Tulsa Catholics pray for, honor victims of Minneapolis church shooting

Tulsans are honoring the two children killed at a Minnesota church shooting last week.

A special mass was held Tuesday at the Holy Family Cathedral in downtown Tulsa, where people prayed for the victims and their families.

WHAT HAPPENED

Two children were killed and more than a dozen people were injured at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on August 27th.

The children killed were eight-year-old Fletcher Merkel and 10-year-old Harper Moyski.

SOLIDARITY

Many of the people who came to the mass were heartbroken by the shooting.

"It's awful, no matter whether you're Catholic or whether you're, whatever, religion or person you are,” said Patrick Schuette.

"I can't put into words how painful it is,” said Lisa Goulden. “I raised a son in a Catholic school who attended all-school mass. So to think about, it's just so hard to imagine and impossible to put words to. It's so incredibly painful."

They want the families to know they won’t stop thinking about those who lost a loved one and those whose lives are forever changed.

"We are with you in spirit and heart,” said Goulden. “We suffer with you. We are offering our prayers for you today, tomorrow, for weeks and months to come."

CHURCH LEADER RESPONSE

Bishop David Konderla has been praying for those impacted.

"We as a Catholic community, we continue to pray for an end to violence, especially violence against children, and that God would bring healing to those who have been so traumatized, especially the parents of the children who were killed,” said Konderla.

Konderla says this shooting has hit the religious community especially hard.

"For all of us who spend time in our churches or our houses of worship striving to form a relationship with God and with each other, to know that there might be people who would try to harm us in precisely that place is very frightening,” said Konderla.

Konderla says there is also an armed security service at Holy Family Cathedral during the school day.

POPE RESPONSE

Pope Leo XIV also talked about the shooting on Sunday and offered prayers for the victims and called for an end to violence.