Oregon diocese calls for prayers, transformation following shooting

Posted Oct 2, 2015

[Diocese of Oregon] Bishop Michael Hanley of the Episcopal Diocese of Oregon has extended prayers for the victims, their families, and all the students and faculty of Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, after a gunman opened fire at the school Oct. 1, reportedly killing nine people and injuring seven.

“Gun violence has intruded into too many places where people have always felt safe. As people of God we struggle with how to respond,” said Hanley in a statement posted on the diocesan website. “We call for more vigilance, fewer guns, tighter controls, and all the other responses our hearts and our faith call us to. But, in the end, we find ourselves again faced with the blood of innocents. We know this will never end until our faith in the risen Christ has overthrown the voices of violence and fear that seemingly compel us to stock our lives with firearms.

Hanley called for the response to be one that’s grounded in “the transformative power of love” and asked for a commitment “to ending all of these expressions of hatred and self-loathing. To the people of Roseburg, Umpqua Community College, and the community as a whole: Know that we are with you in your sorrow, loss and fear and offer healing prayers for your tomorrow.”

St. George’s Episcopal Church in Roseburg has opened its doors as a place of prayer and healing for all the community.


Visit the Diocese of Oregon’s website for related counselling and worship resources.


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Comments (8)

  1. The Rev Donald Heacock says:

    Colleges are a liberals delight. A gun free zone. Did anyone ever think they are a magnet for these madmen. They are armed and 4,000 others are not. We call that shooting fish in a barrel ! The shooter hated Christians. ISIS hates Christians. You cannot reason with hate. I know what Jesus says about love but he threw the money changers out of the temple. . Oregon is like my home in Western Kansas. The police can be miles away. As for me and my house we intend to serve the Lord armed.

    1. The Rev. Barbara Briggs says:

      Jesus let Judas go do what he needed to do without even getting up from the table, let alone getting into an argument about it, or escalating their differing views to the point of violence of any kind. Jesus told Peter to put away his sword when the soldier came to arrest him. Jesus didn’t reason with hate. Jesus loved the hater.

      1. Ed Lane says:

        6,000,000 sic million Jews died without much of a struggle. Your reasoning is leaky when faced with reality. I dare say you wouldn’t be open and loving to a rapist. A liberal is a conservative who hasn’t been mugged.

    2. Thomas Peters says:

      Rev. Heacock: Umpqua Community College was not a gun-free zone. A bill to allow colleges and universities to declare themselves gun-free zones was defeated in the Oregon legislature. Additionally, not all colleges are “a liberals [sic] delight.” Some colleges are indeed very liberal with respect to their politics and culture. Other aren’t. UCC is in Douglas County, a rural and (relatively) conservative part of the state (I know, I was born and raised in Klamath Falls, about an hour away). In 2012 Douglas county went 62.3% in for Romney. I can’t imagine that the majority of UCC students are particularly liberal. if your argument is that the UCC administration is liberal, I would ask how you could possibly know this, and why you think the politics or culture of the UCC administration could have possibly have contributed to this tragedy. The views you express here look to me like a list of conservative talking points, and not an actual attempt to (1) run the facts to ground and (2) reach a conclusion from those facts. My two cents.

      1. Ed Lane says:

        Your points look like liberal, socialist talking points straight from the White House. BTW, obama got picketed today when he showed up for his photo op/crocodile tear appearance, even some of the victim’s families had no use for him.

        1. Thomas Peters says:

          Ed:
          My point was that Rev. Heacock’s argument was premised on (1) a factually incorrect assumption that UCC was a gun free zone, and (2) a logically incorrect premise that political liberalism (or cultural liberalism, or both — Heacock was not clear on this) somehow contributed to the UCC incident. My argument doesn’t come from the White House, and it isn’t composed of talking points.

          Having said this, I think I stepped outside the bounds of decorum with my “talking points” comment. It was antagonistic and not helpful. I apologize to Rev. Heacock for the comment.

          What is your evidence that Obama appearance at UCC was simply a photo op/crocodile tears event? I understand that you may not like the man, but what is your *evidence* that he doesn’t really care about the lives lost at UCC? What would make you say such a thing?

  2. Ron Davin says:

    A number of the victims, with their last breath, confessed their faith. How would we have behaved in a similar situation? We need to honor these victims, these martyrs, this Sunday, but I fear we won’t.

  3. Ed Lane says:

    We need to be careful mixing religion and politics. While the Bishop’s concerns are heart-felt some of his reasoning is very foolish.

    If every Jew had met the Germans with a gun in their hand how many would have been saved from the camps? Unknown, yes; but Hitler confiscated the guns before the round up. Let’s be careful of Herr Obama and his minions.

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