The Northern Plains District of the Church of the Brethren, which includes the state of Minnesota in its area, joined in a statement of grief from the Minnesota Council of Churches (MCC) following the shooting of children from Annunciation Catholic School on Aug. 27.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The school in Minneapolis, Minn., is just next door to the church where the shooting happened during a celebration of mass to start the new school year. According to an NPR report, 2 children ages 8 and 10 were killed and 17 other people were injured including 3 adults and 14 children between the ages of 6 and 15.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe school shooting in Minneapolis today has broken our hearts,\u201d said district executive minister Tim Button-Harrison in the email in which he shared the statement. \u201cThis afternoon [Aug. 27] the Minnesota Council of Churches and its member denominations including the Church of the Brethren offered these words from Elder Suzanne Kelly, CEO of MCC.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The full statement follows:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere are few sights more beautiful than children lifting their voices in prayer together. In those sacred moments\u2014full of quiet hope and nervous anticipation for a new school year\u2014they are talking with God in innocence and trust. This morning, at Annunciation School, that holy space was pierced by violence, and our community is left heartbroken and shaken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Minnesota Council of Churches and our member denominations grieve deeply with the students, families, teachers, and neighbors whose lives have been forever changed by this tragedy. We weep with those who weep. We lift up in prayer the little ones who are crying out for peace, for healing, and for the safety every child deserves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEven in our sorrow, we will not allow the shadow of violence to overcome the light of love. Together, we remain steadfast in rejecting any act that tears at the fabric of our schools, churches, and neighborhoods. And we stand shoulder to shoulder with our brothers and sisters in faith\u2014including the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis and Archbishop Bernard Hebda\u2014seeking God\u2019s comfort, strength, and wisdom as we walk through this valley together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMay we be united in our prayers and our tears and resolute in our hearts to build a world of nonviolence for all God\u2019s children.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n ———-<\/p>\n\n\n\n Find more Church of the Brethren news:<\/p>\n\n\n The Northern Plains District of the Church of the Brethren, which includes the state of Minnesota in its area, joined in a statement of grief from the Minnesota Council of Churches (MCC) following the shooting of children from Annunciation Catholic School on Aug. 27.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"yes","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1703],"tags":[2443,3424,1202,1263,2437,3423,1898,3214],"wf_post_folders":[],"class_list":["post-25866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church-of-the-brethren-newsline","tag-gun-violence","tag-minnesota-council-of-churches","tag-northern-plains-district","tag-peace","tag-school-shootings","tag-shooting","tag-prayer","tag-impact"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25866"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25866\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25867,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25866\/revisions\/25867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25866"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=25866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}