virginia tech memorial service

Bishop Leads Prayer Service, Local Priests Assist in Blacksburg

By Michael F. Flach
HERALD Staff Writer
(From the Issue of 4/26/07) prayer service

ANNANDALE — Hundreds of parishioners gathered last Sunday night with Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde on a beautiful spring evening at Holy Spirit Church in Annandale to pray for the Virginia Tech victims and their families.
Many of those in attendance sported the familiar Virginia Tech colors of maroon and orange as a sign of solidarity with the Hokie community. A university banner hung in the church vestibule and to the side of the altar.
The parish originally planned a quiet evening of meditation, music, prayer and healing featuring Irish tenor Mark Forrest. But when the tragedy unfolded on the Blacksburg campus on April 16, the parish quickly shifted its focus to the memory of the victims.
“The Church of Arlington is a family of faith, brothers and sisters united through and with and in Jesus Christ,” said Bishop Loverde in his opening reflection. “As family members we share joy and sorrow.”
He said the prayer service at Holy Spirit Church was a visible sign that the diocese was supporting all those who were part of the devastating tragedy at Virginia Tech, particularly the faculty, students, staff and alumni.
“What does our praying do?” the bishop asked. “Does it remove the pain of loss, the sorrow of separation? Praying allows us to see the same reality that others see differently, through the eyes of faith.
“Lord, give to those who were so senselessly and innocently killed life without end in Your presence,” the bishop prayed. “Give to those so needlessly wounded renewed health of body, the healing of their painful memories and strength of soul. Give to the families and friends of all the victims, consolation in their grief, the grace of perseverance and true hope. Give to each (Continued from page 1)
member of the Virginia Tech community the ability to move forward from this place of pain to a new future rooted in hope-filled unity.”
Bishop Loverde also asked the Lord to forgive the gunman, Seung-Hui Cho, and “to have pity on his family who struggle with profound shame and broken hearts.
“If we emerge from this devastating tragedy more life-giving, more life-sustaining, more life-protecting, then those who died will not have died in vain, but with You, will have been the instruments of life triumphing over death and evil,” the bishop said.
Father Terry Specht, administrator of Holy Spirit Parish, announced that the special collection taken up at the end of the prayer service would be sent to Virginia Tech’s campus ministry office.
As students returned to class April 23, diocesan parishes and priests continued to show their support in many ways.
Father Brian Bashista, diocesan vocations director and a 1987 Virginia Tech graduate, went to Blacksburg last Wednesday to assist Father Jim Arsen-ault at St. Mary Parish in Blacksburg and provide counseling to the first responders and students.
He said throughout the week St. Mary Church was a haven for the police and first responders. Many of the emergency medical technicians were students who were the first to arrive on the scene. They had lunch and dinner at the parish every night.
“It was very rough,” Father Bashista said, “what they saw and the images in their minds. Many of them wanted to talk about their experiences.”
Father Bashista also was the celebrant and homilist of the student Mass Sunday night at the War Memorial Chapel on campus.
In his homily, he said the Virginia Tech family in Blacksburg and in so many others parts of the world are not experiencing the joy of Easter. “This week we have been transformed back, if you will, to the time of horror, suffering and death prior to Jesus’ resurrection. It’s as if we are living Holy Week all over again, but this time in a more painful and personal way. We are experiencing many sorrows, not unlike the sorrows experienced by Mary, the mother of Jesus that first Holy Week, and even earlier in her life,” he said.
“I was not here when these tragic events happened on April 16th. I cannot in a deep and personal way, identify with the pain and horror that so many of you have experienced and are still experiencing. I have not gone through even something remotely similar to what you all have, but we all know someone who has. Mary, the Mother of Jesus.”
“The students, faculty and administrators have been so articulate and poised as the extent of this tragedy unfolded,” he said. “You refused to get caught up in a media frenzy that hungers for conflict and sensationalism. No doubt, there will be a proper time to reflect on how things could have been done differently, but the spirit that permeates the Virginia Tech family wanted the other stories to get out.”
Father James R. Gould, pastor of St. Raymond of Penafort Parish in Fairfax, traveled to Virginia Tech on Tuesday to spend time with students from his parish. He was scheduled to celebrate Mass at the campus Newman Center and then take the students over to Norris Hall and West Ambler Johnson dormitory to anoint the areas where the shootings took place.
He brought individual holy water containers for everyone so the whole group could partake in the anointing. He wanted to show the young people that those areas can become holy ground again.