- previous
- 1
- 2
- | single page
Father Luke Suarez, a new priest who was recently ordained, led the service on Monday morning. Other members of the church's clergy were occupied with counseling families and helping make arrangements for three funerals scheduled to be held at the large brick church this week.
WHO THEY WERE: Shooting victims
Brian Wallace, spokesman for the diocese of Bridgeport, Conn. which oversees 83 parishes, including Saint Rose of Lima, said that the Saint Rose church will be arranging eight funerals in the coming weeks.
A week before Christmas, one of the busiest times of the year, funeral services are planned at the church for Jessica Rekos on Tuesday, Daniel Gerard Barden on Wednesday and Catherine Violet Hubbard on Thursday.
"We'll get by, the people will get by," said Wallace.Across the state and nation, schoolchildren began returning to classrooms as educators grappled with how to deal with what seems inexplicable.
Most schools in Connecticut had extra police and special police guards to assure parents worried about security and will offer a special curriculum to help teachers deal with curious and often frightened pupils.
“In many instances, teachers will want to discuss the events because they are so recent and so significant, but they won’t necessarily know how to go about it,” Connecticut Education Commissioner Stefan Pryor said.
It was more than just this town and state that were grieving and wondering how to deal with the issue. The New York Stock Exchange began its day on Monday with a moment of silence to commemorate events. Teachers across the nation prepared themselves to be strong for their students and for questions and fears they would face in the classroom.
"It's going to be a tough day,” Richard Cantlupe, an American history teacher at Westglades Middle School in Parkland, Fla. told the Associated Press. “This was like our 9/11 for schoolteachers.”
ALSO:
Bomb threat at Newtown church renews sadness, anger
Obama speaks in Connecticut, says, 'We will have to change'
Indiana man who threatened to kill students had 47 guns, police say