WASHINGTON (CNS) – When news of the May 24 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas broke, Archbishop of San Antonio Gustavo García-Siller was meeting with about 150 archdiocesan priests.
The meeting was postponed and several priests left immediately to be with the people of the town of Texas about 100 miles west of San Antonio and near the Mexican border.
The Archbishop also traveled straight to Uvalde where a teenager had killed 19 students and two elementary school teachers at Robb Elementary School before being shot dead by police.
Bishop García-Siller’s first stop was the hospital to meet the families of those injured in the shooting, followed by a visit to the city’s civic center where the families awaited news of loved ones. He then celebrated mass at the Church of the Sacred Heart in Uvalde and spoke with members of his family and then journalists after mass before returning home around midnight.
The next day, he spoke to Catholic News Service while in a car heading back to Uvalde to go to Robb Elementary School with other civic and religious leaders before returning to the civic center.
The Archbishop said that among the members of the congregation at the May 24 evening Mass at the Sacred Heart, some were directly affected by the shooting at the school.
He said it was important to be with the people who are suffering from this tragedy to remind them that they are not alone, to give them the support they need and above all to show them “love, love , love”.
He said that among the members of the congregation at the May 24 evening mass at the Sacred Heart, some were directly affected by the school shooting, including the person who called 911 about the shooter and someone who had brought injured school children to the hospital.
The altar server was a 10-year-old girl, about the age of many of the students shot that day.
The archbishop, replacing the pastor who was out of town, said the congregation was numb. They just couldn’t speak, he said, because they were so shocked by what had happened or still unsure of what it meant for their own families and the community as a whole.
He urged them to greet each other at the start of Mass as a sign of their common humanity and to express “what is difficult to articulate”.
He hoped the readings, music and fellowship would bring relief to families there, but also help them “strengthen” for what lies ahead.
Two priests spoke during Mass about their visits to the hospital that day with victims and family members. One said he visited a girl whose face was still bleeding and when he asked her what was on her heart she simply said, “My friends, nothing but my friends .”
The other key focus right now, he said, is to challenge local, state and federal leaders on gun control, noting that this shooting is “another example that we failed.”
Bishop García-Siller said he mentioned it in his homily and spoke to reporters about the different levels of focus right now following the school shooting.
The first priority is those who have been affected. He said they needed all the help they could get both practically and also spiritually in the prayers they asked for. He also said the local community must be strong, “because the journey will be a long way to go.”
The other key focus right now, he said, is to challenge local, state and federal leaders on gun control, noting that this shooting is “another example that we failed. We failed because we don’t have people at the center. He also stressed that more people need to take responsibility for what happened, stressing that it was “not an isolated event”.
Catholic Charities of San Antonio began providing relief to Robb Elementary School on May 25 with grief counselors and legal services available as well as emergency financial assistance for family members who must travel to Uvalde .
In the coming days, the doors of Sacred Heart Church will be open and its Catholic school will also have counselors on site.
The archbishop wrote to Pope Francis on May 24 about the school shooting, which took place days before the school’s summer vacation, asking for his prayers. The next day he received a telegram from Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, expressing the pope’s condolences.
The pope prayed that those “tempted to violence would rather choose the path of brotherly solidarity and love.”
The message says the pope is “deeply saddened to learn of the tragic shooting that took place” and assures those “affected by this attack of his spiritual closeness.” He also praised the souls of those who died at God’s mercy and “implored the divine gifts of healing and consolation upon the wounded and bereaved.”
The pope prayed that those “tempted to violence would rather choose the path of brotherly solidarity and love.”
Bishop García-Siller said he had seen many moments of grace in the 24 hours since the attack and noted that many people were trying to do something good in response to the crisis. This awareness, he said, will not be difficult at present.
The challenge, he said, will be how to overcome current divisions. “It’s going to take a long, long time.”
But he added to that a final word of hope that he also shares in Uvalde, emphasizing: “We know in whom we have placed our trust”.
