On Wednesday, while attending Mass, fourteen children were wounded, several critically, along with three elderly parishioners. Moreover, eight year-old Fletcher Merkel and Harper Moyski, 10, were killed. We apply the description "unimgainable" to these atrocities because it's impossible to imagine what it would be like to have something like that happen to me. It's terrifying to ponder.
On 2 October 2006, Charles Roberts entered a one room Amish school in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania and took everyone hostage. He killed five girls and wounded another five. This after he released all the boys, leaving the girls to face his wrath. These girls ranged in age from 6 to thirteen. After shooting his victims, Roberts then took his own life. Roberts was a milkman known to the Amish community he so brutally attacked.
On the very day the Pennsylvania shooting occurred, the grandfather of one of the murdered Amish girls warned relatives not to hate, telling them, in reference to Charles Roberts, "We must not think evil of this man." Another member of this community pointed out that Roberts "had a mother and a wife and a soul and now he's standing before a just God." We can say that, too, of Robin Westman, the person who so violently attacked Annunication church, and who also killed himself, that he had a mother and a father and is now standing before a just God. We must leave ultimate judgment to God.
Jack Meyer, a member of the Brethren community living near the Amish in Lancaster County, explained in the wake of the 2006 shooting: "I don't think there's anybody here that wants to do anything but forgive and not only reach out to those who have suffered a loss in that way but to reach out to the family of the man who committed these acts."
Several members of the Amish community attended Roberts' graveside service, which took place the day after they buried the five children he killed. Those who attended the service hugged Roberts' widow and other members of his family.1
In 2015, family members of some of those killed by Dylan Roof in a racially-motivated shooting at Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal church in Charleston, South Carolina, publicly forgave him in court. In a court hearing, a family member of Myra Thompson, one those Roof murdered, said, "I forgive you and my family forgives you," before urging the shooter to "Repent and give your life to Christ and change your ways. You'll be better off than you are now."2
Let's not forget the powerful scene from Rome's Rebibbia prison in 1983, where Pope John Paul II went to meet with and to forgive the man who shot and nearly killed him in Saint Peter's Square in 1981, Mehmet Ali Ağca.
It's never too soon and it's never too late to live the Gospel. This is one of the reasons it is good news. Without a doubt, the shock and trauma are still being experienced by those children and others who experienced Westman's incomprehensible attack as well their families, especially the Merkel and Moyski families. Sadly, these effects will likely linger. Therefore, we must pray for them.
After experiencing the killing of his own infant daughter, Jonas Beiler became a counselor in Pennsylvania. He's counseled members of the Amish community attacked by Roberts. It was during the time he was studying to be a counselor that Beiler's wife founded Auntie Anne's Pretzels. This has allowed him to practice counseling among the Amish.
Speaking from personal and professional experience, Beiler noted, "Tragedy changes you." After experiencing such trauma, he noted, "You can't stay the same." Looking at the bigger picture, he observed
Where that lands you don't always know. But what I found out in my own experience if you bring what little pieces you have left to God, he somehow helps you make good out of it. And I see that happening in this school shooting [referring to the one in Pennsylvania in 2006] as well. One just simple thing that the whole world got to see was this simple message of forgiveness3Forgiveness sends a powerful message. As the apostle Paul urges: "Do not be conquered by evil but conquer evil with good."4
As disciples of Jesus Christ, let's commit ourselves to non-violence and to doing what we can reduce and eliminate violence. It's important to bear in mind that peace begins with me. In his Angelus message today, Pope Leo, after remembering the shooting in Minnesota and the children violently killed throughout the world each day, addressed the scourge of violence, saying,"Let us plead with God to stop the pandemic of arms, large and small, which infects our world."5
Let's never forget that Holy Mass is always the celebration of Christ's resurrection. It is by His resurrection that He overcomes evil and death. It is by His resurrection, ascension and descent of the Holy Spirit that we have the Eucharist. It is through our reception of Holy Communion that Christ can live in us.
A lot more could be said but I will limit myself to pointing out that there are eerie parallels between last week's shooting in Minneapolis and the one that occurred at Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee in 2023. These bear looking into.6
1 Joseph Shapiro. "Amish Forgive School Shooter, Struggle with Grief." NPR↩
2 "Charleston shootings: Power of forgiveness in African-American church." CNN↩
3 "Amish Forgive School Shooter."↩
4 See Romans 12:17-21.↩
5 "Pope: 'Arms must fall silent, voice of fraternity and justice must prevail.'"↩
6 Aaron Cantrell. "Minneapolis tragedy rekindles Covenant School Shooting grief in Nashville." NewsChannel5 Nashville.↩
Well spoken, Deacon. Amen.
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