wfn.org | School shootings underscore 'frightening reality,' bishop says

[NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG]

March 7, 2001 News media contact: Tim Tanton·(615)742-5470·Nashville, Tenn.
10-21-71B{115}

A UMNS Report
By Tim Tanton*

For Bishop Mary Ann Swenson, who leads the United Methodist Church in
Southern California, the March 5 school shootings in Santee brought back
memories of a similar tragedy that she dealt with two years earlier while
serving in Colorado.

"It was quite emotional," she said, describing her reaction to the shootings
at Santana High School. The killings left her with a sense of loss and
"continuing agony about violence."

"I keep thinking our schools and our churches should be safe places for
people," she told United Methodist News Service. "To think that schools are
no longer safe places for children and young people is really a frightening
reality."

Swenson leads the United Methodist Church's California-Pacific Annual
Conference, which includes the Santee community, near San Diego. Two years
ago, she was serving in the Rocky Mountain Conference when two boys at
Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., killed 13 people and wounded many
more before committing suicide. 

A 15-year-old freshman, Charles Andrew "Andy" Williams, was to be arraigned
March 7 for the shootings at Santana High School, which left two boys dead
and 13 other people wounded.

United Methodist pastors in Santee, along with the rest of the faith
community, responded immediately to the shootings. They provided counseling
and support, and held prayer services throughout the area.

Young people from several United Methodist churches in the area attend
Santana High School. The grandparents of Randy Gordon, a 17-year-old who was
killed, are members of San Carlos United Methodist Church in San Diego.

Swenson spoke with her cabinet on March 6 about the shootings. Afterward,
she left her office in Pasadena to begin a two-day retreat with clergy to
discuss how to support the pastors in the Santee area and to strengthen
their community with one another. The retreat was held at a conference camp
near San Diego.

The denomination's pastor closest to the situation was the Rev. Gwen
Jones-Lurvey, who leads Santee United Methodist Church. Jones-Lurvey was at
home when she heard that an incident had occurred at Santana High School,
two blocks away. Helicopters were flying overhead, and she could hear
sirens. After learning of the shooting, her first thought was that she
needed to go to the school to see what she could to help and, she said, "to
see if there is some way I can show God's love in this situation." Then she
thought of the kids she knows at Santana High.

For two or three hours afterward, Jones-Lurvey met with students, parents
and city officials at the scene. Much of her remaining time during the day
was spent fielding phone calls. 

That evening, she led a prayer service at Santee Church. The 70 or so
worshippers included youth ministers and many young people, as well as
people from the Salvation Army and other churches around the district. The
names of the shooting victims were taped to the communion rail, and the
group prayed for them and their families. During the 90-minute service,
people also shared their feelings and emotions about what had happened.

"Some of the parents were as distraught as some of the youth, even though
their children had not been injured," Jones-Lurvey said.

The service ended with the singing of "Amazing Grace," followed by "lots of
hugs" and refreshments, the pastor said.

The next day, Jones-Lurvey held her regular chapel service for Santee
Church's 60 to 70 preschool students. She emphasized that in times of anger
it is important to talk to someone. 

Each of the churches in the area is trying to be in ministry to people who
are traumatized by the shootings, Swenson said. Pastoral counselors also are
responding, she said.

Sonrise Community Church gathered volunteers, pastors and licensed
counselors and served as a grief counseling center for youth and parents. A
United Methodist was among the licensed counselors serving there,
Jones-Lurvey said.

When the news broke, United Methodist clergy serving the Littleton area
called the district superintendents and pastors at churches in Santee,
Swenson said. "I was immediately grateful for our connection."

The callers included the Rev. Terry Benedett-Farmer, superintendent of the
Mile High/Pike's Peak District. Littleton is in her district, and she
remembered the support that she and other Colorado clergy drew from the
connectional system in 1999. When she heard about the Santee shootings, she
contacted Swenson and the Rev. Emma Moore-Kochlacs, the district
superintendent in San Diego.
 
During the first hours and days following such a tragedy, the church has a
"valuable ministry of presence," Benedett-Farmer said. "That's what people
remember." For months after the Columbine shooting, people expressed to her
their appreciation for the outpouring of care and help from the churches,
she said.

In the Columbine situation, Benedett-Farmer learned the importance of paying
attention to the church clergy and lay members who were responding to the
tragedy. Resources and help were being provided to the young people and
others affected, but the local church staff people also needed support
"because they were giving and giving and giving," she said.

"Mostly what we have to do is continue to stay close to one another in these
times and walk with each other" through the grief, pain and loss, she said.

For people who want to respond somehow, Swenson has this advice: "The thing
is to love the children and the young people in your own community and to
pay attention to them, to notice when there's a sense of loss and alienation
and brokenness that it really is a precarious time." Each young person
should be able to grow up in an environment of love, care and compassion,
she said.

"One of the most striking things in this situation was all of the warning
signs, and yet (the shooting) still was not eliminated from happening,"
Swenson said.

Jones-Lurvey said it is important to take seriously people who threaten
others or themselves. That's a cry for help, and they need counseling. She
recommends being alert to signs of depression, anger or difficulty that
friends might be experiencing, and letting them know they are loved. As one
teen-ager who had experienced suicidal feelings told her, a hug can make all
the difference.

Swenson also emphasized the importance of developing skills in youth
ministry at different levels of the church, including seminaries and local
congregations. "If you think about it, the kids who are active in their
youth groups and kids who are part of (a) church community are not the kids
who act out in violence," she said. They're the ones who help and respond to
others when violence occurs, whereas the people who become violent are
alienated, she said.

Jones-Lurvey planned on leaving the clergy retreat early in order to be with
her church youth group for its weekly dinner and Bible study meeting on
March 7. A United Methodist counselor was going to attend to let the young
people know that help was available if they needed it.

As she talks with students and parents, Jones-Lurvey said she has a basic
message: "Even in the midst of difficult things, God is with us and will get
us through it."
# # #
*Tanton is news editor for United Methodist News Service.

*************************************
United Methodist News Service
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