Schools plan prayer services for Florida shooting victims

By William T. Clew | The Catholic Free Press  

Students around the country have been moved to action since the Florida school shooting last month. Locally, prayer services will be held at several Catholic schools on March 14 in memory of the 17 students and school staff killed by gunfire Febuary 14 at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
David Perda, diocesan superintendent of  schools, said the programs are perfectly appropriate planned observances by the individual Catholic schools. 
The schools participating are St. Bernadette Elementary School in Northborough, St. Stephen Elementary School in Worcester, Trinity Catholic Academy in Southbridge, St. Joseph Elementary School in Webster and Holy Name Central Catholic Junior/Senior High School in Worcester and St. John’s High School in Shrewsbury. 
At St. Bernadette’s, eighth-graders will take part in a procession into the church, with 17 students carrying roses which will be placed in a vase at the base of the altar. There will be an opening prayer, followed by 17 minutes of silent contemplation and silent prayer for the shooting victims and for peace, according to Deborah O’Neil, principal. The observance will end with a prayer.
At St. Stephen’s, the students will attend a prayer service in the church that will last at least 17 minutes, according to Joanne Mallozzi, principal. There will be three hymns with prayers between the hymns, she said. The children’s choir will take part.
At Trinity Catholic, Josie Citta, principal, said the program is in the planning stages. However, she said the student body will attend a brief prayer service in the school gymnasium.
At St. Joseph in Webster, students in grades 5 through 8 will gather at the statue of St. John Paul II, “the children’s pope,” principal Michael F. Hackenson said.
They will pray the rosary, led by the Children of Mary, a group of girls who are St. Joseph students, he said. If the weather is inclement the observance will be held in the school.
At Holy Name High, there will be a 17-minute prayer service and silent reflection at the statue of Christ on the lawn in front of the school entrance. Edward Reynolds, headmaster, said the program was organized by the students.
Superintendent Perda said the Catholic schools individually planned the activities, and they are not walkouts.
The Worcester School Department has sanctioned an organized walkout by city school pupils, according to news reports. The sanctioned walkout will allow students to leave their classrooms together for 17-minutes in honor of those killed in Florida on Feb. 14.
Mayor Joseph Petty, who also chairs the School Committee, was quoted in news reports as saying, “I just want to make sure the Worcester public schools are out in front of the emerging nationwide response to the Parkland massacre.”
City schools superintendent Maureen Binienda said her administration is letting students, staff and parents know the walkout is intended to be an “organized, respectful event.”

CNS PHOTO: Students and parents arrive for voluntary campus orientation Feb. 25 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. (CNS photo/Angel Valentin, Reuters)