Catholic leaders in California have commemorated the victims of two recent mass shootings in that state.
On January 21, a gunman killed 11 people at a dance club in Monterey Park where people were celebrating Chinese New Year. Two days later, eight migrant farmworkers were shot by a former co-worker in Half Moon Bay. Seven died and one remains in critical condition.
The Archbishop of Los Angeles, Jose Gomez, led a Mass on 27 January at St Stephen Martyr church, two blocks from the dance club where the first shooting occurred.
“We want to be close to you in this challenging time,” Gomez said.
“It is a tragedy that has affected all of us, especially the families of the victims as well as the parish and the community. But we are together. You have our prayers and somehow God is going to bring blessings to this difficult situation.”
One of the victims, Valentino Marcos Alvero, worshipped at the church.
“Our family would like to request all priests and Catholics to pray for him by name, Valentino Marcos Alvero,” the family wrote in a statement.
“He was a faithful servant of God and we know that he would want the world to lift his family in prayer more than anything.”
At Half Moon Bay, the Archbishop of San Francisco, Salvatore Cordileone, went to the sites of the shootings to lead prayers for those who were shot, their families and their communities.
“We come together this day to reclaim this space of death as a place of life,” prayed Cordileone as he sprinkled the ground with holy water.
“This place where violence occurred, we are reclaiming as a place of peace. This place that causes fear, anger and pain, we are reclaiming as a place of hope and community. We reclaim the humanity of both victim and victimiser in God's name.”
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