US Diocese of Nashville prays for school shooting victims

Photo by Mike Labrum on Unsplash

Source: Diocese of Nashville/ Tennessee Register/ ICN

Three children and four adults were killed in a mass shooting on Monday morning, 27 March, at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee. The private nursery and primary school is run by the Covenant Presbyterian Church.

This was the 129th mass shooting in the US since the beginning of this year. 9,870 people have been killed in gun violence since January - of those, 398 were children.

The three child victims were nine-year-olds Evelyn Dieckhaus, William Kinney, and Hallie Scruggs.

The adult victims were head teacher, Dr Katherine Koonce, supply teacher Cynthia Peak, and school custodian Mike Hill. The shooter, 28-year-old Audrey Hale, who was armed with two assault rifles, was shot and killed by the police.

"My heart breaks with news of the school shooting at The Covenant School this morning," said Nashville Bishop J Mark Spalding in a statement posted on social media. "Let us pray for the victims, their families, and the Covenant Presbyterian community."

Bishop Spalding celebrated the 5.30pm on Mass on Monday, at the Cathedral of the Incarnation, to pray for the victims of the shooting and the school.

"On this day of such tragedy, we come here to gather as a people who live in hope, in faith, and in love," Bishop Spalding said at the beginning of Mass. "So, as we gather today, mindful of what our faith teaches us, that darkness, sin, death does not have the final word, but light, love, and the victory of Jesus Christ does."

Bishop Spalding added: "We come here to be with and for each other, not only for us gathered here in this church today, but with and for all the people of Nashville and Middle Tennessee that have gone through this day struggling, emotional, tearful..We come together to be with everyone, and we're together in our prayer, we're together in our condolences and our sympathies, we're together in our love, love for another.

"We are mindful that our faith, our hope, and our love overcomes, endures, even through the darkness and the sufferings and pains of life, and today is one of those significant days of tragedy and pain," he said. "We've spoken to each other about this shooting today, and every time we think of the children, we think of the innocence, and it fills our hearts with powerful emotion, profound sadness, suffering, hurt. And we understand our words in these kinds of moments are somewhat insufficient, but for you and for our family and friends that we go to in the next hours and days ahead, please make sure you listen with love.

"Listen and let our most profound response be this. 'I love you. I care for you. I'm here for you.' Those words are sufficient for now."

In a statement, Brian Cooper, chancellor of the Diocese of Nashville said: "The news of the shooting and loss of lives at The Covenant School this morning is deeply sad and shocking. It is a painful reminder that these horrific events can happen at any time. Our own city is not immune to this violence.

"Across Middle Tennessee, our churches and schools continue to be vigilant as we focus on the safety and security of parishioners, students, faculty, and staff. It is a top priority. Within the last five years, the diocese has conducted multiple comprehensive security reviews of each school and adjacent parish grounds. We have taken significant steps to continually enhance the security of our facilities in cooperation with parish leaders."

This school shooting is just one of many that have plagued schools around the nation in the last several years and is even more reason why the Diocese of Nashville and the Catholic Schools Office remains vigilant to the safety protocols and practices put in place at the 16 diocesan schools and three independent Catholic schools, diocesan officials said.

"We have in place mandatory training for our faculty, staff, and administration. This was established several years ago," Dr Rebecca Hammel, superintendent of schools for the diocese, added in the statement. "This training accompanies annual site and safety protocol reviews and regular safety drills conducted with staff and students in our schools. We will look for opportunities to strengthen our safety protocols as we learn from the ongoing police investigation of this sad incident."