for me. When you’re told by a seventh grader about how important it was that she was able to pray in the ambulance on her way to the hospital, or when I had the chance to meet the young man who asked the doctor to pray before he operated on him — seeing that kind of faith, but also the tenderness that’s there.
And so even though it is such an awful time, that tenderness really speaks to the depth of our Catholic community and how it is that God really uses us to be able to be his presence in very difficult times.
Q Have there been things that have happened in your ministry that have prepared you for being in a place that is very difficult?
A I think that there’s really been nothing that’s prepared me directly for what we experienced on Wednesday (Aug. 27) and what we’ve seen in these days since then. I know that my own grief is nothing in comparison to what the parents of Fletcher (Merkel) and Harper (Moyski) are experiencing or any of the families that send their kids to Annunciation or even the parishioners more broadly. I realize that my own experience is very different than theirs. I do think that the Church makes sure that her priests, her shepherds, do engage in a life of prayer. We’re called to pray every day, we celebrate the Mass every day, and I think that that is really important for us as we go
into, and face, the type of grief that we’re dealing with here. I think that’s been great preparation.
I do think that some of the experience with (the) sexual abuse crisis and especially meeting some of those victims-survivors who were just amazing men and women, who managed to be great disciples in spite of what they experienced, also gives me hope that, indeed, the Lord can bring healing into really difficult situations. I know the Lord’s capable of that. And I think that was a good part of Father’s Zehren’s message in the homilies this (past) weekend — I think that was wonderful preparation as well.
Before I came here, I was the coadjutor in Newark and our offices looked out from Newark onto the area where the World Trade Center had been. All of those employees at the Archdiocese of Newark were so aware, always, of what had happened at 9/11. At that time, I was in Rome so I didn’t have exactly the same kind of experience that they would have had. But I was always impressed in Newark by hearing of how it is that God has brought healing — (it) takes time. But God is so good in that way. Some of the parishes in Newark were really deeply affected — (there were) a good number of deaths from 9/11 — and they still managed to be such wonderful communities of faith.
Q We are in this for the long haul in terms of recovery, for these victims, their families, the Annunciation parish and school, the broader community. What might we turn to, to help us in the long haul as we heal?
A We’re so blessed with sacred Scripture and I think especially the psalms give us those words sometimes when we’re not able to formulate cogent sentences or even express what’s in our heart to the Lord on our own. We can go to the psalms and they give us an opportunity to really express what’s in our hearts. I think that’s a great blessing.
I do think that the Eucharist is going to be a great source of healing for us as well. I was delighted that so many people came to the old church at Annunciation on Saturday (Aug. 30) and Sunday (Aug. 31) and I think there’s something so powerful in coming together and having that opportunity to be nourished by the Eucharist, but also to see that in a particular way, as a re-presentation of Jesus’ sacrifice on Calvary. When we think about the fact that our God loved us so much that he took on human flesh — that’s what we celebrate in the Annunciation, for which the school and the parish are named — we have a God who desires to be with us, even in those difficult times, all the way to enduring death for us on the cross. ... People all over this archdiocese and indeed all over the world, were celebrating the Eucharist this (past) weekend, and that’s a way in which we’re able to say, indeed, that Jesus has victory over sin and death, and that Jesus offers to us a share in his resurrection as well.
I really hope that that’s going to be a source of comfort for the families of Fletcher and Harper. And I hope that it’s something that really gives us, as a community, hope as we move forward as well.
Q I think about our small groups that have been formed in light of the Archdiocesan Synod, and it seems that those might be a natural place to be together to discuss some of this, to be a support.
A I love our small groups because they have a little bit of structure to them, but that (this structure) enables people to share in that way. A couple of groups have invited me to come and have a coffee with them or dessert with them, and they speak about how they’re able to talk about matters of great depth, things that they might not even normally share with their family. But somehow or another, in the context of a small group, they’re able to go very deep.
And this is a moment when I think all of us
need to go deeper ... there is something about people coming together and sharing. I was so proud of our archdiocesan staff who helped facilitate an off-site welcome center for families from Annunciation and whether it be over a cup of coffee or whether it be as the kids were hugging baby bunnies, it’s an opportunity for people to come together and to begin that process of sharing what the experience was, and then also trying to figure out where was God in that and how it is that God’s calling us to an experience of love that’s going to bring healing.
Q I think of Father Zehren’s homily and his summary seemed to be the Lord saying, “Now watch what I can do.”
A That was superb. I think it was one of the finest homilies I’ve ever heard.
Q It was amazing. And so, we’re watching for that, right? That light, that “now watch what I will do.” Are there people you turn to as you seek support in the midst of this tragedy?
A I feel so blessed to have Bishop (Michael) Izen and Bishop (Kevin) Kenney, who are of course, wonderful first responders for me and they’ve been terrific. And the priests here as well; I had the opportunity yesterday to spend some time with maybe 15 or 20 priests, and that was really comforting for me. I have some good bishop friends, too, who made sure that they were checking in on me, and that’s been really positive.
It’s phenomenal, really, how it is that people all over the world are praying for us. When we received that message from Pope Leo (XIV), I was thrilled and amazed that they (at the Vatican) were able to do that so quickly and that we were able to share that then with our whole community at that first press conference (following the shooting). And then to hear him speak again in English at the Angelus on Sunday was particularly
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
Archbishop Bernard Hebda processes out of the gym at Academy of Holy Angels in Richfield following a prayer service Aug. 27 in the hours following a shooting at Annunciation’s church in Minneapolis.
ARCHBISHOP Q&A CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE
moving for me.
We’ve received emails and texts from all over the world: bishops in remote areas, communities that are gathering together to pray for the families at Annunciation, whether it be in Norway or Kenya or the Virgin Islands or in Rome, all of those places. I know that people are really lifting us up in prayer. And I certainly hope that the Annunciation families are feeling that (in) the same way that I am.
Q One thing that you encouraged is: Pray for all concerned, including the shooter. And that can be hard. How might someone who can’t pray for that person, how might they approach prayer?
A I would say a couple of things. One would be, to think about those times in our own lives when we felt very much alone and everything that I’ve come to read about the perpetrator, there certainly seems to be a great loneliness there. And then I think when we reflect on how it is that we’re all brothers and sisters in Christ, I think that that calls us to reflect also on what the shooter need(ed) and what the shooter’s experience might have been. When we think about the fact that the perpetrator came from a family and there have to be people that are loving and really in grief at this time — certainly with great sorrow for what was done, but also at that personal level, great grief; I think that helps us to have our hearts go out as well.
I think most especially, it’s that example of Jesus from the cross who even at the moment of greatest pain was able to say, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” That kind of forgiveness.
Now, where do we get that? I remember it was 2006 — I’m from Pennsylvania — and there was a shooting in an Amish schoolhouse in the eastern part of Pennsylvania. And I remember being so moved when the Amish community had outreach to the family of the shooter. And offering not only their forgiveness, but also really trying to pray for the family, and even offering financial support and comfort to the family who had also lost their husband and father. It made an impression on me in 2006. What is it that distinguishes what happened (at) Annunciation from what happens all the time in our United States? We hope it’s the way in which people are able to come together, but also, how it is that we might be a community of even greater love as we move through this.
Q We pray for the perpetrator’s soul.
A Yes, exactly.
Q Is there anything else you’d like to share at this point with the archdiocese?
A Just to say how grateful I am for the prayers that are coming from all of our parishes.
A recognition that there are parents and faithful all over our archdiocese who even though they’re not at Annunciation or directly connected, they’re still feeling a great pain. And I think that speaks to what our patron saint, Paul, tells us about the body of Christ: When one part of the body is hurting, the whole body hurts. We all feel that, and I know that that’s the case here in the archdiocese.
And just to look forward with Father Zehren to what it is that Jesus is going to be able to do now in the midst of this darkness; as we already see some of those glimmers of light, I trust that the Lord is going to do even greater things.
People across the country join archdiocese in rosary for Annunciation
By Joe Ruff
The Catholic Spirit
Archbishop Bernard Hebda, three Catholic elementary school students and one of their teachers led a rosary of the sorrowful mysteries Sept. 5 for Annunciation in Minneapolis.
Sponsored by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Office for the Mission of Catholic Education (OMCE), the rosary was livestreamed via the archdiocese’s Facebook page and made available on Relevant Radio’s Family Across America Rosary. Prayers also were lifted for an end to violence against children.
“We are 6th and 7th grade from Kenilworth, New Jersey. We send our thoughts and prayers,” read one comment on the livestream. “Here from Austin. Praying together,” said another. “Love from St. Benedict Catholic School in Richmond, Virginia,” read a third.
The rosary followed the Aug. 27 shooting at Annunciation’s church during an all-school Mass for the parish’s elementary school. Two children were killed and 18 were wounded, as were three adults. The suspected shooter died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.
The students and teacher leading the rosary were from Holy Trinity Catholic School in South St. Paul. Eighth graders John Hawkins and Annie Galaba, seventh grader Eva Wunderlich and middle school religion and science teacher Teresa Regnier said it meant a great deal to pray the rosary with the archbishop and for Annunciation.
“I think I’m really blessed to be able to come here,” Galaba said. “I feel really bad for the people of Annunciation, and I hope they get the help they need.”
The archbishop introduced the rosary by expressing his gratitude for the many prayers the Annunciation community and the archdiocese have received from around the world, including from Pope Leo XIV.
“We’re so grateful for those prayers,” the archbishop said.
The archbishop mentioned in a special way the two students who remained in the hospital, Sophia Forchas and Lydia Kaiser, as well as the two students who were killed, Fletcher Merkel and Harper Moyski. Kaiser was released from the hospital Sept. 6.
“I trust that we were joined by Fletcher and Harper, who can be such powerful intercessors for us at this time,” the archbishop said as he concluded the prayers.
Jessica Trygstad, associate director of Catholic education in communications at OMCE, said the Catholic schools office asked Holy Trinity to help because the school prays the rosary regularly before Mass.
The principal, Anita Davis, said her staff had been discussing what they might do to support Annunciation, and the opportunity to pray the rosary was a blessing.
“What better way to share our thoughts and prayers than by leading the rosary and asking Mary’s intercession and blessing, to put a spiritual blanket around their church, a spiritual blanket around their whole community?”
Jason Slattery, the archdiocese’s superintendent of schools and director of Catholic education, sent an open letter to “colleagues and partners in Catholic education” that read in part, “Christian hope wells up from Jesus’ own victory over sin and death. We see this victory when ordinary children, women and men going
After praying a school rosary online Sept. 5 at the Archdiocesan Catholic Center in St. Paul, Archbishop Bernard Hebda, second from left, hands rosaries to, from left, Teresa Regnier, middle school religion and science teacher, eighth grader John Hawkins, seventh grader Eva Wunderlich, eighth grader Annie Galaba and Principal Anita Davis, all of Holy Trinity Catholic School in South St. Paul. Other Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and across the country joined the livestream event.
about daily routines suddenly spring up and live out extraordinary acts of charity, kindness and tenderness. This was also part of the scene in south Minneapolis.”
Slattery said OMCE staff members have been working at Annunciation Catholic School since shortly after the shooting.
“While it is true that there is a suffering that is almost too difficult to mention, it is met by heroic examples of virtue and hope,” he wrote. “If you are going to read stories or hear tales of that terrible morning, please don’t miss the accounts of heroic charity: Older children who blanketed younger children, adults who unflinchingly raced into unknown danger to shelter children and the elderly, children who consoled each other with prayers summoned from memory for times of great need, and the heroic first responders who secured the site. And the streams of women, men and children who have made their way to hospital rooms and makeshift memorials to honor those who will not be returning (to) school. We beg God for the grace we need to carry on together.”
As the school year begins, Slattery wrote, “In solidarity let’s work to build up, protect and secure schools of Christian hope and allow the light of that hope to outshine the
Participants at St. John the Baptist in Savage hold their rosaries after praying with the livestreamed rosary for Annunciation in Minneapolis sponsored by the archdiocese’s Office for the Mission of Catholic Education. Participants at the parish in Savage are part of Friday morning faith study and respect life groups. Two of them are 1981 graduates of Annunciation.
violence that was done to our dear ones.”
In addition to prayer, Catholic school and parish officials were urged to review their safety and security plans, get to know local law enforcement officers and seek help from them with those plans, extra patrols and training.
Paul Iovino — director of the archdiocese’s Office of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment and a former police officer — encouraged parishes and schools to maintain a heightened level of security, with exterior doors locked and visitor access suspended or with strict practices in place when allowing visitors to enter.
“We are not aware of any current threats to any parishes or schools,” Iovino said in an open letter to Catholic officials. It is also important to recognize that there is a balance “between creating a space where parents, staff and the faithful feel safe and having too many security measures that may create undue stress,” he wrote.
Iovino encouraged officials to join the archdiocese’s security managers information group. “It is free to parishes and schools,” he wrote. It meets twice a month to discuss security and safety issues, host guest speakers and announce upcoming training events.
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SCHOOL
COURTESY MEGAN LOVETT
Bishop Izen visits hospitalized 12-year-old Annunciation shooting victim, others
By Joe Ruff
The Catholic Spirit
Blessing her forehead and both hands with holy water from Lourdes, France, as she lay unconscious in a hospital bed in Minneapolis, Bishop Michael Izen prayed for 12-year-old Sophia Forchas, left in critical condition with head injuries when bullets tore through Annunciation’s church in Minneapolis one week before.
“Just ask people to pray. We’re going to win this,” Forchas’ father told Bishop Izen Sept. 2 at Hennepin Healthcare in Minneapolis.
Seventeen other students at Annunciation’s elementary school were wounded when a person wielding three guns began shooting through stained-glass windows into the church, which is next door to the school. Three adults were wounded in the shooting. The suspected shooter died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the scene, police said. Forchas’ brother was in the church, too, but he was not injured in the Aug. 27 shooting.
Of the other injured students, multiple media reports indicated Lydia Kaiser was released from Children’s Minnesota hospital in Minneapolis on Sept. 6. Family and friends said she had been steadily improving, though recovery will continue.
Kaiser was injured while protecting her little “buddy” during the Mass, which was the first all-school Mass of the school year, the Kaiser family’s post on a GoFundMe page said.
Her father, Harry Kaiser, the school’s gym teacher, was in the church during the shooting. He “helped secure the room, to
keep children safe, and stuck with them until they were reunited with their families, even while his daughter was entering the emergency room,” the post said. “Lydia and Harry are two heroes in our midst,” the post said.
Separate GoFundMe pages for the girls sought financial assistance for their family’s medical bills, trauma counseling, lost income and other expenses. Both girls have undergone surgeries and the need for medical care will continue, according to posts on the website describing their situations. Loved ones of many of the victims set up GoFundMe sites.
Bishop Izen said Forchas’ mother and her brother were in the hospital room when he visited the family. The GoFundMe post said that while Forchas’ brother was not physically injured, “the trauma of witnessing such a terrifying event — and knowing his sister was critically injured — is something no child should ever experience.”
In addition, Forchas’ mother is the head of the pediatric intensive care unit at Hennepin Healthcare, Bishop Izen said. She arrived at work Aug. 27 to help the injured before knowing it was her children’s school that
was attacked and that her daughter was critically injured, the GoFundMe post said.
The Forchas family belongs to St. Mary Greek Orthodox Church in Minneapolis,
which included a link on its website to the GoFundMe post and noted that Sophia Forchas is a member of the parish’s Greek dancing troupe.
The parish stated on its website that its Minneapolis Taste of Greece Festival Sept. 5-7 would collect donations to help the victims of the shooting at Annunciation and their families. Multiple parishioners of St. Mary were at the all-school Mass, the post said.
“For decades, the Forchas family has been the heart and muscle behind the Taste of Greece,” the post said. “We are aching without them here this weekend. This year’s festival honors the love, faith and service that the Forchas family has poured into our parish and this event, year after year.”
Bishop Izen said that in addition to the two girls, he has visited with other Annunciation families and students, both at the school and at a counseling site. Archbishop Bernard Hebda and Bishop Kevin Kenney have done the same,
day in and day out, since the shooting. They also held three public prayer services in the days after the shooting and spoke with the media, all the while urging the faithful to find their strength in Christ.
Bishop Kenney graduated from Annunciation Catholic School and grew up as part of the parish. He was at St. Olaf in Minneapolis, where he is pastor as well as bishop, and he immediately went to Hennepin Healthcare to be present for families as they gathered.
“It was very emotional, and I knew the Church needed to be present and represented,” Bishop Kenney said in an email. “I sat with parents, aunts and uncles, grandparents as they awaited news of their children and then were directed to various waiting rooms.
“I was able to sit with the family of Sophia (Forchas) for a while” and he visited with Lydia Kaiser, the bishop said, while noting priests and others also helped people through the days after the shooting.
The archbishop said his spirits have been lifted by the heroism and faith families and students have described during his visits.
“I was so edified at (Hennepin Healthcare) earlier today,” Archbishop Hebda said during an Aug. 30 news conference with Father Dennis Zehren, pastor of Annunciation. A young girl said she shared an ambulance with another student, the archbishop said.
“She said, ‘We held each other’s hands, and we prayed. We prayed the Our Father, we prayed the Hail Mary, and that’s what helped us through.’”
Father Zehren: ‘Down there with Jesus, he showed us something’
Father Dennis Zehren, pastor of Annunciation in Minneapolis, delivered the homily at the first parish Mass held after the Aug. 27 shooting in the church. The homily from Aug. 30:
When I was in the seminary, I was assigned to a parish and the pastor at that parish every year would designate one Sunday to be “Sit in a Different Pew Sunday.” And I’m not sure what he was trying to accomplish by that — I think he was just having fun with the people because he knew of our tendency always to sit in the same pew Sunday after Sunday. At one of my parishes, I even remember a woman saying to me, “Father, I’ve been sitting in the same pew for 19 years, because if I don’t, the people in the neighboring pews start to worry about me. They wonder where I am.” And I thought, well, that’s beautiful, that’s nice. It’s good to know that you have your own little neighborhoods, even in your pews.
It has been made very clear to all of us here at Annunciation that we will be sitting in a different pew for a long time to come because of what happened here on Wednesday morning.
The Church gives us these readings to reflect on. I didn’t choose the readings for Mass this morning. These are the same readings that Catholics all around the world will be hearing today; Catholics all around the world will be reflecting on these same readings. And the very obvious theme for these readings is humility. Our first reading exhorts us, “conduct your affairs with humility.” Then Jesus gives us a parable; he tells us, when you are invited to a banquet, don’t take the seat of honor. Instead, take the lowest place. And my good people of Annunciation, good people of Minneapolis, all of our neighbors, we are in a very low place.
It’s a place that we could never have imagined, even in our worst nightmares. We are not in our beautiful, comfortable, normal
worship space. But even so, look where we are, look around. This is a space where Catholics gathered for decades. The good people of Annunciation, the Annunciation schoolchildren gathered in this space for decades to pray and to celebrate Mass well before they finally got around to building that new church a little farther up the hill in 1961.
So you can say that we have come back. We’ve come back to our humble beginnings, and Jesus invites us to have a humble heart. And so we recognize that this is — for all of us — it’s a humble beginning. And it won’t be easy, and we’ll never be able to get back to the same place. But what we do is we begin again. We begin anew.
And now that’s kind of the tricky part of the virtue of humility, is that we don’t always get to choose; we don’t get to make the seating chart.
Sometimes we do get to sit in that place of honor. And when we sit there, it just seems like the world is at our feet, and the sun is shining, and everybody’s singing our favorite song, and our team is winning. In other times, we get to sit in a very comfortable seat. It’s got a lot of cushions. It’s a place of rest and there’s often surprise blessings along the way. Maybe we can reach down in the cushions and find some coins that somebody lost out of their pockets. So sometimes we get to sit in nice seats. But sometimes we have to sit in the dust. And that’s hard. That’s a humble seat. Nobody
likes to live there. Nobody likes to sit there. But maybe the best thing we can do is just sit there. Don’t try to run. Try not to be afraid. As Jesus speaks to us there, he says, “Can you just sit with me here in the dust?” And that’s the dust where Jesus fell when he was carrying the cross. That’s the dust that soaked up Jesus’ blood as he was on the way to crucifixion. And Jesus says, “Can you just please, just stay with me a while in this humble place, in this lowest place? Don’t try to run. We don’t even have to talk. Can you just,” Jesus says, “just be with me in this lowest place?”
And we’re afraid, you know. We cry out, “Jesus, we don’t like it here. We don’t like to be down here. We’re afraid.”
But Jesus says, “I know. Just wait here with me. Just be here with me.”
And that was the very same message when that first bullet came through the window. And the voices cried out, “Down! Get down! Get to the lowest place and stay down.”
And it was hard, and we didn’t want to be there. But now, looking back more than ever, we know that that’s where Jesus was. That’s where he can always be found, in that lowest place. And when we were down there with Jesus, he showed us something.
He showed us that “even in this place of fear, even in this place of darkness and death and sorrow, I am Lord, even here. I am the one who descended down into hell. And I have seen it, and it has been overcome.” And together, when we were down there in that lowest place, as we are still down there in that lowest place, we are able to look the forces of darkness and the forces of evil, we’re able to look it in the eye, and Jesus points and he says, “See? Look at that! Look how weak it is. Look how desperate it is. Look how it’s very clear that this is not what wins in the end. Look and see that this is not what God ever intended for us.”
OSV NEWS PHOTO | TIM EVANS, REUTERS
Left, Father Dennis Zehren, pastor of Annunciation in Minneapolis, becomes emotional as he speaks to the media alongside Archbishop Bernard Hebda Aug. 30 about the recent shooting at the church. The shooter opened fire through the windows of the school’s church and struck children attending Mass Aug. 27 during the first week of school, killing two and wounding 21 others.
Guiding children after a tragedy
By Maura Keller For The Catholic Spirit
The tragic events that unfolded at Annunciation church in Minneapolis Aug. 27, when a shooter opened fire through the church’s stained-glass windows and struck children from the parish school as they celebrated Mass, will have long-lasting effects on the greater Minnesota community for years to come.
Many parents and caregivers are worried about how their children are coping with the shooting, and how best to address questions their children may have now and in the future.
Steve Ruff, a licensed marriage and family therapist who works with children, adolescents and adults, provides psychological counseling for a range of issues. Ruff said that when a traumatic event such as a school or church shooting occurs, there are different ways parents should address the tragedy based on a child’s age.
“Parents should try to meet their children at their developmental or age level,” Ruff said. “For children ages K-3, it’s important to give objective information about what happened, balanced with reassurances that they are now safe, and that the situation is under control,” he said. “It can be good to give information about how the school is secured, and how adults are there to supervise and protect them.”
Ruff said that a child of any age “should have their feelings listened to and validated,” while parents and guardians provide “reassurance around safety.”
Middle school-age children may question more about whether they are truly safe, and may need more information about steps that are being taken to ensure their safety, such as school protocols and safety drills, and any increased safeguards that may be put in place after a shooting, such as increased police monitoring near schools.
Children’s reaction to a life-altering experience like a school or church shooting are strongly influenced by how parents, relatives, teachers and other caregivers respond to the event. They often turn to these adults for information, comfort and help.
One difficult question that a child may pose is “Why did this happen?”
“Our faith perspective can be useful here, in saying that we don’t necessarily know, that there can be darkness or bad or sickness in the world, but that the good news is that the light is always much stronger than the darkness,” said Ruff, a member of the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis. “Other questions would understandably relate to safety, and here it’s about offering reassurances around safety, and how the school, community and parents are taking steps to keep them safe, as well as the fact that the violence in the situation is over.”
Ruff suggested it’s important for parents and caregivers to spend time talking with their children. Ruff said parents and caregivers can let children know that they are welcome to ask questions and express their concerns and feelings. Parents and caregivers can be sure to remain open to answering new questions and providing helpful information and support.
Ruff said the principles of telling the truth about what happened, providing reassurance about safety now and what’s being done to ensure it, trying to be as emotionally regulated as one can be in order to provide the stability that children need, and allowing and validating emotions are some of the key things that can help children get through a traumatic event.
“We want to meet children where they are at and trust that they will guide the pacing of how they process the event,” Ruff said. “We don’t want to have our own adult anxieties drive the process in trying to ‘fix’ it for our kids. Being there for them, letting them know that if they ever have any questions they can come to you, is important.”
Signs to watch for
forms of offense that we can even conceptualize as Catholics.”
Millea said that in times of tragedy, it is important for parents and children to surrender everything to the Lord; that is the starting point for any struggle by a Catholic. And while miraculous healing — of mind, body and spirit — does happen, the Lord also chooses to work through third-party human resources.
“He chooses to use human disciples to serve his fellow children,” Millea says. “He’s using all kinds of beautiful, natural gifts that he’s given us, beginning with each other, with the community, and the resources that the community has, the resources that the body of Christ shares to bring about the healing that he desires for us.”
There are telltale signs that a child may be struggling with the traumatic event that unfolded. Changes in behavior, appetite and sleep patterns can indicate a child’s level of struggle. Of course, this is also normal to a certain degree after a traumatic event and should ease or pass with reassurance and the passage of time.
It’s important to remember that responses to trauma don’t necessarily happen all at once or in a linear fashion. As the person’s system is ready, it may process different parts of the trauma months or years later. There may be setbacks or triggering that occur along the way, which is normal with regard to healing from trauma.
“However, some children who have had other traumas in life, or (who) struggle with depression, anxiety or other mental health issues, may have a more severe or prolonged reaction to the event,” Ruff said. “Seek the help of a mental health professional if you are concerned about your child.”
In a “Practicing Catholic” episode that debuted Sept. 5 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM, co-hosts Leah Heselton and Father Tom Margevicius spoke with Pat Millea, formation director and co-founder of the Martin Center for Integration, an organization that provides compassionate counseling and guidance to those navigating grief, trauma and other mental health concerns. The Martin Center has locations at St. Helena in Minneapolis and at St. Gabriel in Hopkins.
“Everyone’s affected in different levels (by this tragedy). I think any human being can appreciate the sadness and the grief and the anger that comes up in something like this,” Millea said on “Practicing Catholic,” which airs weekly and is produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. “But for us Catholics, and especially here in the Twin Cities, it’s a particular violation — the fact that it happened to Catholics, to children at Mass, is one of the utmost
As such, some of the therapists at the Martin Center for Integration are spending time with individuals and families associated with Annunciation, supporting them, “providing them with a bit of ‘scaffolding’ to help begin the healing journey,” Millea said.
“There are all kinds of, not necessarily unhealthy, but maybe unproductive responses to trauma and crisis — diving into work just to keep your mind busy and not think about it, as well as disengaging, disassociating, departing, whether physically or emotionally, from the whole situation, and just refusing to engage,” Millea said. “We’re helping people to identify those tendencies and work against them, so that people can make a gradual move in the direction of healing.”
Parents also need to take care of themselves during this time of grief, Ruff said.
“It’s like the analogy of being in a plane crash and first putting the oxygen mask on yourself so that you can then help your child. I’ve been so heartened by the outpouring of support and goodness that we’ve seen in people’s desire to be there for the families of Annunciation, to help support them and lift them up,” Ruff said. “Human connection is so crucial in healing and getting through. As time goes on, the level of immediate support will naturally decline, and so to be mindful that continued need will be important for parents and all involved. And of course, prayer, as an ongoing support for oneself and others, will be important for parents and families of faith.”
In addition to spiritual support from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and local parish leaders, parents can find resources through the National Child Traumatic Stress Network at nctsn.org, which offers guides for talking to children after mass violence, and the National Mass Violence Center at nmvvrc.org, which provides information for educators, caregivers, victims and community members.
Editor’s note: Ruff is the brother of Joe Ruff, editor-in-chief of The Catholic Spirit.
MCC: Special legislative session would be a first step in addressing gun violence
The Catholic Spirit
Jason Adkins — executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference (MCC) — said Sept. 5 that Gov. Tim Walz’s call for a special legislative session to address gun violence in the wake of the Annunciation church shooting would be a first but insufficient step to address all issues involved.
Equitable school safety funding for all students — including those in nonpublic schools — must be addressed, Adkins said in a written statement for MCC, the public policy voice of Minnesota’s Catholic bishops. The impact of Minnesota having legalized recreational marijuana and “the widely debated treatment of young people experiencing gender dysphoria,” also need attention, he said.
Work must be done to address “the deeper causes of violence — mental health struggles, family breakdown, and a growing despair often worsened by harmful ideologies, substance abuse, and the effects of the absence of God in people’s lives,” Adkins said.
“Ultimately, true gun-violence prevention requires both laws and the courage to confront cultural and spiritual challenges that endanger our communities and children,” the statement said.
The Aug. 27 shooting at an all-school Mass at the Minneapolis church killed two students and wounded 18 more from the parish school. Three adults were wounded. The suspected shooter died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.
Adkins’ full statement follows:
In the wake of the tragic shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church and School, the Minnesota Catholic Conference (MCC) welcomes a broader legislative discussion about preventing gun violence. While a special session focused only on gun regulation may address part of the problem, it is insufficient if it ignores other urgent concerns, particularly equitable school safety funding for all students, including those in nonpublic schools.
The Catholic Church in Minnesota has long supported commonsense gun regulations, such as protective orders and expanded background checks. But these latter two laws did not prevent the Annunciation tragedy. Reasonable conversations can and should be had about regulating certain types of weapons and high-capacity magazines, which have little value outside a military context.
Americans have a right to possess firearms, whether for the purpose of hunting or for self-defense. But in a properly functioning society, these rights also come with responsibilities. Public safety demands thoughtful limits on gun ownership that allow communities to live without fear of violence at church, school, or in daily life.
At the same time, limiting the gun violence problem to the
questions of guns merely masks the root causes of violence that are exacerbated by other policies. Public officials must enforce existing gun laws to keep dangerous individuals off the streets, while also addressing the deeper causes of violence — mental health struggles, family breakdown, and a growing despair often worsened by harmful ideologies, substance abuse, and the effects of the absence of God in people’s lives.
The Minnesota Legislature needs to look at those broader questions, including a reconsideration of recently enacted legislation that makes our state an incubator for the potential harm flowing from THC usage and from the widely debated treatment of young people experiencing gender dysphoria.
Certainly, not all these matters can be adequately addressed during a short special session where legislators must find common ground for the common good, but they are all factors for which there must be a reckoning.
Ultimately, true gun-violence prevention requires both laws and the courage to confront cultural and spiritual challenges that endanger our communities and children. With Pope Leo XIV, we pray for an end to the “pandemic of arms,” and urge lawmakers to pursue practical, holistic solutions that protect lives and strengthen families. Only then can we begin to repair a broken world marked by sin and suffering and move closer to the day when violence will be no more.
JASON ADKINS
Archdiocese provides private space for Annunciation families after traumatic shooting
By Joe Ruff
The Catholic Spirit
Since Aug. 28, counselors, priests and deacons, therapy support dogs and even bunnies have been available to members of the Annunciation community directly impacted by the Aug. 27 shooting at an allschool Mass in the church.
The counseling site has not been disclosed to allow uninterrupted privacy.
“We want it to be a sanctuary spot,” said Corey Manning, director of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Office of Discipleship and Evangelization (ODE).
The goal is to provide assessment and care and offer resources for long-term counseling and other aid, Manning and others said.
What started as a few families from the parish and school receiving assistance has grown to include as many as 50 families or more a day getting the help they need, Manning said.
Minneapolis officials have been providing resources for families seeking financial aid and other assistance; the Salvation Army has brought meals and light snacks, and Hennepin County’s mobile response team of therapists has been there.
The Elijah Institute — a Lakevillebased nonprofit that provides training for mental health professionals who want to integrate their Catholic-Christian faith with counseling — invited many counselors to volunteer at the site and helped coordinate efforts.
“I have a background in management consulting for medical and social services and mental health practices; I specialized in operations,” said Rebecca Brubaker, founder and CEO of the Elijah Institute.
Archbishop Bernard Hebda and Bishop Michael Izen were among archdiocesan leaders one afternoon helping at the site; priests and deacons helped children relax and talk through some of their feelings through play.
Father Joseph Wappes, parochial vicar of St. Joseph in West St. Paul, was out on the lawn at the site playing football with the children. “Just to be present, just to show that the Church is here to support them,” he said.
Father Wappes said the children were grateful for the chance “to do something normal, just to be kids and play.”
Father Nick Vance, parochial vicar of Our
Lady of Grace in Edina, said the response to the traumatic event has been tremendous.
“Even in the midst of such pain and tragedy, to see the response from everyone, all these therapists and everyone else jumping in; it’s just been beautiful to see,” Father Vance said.
The archbishop held some of the bunnies, and he visited with families and therapists and support staff.
“It’s a beautiful chance to be with these kids, be with their families, but really to see the outpouring of support for them,” the archbishop said. It was gratifying, he said, to see “the thoughtfulness, but also the expertise that these people are bringing together to try to help those who are really hurting.”
Dorothy Maples, a division emergency disaster services manager for the Salvation Army, was at the site that same afternoon serving food.
“This is a very intense situation,” Maples said. “We’re just humbled to be here and help.”
Renee Oakes, associate director for marriage and ministry in ODE, said one boy came to the site and immediately said, “I want to see a priest,” so they spent time at the nearby church.
Leaving the building, the boy said with grateful wonder, “I can go in the church (again).”
Oakes said she saw families, particularly parents with their children, enter the site “burdened. They were slumped over.”
But “watching the families leave, there were moms with smiles on their faces, children talking with one another, joking together, visibly relieved,” she said. Shannon Voelker accompanied her husband, Jake, as he counseled families at the site. Members of Holy Family in St. Louis Park, they brought their three black and two brown pet bunnies, owned proudly by their daughter, Siena. Children and adults alike held the bunnies and smiled.
“This is the first time we’ve ever done this,” Shannon Voelker said. The result: “It sounds like people like holding baby bunnies. It’s a balm for the heart.”
Manning summed up his experience at the site, “It’s such a blessing to be here.”
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New young saints encourage faithful to live life to the full, pope says
By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service
The greatest risk in life is to waste it by not seeking to follow God’s plan, Pope Leo XIV said, proclaiming two new saints‚ two young laymen of the 20th and 21st centuries.
“Sts. Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis are an invitation to all of us, especially young people, not to squander our lives, but to direct them upward and make them masterpieces,” the pope said Sept. 7.
“The simple but winning formula of their holiness,” he said, is accessible to everyone at any time. “They encourage us with their words: ‘Not I, but God,’ as Carlo used to say. And Pier Giorgio: ‘If you have God at the center of all your actions, then you will reach the end.’”
Before canonizing the first saints of his pontificate, Pope Leo greeted the more than 80,000 faithful who had gathered early in St. Peter’s Square because he wanted to share his joy with them before the start of the solemn ceremony.
“Brothers and sisters, today is a wonderful celebration for all of Italy, for the whole Church, for the whole world,” he said before the Mass.
“While the celebration is very solemn, it is also a day of great joy, and I wanted to greet especially the many young people who have come for this holy Mass,” he said, also greeting the families of the soon-to-be saints and the associations and communities to which the young men had belonged.
Pope Leo asked that everyone “feel in our hearts the same thing that Pier Giorgio and Carlo experienced: this love for Jesus Christ, especially in the Eucharist, but also in the poor, in our brothers and sisters.”
“All of you, all of us, are also called to be saints,” he said, before leaving to prepare for Mass and paying homage to a statue of Mary with baby Jesus and the reliquaries containing the relics of the two young men.
In his homily, the pope underlined Jesus’ call in the day’s Gospel reading “to abandon ourselves without hesitation to the adventure that he offers us, with the intelligence and strength that comes from his Spirit, that we can receive to the extent that we empty ourselves of the things and ideas to which we are attached, in order to listen to his word.”
That is what the two new saints did and what every disciple of Christ is called to do, he said.
Many people, especially when they are young, he said, face a kind of “crossroads” in life when they reflect on what to do with their life.
The saints of the Church are often portrayed as “great figures, forgetting that for them it all began when, while still young, they said ‘yes’ to God and gave themselves to him completely, keeping nothing for themselves,” the pope said.
“Today we look to St. Pier Giorgio Frassati and St. Carlo Acutis: a young man from the early 20th century and a teenager from our own day, both in love with Jesus and ready to give everything for him,” he said.
Pope Leo then dedicated a large portion of his homily to sharing quotes from the two and details of their lives, which is something Pope Francis had shifted away from, preferring to focus more on the day’s readings.
“Pier Giorgio’s life is a beacon for lay spirituality,” Pope Leo said.
“For him, faith was not a private devotion, but it was driven by the power of the Gospel and his membership in ecclesial associations,” he said. “He was also generously committed to society, contributed to political life and devoted
ZEHREN HOMILY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 16
And when we hear that voice of Jesus that comes to our hearts ... a little light starts to dawn. And so that’s what we wait for now and that’s what we welcome: We welcome the dawn of a new day here at Annunciation. We welcome the light of a new day. And it’s a light that will scatter every darkness. It’s a light that will never fade. It’s a light not just for us. It’s the light of the world. And it is the light of Jesus Christ. And we watch for that light. Because when the forces of darkness and sin and evil and death have done its worst, that’s when God says, “Now just watch to see what I will do,” because there is no darkness that God can’t bring light from, there’s no sorrow that God can’t spring joy from. There’s no grieving that Jesus can’t bring comfort to, and there’s no dying that Jesus can’t raise to new
himself ardently to the service of the poor.”
“Carlo, for his part, encountered Jesus in his family, thanks to his parents, Andrea and Antonia — who are here today with his two siblings, Francesca and Michele,” he said, as the crowd applauded, and Antonia smiled shyly at the camera.
St. Acutis also encountered Jesus at the Jesuit-run school he attended and “above all in the sacraments celebrated in the parish community,” he said. “He grew up naturally integrating prayer, sport, study and charity into his days as a child and young man.”
life. So we keep watching for that light.
There’s a Scripture story I’ve been sharing with people from the Old Testament, and it’s a passage in the Old Testament where the Israelites were in battle. They were being fought against by their enemies. So Moses lifted his hands in prayer, and as long as Moses could lift his hands in prayer, the Israelites would prosper in the battle. But when Moses got tired and his arms started to droop, the Israelites would fall back in battle. So what did they do? They put a rock under Moses. Aaron and Hur stood by him and lifted his hands in prayer so that he could keep his hands in prayer and that the battle could keep going in the right direction.
That’s what we’ve been experiencing in so many ways around here. All of you, all of our neighbors, all of our community, police, first responders — they’ve been our rock underneath us, and they will continue to be a rock for us. There’s so many people who will be continuing to hold up
The pope said the new saints “cultivated their love for God and for their brothers and sisters through simple acts, available to everyone: daily Mass, prayer and especially Eucharistic adoration.”
St. Frassati was born April 6, 1901, in Turin and died there July 4, 1925, of polio at the age of 24. St. Acutis was born to Italian parents May 3, 1991, in London and died in Monza, Italy, Oct. 12, 2006, of leukemia at the age of 15.
The pope said that “even when illness struck them and cut short their young lives, not even this stopped them nor prevented them from loving, offering themselves to God, blessing him and praying to him for themselves and for everyone.”
Several family members and people closely associated with the new saints attended the Mass, along with dignitaries, such as Italian President Sergio Mattarella.
St. Acutis’ parents, Andrea and Antonia, and his twin siblings, Michele and Francesca, who were born four years after their brother died, together brought the pope the offertory gifts. Michele also did the first reading at the Mass in English.
Valeria Valverde, who read the first prayer of the faithful, is a young Costa Rican woman who suffered a severe head injury while living in Italy. It was her unexplained healing that provided the second miracle needed for St. Acutis’ canonization.
St. Frassati was active with Catholic Action, the St. Vincent de Paul Society, the Italian Catholic University Federation and the Dominican Third Order. Lorenzo Zardi, vice president of the youth group of Italy’s Catholic Action read the second reading at the Mass and Michele Tridente, the secretary general of the lay movement, also presented the pope with offertory gifts.
Before praying the Angelus, the pope once again thanked everyone for coming to celebrate the Church’s two new saints.
However, he also called for people’s “incessant prayer for peace, especially in the Holy Land, and in Ukraine and in every other land bloodied by war.”
“To governing leaders, I repeat, listen to the voice of conscience,” he said.
“The apparent victories won with weapons, sowing death and destruction, are really defeats and will never bring peace and security,” he said. God gives strength to those who work toward leaving behind the cycle of hatred and pursue the path of dialogue, he said.
“God does not want war. God wants peace!” he exclaimed to applause.
our hands in prayer. You know this: children, the families, they will continue to be that rock underneath us. Harper and Fletcher will always be that rock underneath us, that keeps our hands raised in prayer, seeking for good, fighting for good, and knowing the battle belongs to the Lord and we keep our eyes on him.
It’s been a tremendous outpouring of love. It’s kind of the funny mystery that when the darkness is most intense, that’s when the light of God shines all the more brightly, and we’ve been seeing that in so many ways. I have never seen such an outpouring of love. I have never been so proud of the faithful followers of Jesus. I’ve never been so grateful for our Church. I’ve never been so filled with love that just comes from above and beyond. So we welcome the light of a new day at Annunciation. And it’s a light that will never fade. It will grow stronger. And it will last and reach all the way up to that eternal glory that has been promised, promised to us all.
CNS | LOLA GOMEZ Pope Leo XIV addresses the faithful in St. Peter’s Square before the canonization Mass for Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati at the Vatican Sept. 7.
CNS | LOLA GOMEZ
Tapestries depicting St. Pier Giorgio Frassati and St. Carlo Acutis hang from the facade of St. Peter’s Basilica during the Mass for their canonization at the Vatican Sept. 7.