Interfaith vigil honors those who have lost their lives because of gun violence in the United States

IC Photo/Linda Petersen

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At the Dec. 9 interfaith gun vigil at All Saints Episcopal Church in Salt Lake City, participants lit candles in memory of the victims who lost their lives at Sandy Hook Elementary School six years ago and all the other victims of gun violence throughout the years.

SALT LAKE CITY — Local Catholics joined with members of other faiths Dec. 9 at an interfaith vigil to honor those who have lost their lives in the United States because of gun violence.

The service at All Saints Episcopal Church commemorated the sixth anniversary of the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School, where 20 children and eight adults were killed and an additional two people were injured. Participants were given cards with the photo, name and age of people who have lost their lives at recent mass shootings: at Sandy Hook in Newtown, Conn.; at Marjory Stoeman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., where 17 were killed in February of this year; and the Nov. 7 tragedy at a bar in Thousand Oaks, Calif., where 12 were killed.

“Tonight we honor those young lives lost or changed by gun violence in this country,” said Nancy Farrar Halden, chairperson of the board of the Gun Violence Prevention Center of Utah. “Since Sandy Hook, over a half million people have been injured or killed by gun violence. That’s staggering.”

At the vespers service at All Saints, there were songs of light, readings, meditations and prayers for the victims. Participants also lit taper candles in their memory.

Two members of March For our Lives Utah, high school students Asha Pruitt and Zeia Woodruff, read “A Student’s Prayer for Peace” as well as selections from the writings of the prophet Isaiah (2:2-5).

The event was sponsored by the Episcopal Diocese of Utah, the Gun Violence Prevention Center of Utah, States United to Prevent Gun Violence and March for our Lives Utah.

Among those who attended the service were Cecelia and Jim Tonna, parishioners at St. Catherine Newman Center. They had been unaware of the vigil, but had gone to the church  to seek out the like-minded faithful in other congregations to join in worship together.

“This is nourishment that we need,” Cecelia Tonna said.

Transplants from San Francisco, the Tonnas said interfaith worship is important to them.

“Diversity is important,” Jim Tonna said. “We believe the healing starts from below.”

Dee Roland,  a parishioner at St. Thomas More Catholic Church and a member of the Gun Violence Prevention Center board, also attended the vigil. She believes it is important for people of all faiths to come together in this way to work for peace and an end to gun violence.

“As a Catholic this is important to me because too many people are dying and being injured from guns,” she said. “This is part of our pro-life ethic as Catholics. We revere life from conception to natural death, and abhor violence.”

At the end of the vigil, participants said a final prayer together. It read:

“Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who work, or watch, or weep this night, and give your angels charge over those who sleep. Tend the sick, Lord Christ; give rest to the weary, bless the dying, sooth the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the joyous; and all for your love’s sake. Amen.”