 
|
|||||||||||||
              
|
Churches offer help, prayers Pastors counsel workers at McDonald's, others Thursday, March 02, 2000 By Ann Rodgers-Melnick, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
When the secretary at the Christian Church of Wilkinsburg told the Rev. Janet Hellner-Burris about the gunman at the nearby McDonald's, the two of them prayed together for everyone who was in danger before Hellner-Burris called her husband to make sure he was safe.
Then the Disciples of Christ pastor began calling all the ministers of Wilkinsburg together to aid those whose worlds were shattering because of the violence. When they learned that McDonald's was sending its employees to the nearby Covenant Church of Pittsburgh for crisis counseling, all of the pastors went immediately to Covenant.
Throughout the afternoon, Wilkinsburg pastors aided those in crisis, prayed for healing and made plans to prevent the shooting from inflaming old fears of violence. In Downtown Pittsburgh today, Catholic Bishop Donald Wuerl will offer a noon Mass at St. Mary of Mercy to pray for the victims and their families.
Yesterday, McDonald's not only asked Covenant Church to open its doors, but sent a team of support personnel to help, said the Rev. Chett Williams, an associate pastor at Covenant.
"It was all hands on deck, just trying to help folks out," he said.
The survivors "were all shook up. They are trying to work through it...wondering if they could have done something or why it happened. Some of their questions you really can't answer."
While some pastors simply listened, others helped survivors notify loved ones, gave them rides home, and made sure that someone was there to stay with them when they arrived.
"We surrounded them with love and prayer and listened to them and cried with them," Hellner-Burris said.
"We all exchanged phone numbers so that they have any number of ministers they can call day or night to support them. We emphasized that this was not one church responding, but that it was the whole body of Christ."
At St. Stephen's Episcopal Church on Pitt Street, the Rev. Diane Shepard was alerted by a call from a parishioner. When she saw a police blockade one block away, she went to offer help.
She was horrified to discover that the gunman was holed up in a medical office whose board she served on. Then she spotted most of her friends on the staff huddled together in the rain without their coats, which they left behind when they fled. They were shaking, but not just from the cold.
"The man had charged into their office and threatened a number of them," she said. "I invited them up to the church -- a group of maybe six or seven. I offered them hot tea and crackers and telephones," she said.
They were also worried that three employees who had not left with them might have been taken hostage in the building, she said. But it turned out that the others had also managed to flee.
Because of reports that the gunman may have wanted to kill whites, Shepard said she was turning her attention to quelling any racial tension that may arise.
"He's just one person, but it can make those people who are inclined to be afraid or bigoted more so," she said.
A bit farther away, at the Hosanna House community center, the staff was in its Wednesday prayer meeting when they learned the news.
About 30 people remained in prayer throughout the crisis, while the rest of the staff tended to the safety of several hundred people in the center's day care center, health clinic and other programs, said Leon Haynes, the executive director.
"We tried not to panic but warned people who tried to leave the facility and watched the people who came in," he said.
All doors were locked. The staff admitted only people they knew well, and it was difficult to turn away strangers who may have been scared and looking for safety, Haynes said.
|
||||||||||||
