Title: Lutherans Offer Comfort after Northern Illinois University Shooting ELCA NEWS SERVICE
February 15, 2008
Lutherans Offer Comfort after Northern Illinois University Shooting 08-014-MRC/FI
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Gary M. Wollersheim, bishop of the Northern Illinois Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), Rockford, said the Lutheran Campus Ministry Center at Northern Illinois University (NIU), DeKalb, is open around the clock "offering food, prayer and fellowship" in response to the Feb. 14 shooting at NIU that left five students dead plus the gunman.
"There is a feeling of numbness about the terrible tragedy which occurred yesterday at Northern Illinois University. Students are saying that they can't believe that it could happen here in DeKalb," said Wollersheim in a Feb. 15 update.
The Rev. Diane Schmidt Dardón, Lutheran campus pastor at NIU, "spent many hours yesterday and well into the early morning at Kishwaukee Community Hospital ministering to victims of the shooting and their families. Her courage and compassion brought the light of Christ during a very dark time," Wollersheim said.
"We held candlelight prayer services on the corner outside the Campus Ministry Center at 10 p.m. and midnight. These were attended by what seemed to be hundreds of students as well as area pastors and Lutheran campus ministry board members and friends. We sang together 'Amazing Grace' and relit each others' candles as the wind blew. I believe that is the point of our ministry, relighting the candles in the wind," said Wollersheim.
Care providers from NIU campus ministries and others from the university are meeting Feb. 15 to discuss "ways to respond. Lots of students have gone home, so it seems that next week will be a critical time," Wollersheim said.
Associate in Ministry Karin Graddy, communication coordinator, ELCA Northern Illinois Synod, sent an online announcement about a noon vigil Feb. 15 at First Lutheran Church, DeKalb.
"Hundreds of kids are coming in and out of the Lutheran Campus Ministry Center in the middle of campus. Many of the kids are staying there 24/7 to pray and be together. Many are awaiting rides home. Many just want to be there and pray," Graddy wrote.
At a Feb. 15 news conference on the NIU campus Dr. John Peters, NIU president, said, "We had a plan in place for this sort of thing. Our university police had practiced that plan. They showed that yesterday in the speed and the professionalism of that response. We were dealing with a disturbed individual who intended to do harm on this campus. We did everything we could to ensure the safety of this university, and we are going to continue in that vein."
Peters said he has been visiting with the victims of the shooting and their families in the hospital. "Let me say that their response, as you can imagine, is heart-rending, but I was impressed with their internal strength. They will get through this with our help and (with) the help and prayers of a lot of individuals across this country and the world," he said.
"We will announce plans for our reopening at a later date," said Peters. "But first, we really have to deal with this healing process," he said. "Let me say to our community, to the NIU community, parents, victims and students, faculty and staff, we will get through this together." - - -
Information about the ELCA Northern Illinois Synod is at http://www.nisynod.org on the Web.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org http://www.elca.org/news ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog