St. Rose Church holds vigil for shooting victims

NEWTOWN, Conn. (WABC) -- A number of clergymen are with the families and helping them to cope with the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut.

"I think the reality is settling in that these children are with the Lord now, and they've been taken from them too young, too innocent. We just told a little boy about his sister now; it was just so hard to see, he said, 'Who am I going to play with now? I have nobody to play with now?' So, excuse me. A lot of these people are from our parish which makes it pretty heavy for me too. I've baptized some of these children and they were getting ready for first communion, but the parents are, I have to say the love in that room, as broken as they are, is just phenomenal. It's been a privilege for me to stand with them today, to talk with them, to pray with them. There's not many words you can say, there's no words you can really say, just to be present to them. Many of them mentioned that, that has really made a difference to them, just our presence with them today," said Msgr. Robert Weiss, of St. Rose Church.

"Some of these victims, some of them were your parishioners?" Reporter N.J. Burkett asked.

"Yeah many of them actually were. Some of them are very active in our parish community. You know, as I said, children were getting ready to make their first holy communion," Msgr. Weiss said, "It's just, this community will never be the same. It's broken."

St. Rose Church will be open 24 hours a day until further notice.

A vigil Friday night at St. Rose brought out hundreds of community members, including some parents who were struggling with mixed emotions after their own children survived the massacre.

With the church filled to capacity, hundreds spilled outside, some of them holding hands in circles and saying prayers. Others lit prayer candles and sang "Silent Night."

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy was among the speakers at the service inside the St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic church.

"Many of us today and in the coming days will rely on what we have been taught and what we believe, that there is faith for a reason," Malloy said.

The residents were gathered to mourn those killed Friday, when a man killed his mother at their home and then opened fire inside the elementary school where she taught, massacring 26 people, including 20 children, as youngsters cowered in fear to the sound of gunshots reverberating through the building and screams echoing over the intercom.

The 20-year-old killer, carrying at least two handguns, committed suicide at the school.

At the vigil, the priest said the altar holds 26 candles, all of which were lit in memory of the victims. Lyrics of the last hymn of the ceremony rang out: "I will raise him up on eagle's wings."

The parish priest, Robert Weiss, said he spent much of Friday with victims of the families but he could not give them any answers about what happened.

After receiving word of the shooting, Tracy Hoekenga said at the vigil that she was paralyzed with fear for her two boys, fourth-grader C.J. and second grader Matthew.

"I couldn't breathe. It's indescribable. For a half an hour, 45 minutes, I had no idea if my kids were OK," she said.

She said she was wrestling with many emotions as she attended the vigil.

Her son Matthew said a teacher ordered students to their cubbies and a police officer came and told them to line up and close their eyes.

"They said there could be bad staff. So we closed our eyes and we went out. When we opened our eyes, we saw a lot of broken glass and blood on the ground."

David Connors, the father of three triplets at the school, said at a vigil that his children were taken into a closet during the lockdown.

"My son said he did hear some gunshots, as many as 10," he said. "The questions are starting to come out. 'Are we safe? Is the bad guy gone?'"

(The Associated Press contributed to this report)

CLICK HERE TO SEE PHOTOS FROM THE NEWTOWN SCHOOL SHOOTING SCENE

---
Get Eyewitness News Delivered

Facebook | Twitter | Newsletters | Text Alerts

Get more Northern Suburbs News »

connecticut, school lockdown, shooting, newtown, newtown school shooting, mass shooting, northern suburbs news, n.j. burkett

• Comment Now
• Email
• Print
• Report a typo
•