The grief-stricken flock to houses of worship

March 6, 2001

SANTEE -- As the sun set on a terrible day of lives cut short and innocence lost, the doors of Santee's churches began to open.

From the modest Santee United Methodist Church to the sprawling Sonrise Community Church, people gathered to pray and sing and do what people do when they are seeking a balm for a wound that cannot heal on its own.

Rosa Medina, mother of a Santana High School sophomore, came to the Methodist church service to give thanks. "It could have been my daughter," she said, her voice choked with emotion.

Fourteen-year-old Amy Boggioni, a freshman at Santana, came to pray for those who were hurt and killed. And for someone else -- the classmate who is accused of turning a gun on these students.

"He was my friend, and I know if he knew the consequences, he wouldn't have done it," she sobbed.

As the Methodist service began, the Rev. Gwen Jones-Lurvey, the church's senior pastor, walked from one side of the altar to the other, touching the names of the dead and wounded that had been taped to a rail. As she went, she prayed for them -- and their assailant.

More than 200 people gathered at Guardian Angel Roman Catholic Church in Santee and about that many were at Magnolia Wesleyan Church for a forum sponsored by KGTV-Channel 10.

But the biggest gathering was at Sonrise Community Church, where several hundred people turned out for a community prayer service, where the names of the dead and injured were distributed on lavender paper.

Tanisha Lee and Jennica Pohlman sat side by side toward the front. They are alumni of Santana High and came to pay their respects. "We grew up here and this is our town," Pohlman said.

And in the back sat Mel Bennett, who is on vacation here from a Denver suburb -- not far from Columbine High School. He lived there in 1999 when the shootings occurred, and came to support the kids.

His advice for Santee: "Stick together and listen to each other ... and lean on God."

It had been a busy day for the people of God here.

At one point yesterday morning, there were more than a dozen ministers at the shopping center where students and teachers and parents spilled over in the aftermath of the Santana shooting spree.

Father Michael Cunnane's clerical collar was like a magnet for students. "They all came running up, crying and hugging," says Cunnane, who for nearly 15 years has been at Guardian Angel.

He baptized many of these kids. Watched them grow up. And now he was comforting them in the valley of the shadow of death. "It's so sad," he said.

The ministers embraced crying teen-agers. Helped frantic parents find their kids. Handed over their cellular phones so students could call home. And prayed.

Lt. Jerry Gass of the Salvation Army church in Santee was one of the first to arrive. "I just did the best I could to go around to kids in obvious distress," he said.

Many of the kids were too shocked to speak. "I tried to get them to articulate what happened," he said. "They were unable to."

Gass discovered what many other ministers would discover yesterday -- that their greatest gift was presence. "The best that we can do is just be there," he said. " . . . In those situations, we're just there to do what we can."

Cunnane said he didn't say much to the students. "Just told them we were here with them." One boy told him how the shooter pointed the gun at him. "He said, 'Thank God, I'm alive.' "

The priest responded with the same words: "Thank God, you're alive."

Why did he go to help?

"It's very important because these kids, lots of them, have a connection with church and to see their pastor there or a religious sister, they're so delighted," said Cunnane, who went with Sister Mary Potter.

The Rev. Dennis Martins, associate pastor of Friends Christian Fellowship in Santee, found two sisters, students at Santana, who attend his congregation. "I just hugged them and told them I loved them," he said. "They were crying . . . it was a very traumatic situation."

In times like this, the role of the religious community is to bring comfort, Martins said. "To bring God's grace and mercy into this situation. Just to be there to answer questions."

But what are the answers?

Last night, at the Sonrise Community Church service, Santee Mayor Randy Voepel spoke of pulling together, of having faith and of healing. "But the main thing," he said, "is we want to just know why."

At the Channel 10 forum, psychologist Michael Mantell warned the audience that "it's not going to be business as usual. Make sure you touch your child and hug your child and give your child a kiss."

What happened yesterday is not supposed to happen anywhere, Jones-Lurvey said. "But it does, and we have to respond with love and care with one another in this kind of situation and prevent it from happening in the future."