In Newtown, Sunday services honor victims of tragedy

• Early services draw hundreds of worshipers
• Police officers stationed in church parking lot
• Sign in the sanctuary says of victims: 'You will never be forgotten'

NEWTOWN, Conn. — Dealing with the pain of the school shooting that claimed 28 lives will take faith, support and joyous Christmas celebrations, church leaders said at the first Sunday services held since the tragedy.

At places of worship around town, people gathered in pews, crying, kneeling and hugging each other through services that focused on remembering the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, uniting the community, celebrating the meaning of Christmas and preventing similar disasters.

Yet even this beleaguered town's day of worship provided a moment of fear when congregants at St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church fled the building, saying they were told there was a bomb threat. Police with guns drawn surrounded the church. No injuries were reported, but the church canceled all events for the day.

Earlier in the day, services at St. Rose, much like other places of worship in the area, were focused on the tragedy.

"All the world's eyes are fixated on us, and they must see the faith that keeps us alive," the Rev. Peter Cameron told more than 300 people who packed the pews at St. Rose. "The certainty of joy is that evil does not have the last word, that love wins. The most reasonable thing we can do is live that love in faith."

On Friday, police say, Adam Lanza killed his mother at home, shot his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School and killed 20 children and six adults before committing suicide.

Throughout Sunday's Mass, Cameron and other clergymen offered prayers for the victims and urged those gathered to take special care to support those around them. Soon after the Mass began, Cameron announced that the husband of one of the teachers killed was present at the service. He asked parishioners to pray for the man and the children he must now raise alone.

Letters of support from several nearby archdioceses were read aloud, and a message from Pope Benedict XVI expressed "his heartfelt grief and the assurance of his closeness in prayer to the victims and their families, and to all those affected by the shocking event."

Cameron said he is still struggling to understand how the gunman could have been so lost without anyone knowing.

"All of us have to be deeply united and pay attention to those who are hurting," he said. "We have lost those that we love but we know they are living forever. St. Rose now has saints in heaven."

He added that while the holidays will be tough to endure, people should focus on the meaning of Christmas. "We need Christmas more than ever," Cameron said, adding that Jesus' presence would aid the community.

Monsignor Robert Weiss, who has been counseling people since Friday, later asked parishioners to pray for the church's priests who must lead several funeral services in the coming days.

Weiss also made an announcement that brought many, including himself, to tears: The church is looking for more volunteers for its Christmas pageant. A young girl who was supposed to be an angel in the pageant was among those killed.

During religious education classes at Congregation Adath Israel, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren came to speak to older children, synagogue president Andrew Paley said. Oren spoke to children about how Israelis cope with loss from acts of violence, Paley said.

Noah Pozner, the youngest student killed and the only Jewish child, will be buried Monday in Fairfield. The family are former members of the 100-member congregation, Paley said.

"As a synagogue, we mourn the loss of Noah. They are former members of ours, but once a member always a member. Our rabbi is with the family now consoling them and helping them plan. They're very emotional, as you can imagine.''

A saddened, tearful congregation at Christ The King Lutheran Church was uplifted this morning by children performing their annual Christmas pageant.

Smiles broke out on faces of some of the more than 200 worshipers as the children sang Silent Night and Hark The Herald Angels Sing, and nearly everyone laughed when Pastor Rob Morris made humorous remarks about their favorite Christmas songs.

Throughout the service and a discussion afterward about the school shootings, Morris frequently had to reach for tissues to wipe away tears. It's been an extremely difficult time for the young pastor who, for the past two days, has tried to comfort the family of 6-year-old shooting victim Charlotte Bacon.

Morris said he also provided guidance to the family of another victim, 6-year-old Jack Pinto. Pinto had been baptized, and "I assured them that Jack would be saved," Morris said.

More than 300 people packed the Newtown Congregational Church as Rev. Matthew Crebbin urged parishioners to embrace each other and the community to alleviate pain.

"We need now more than ever to remind ourselves that we are one community," Crebbin said at the start of a 90-minute service that was punctuated by the sounds of sniffling from the pews. Many wiped their eyes throughout the service and clutched each other at the end.

"We feel the suffering this day because we love, because we love those children who were lost," Crebbin said. "That is the heartbreaking news. The love which causes our hearts to break is the love that helps us heal."

"Because God gives us freedom, some of us do ugly things, and we cannot be protected from them," Crebbin said. "But God gives us maximum support. That doesn't solve everything in this moment. It will only happen as we could that love and care for each other."

Attendance was roughly double the normal turnout, and included Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Rep. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who was recently elected to the Senate, and people such as Diane Lauricella of nearby Norwalk, who was visiting her mother in Newtown. "I wanted to be in a house of faith because it's a time of so much stress and so many questions."

At Newtown United Methodist Church, parishioners were counseled to rely on the support of friends, family, fellow church members — and even strangers — during this dark time.

The Rev. Mel Kawakami began the service by addressing the grief and broken-heartedness that is pervasive in the Newtown community.

He spoke of forgiveness for those who've committed terrible crimes such as killing children. But he also admitted that he personally is still working on getting to that emotional state.

Kawakami, the senior pastor, spoke of the incredible sadness those in this area feel. Yet, he added that the deep capacity humans have for such sorrow also means having a large capacity for better feelings such as care and love.

Today, Gaudete Sunday, would normally be a joyous time in anticipation of Advent Sunday and Christmas, he said. But he said it is OK to shed tears and to express outrage at evil.

"Where is the joy, oh God? There is no joy today. Today is a day of remembrance, grief. Now is a time for tears," Kawakami said. "I can only remind you that the Bible is filled with tears."

The Rev. Martin McLee, the Methodist bishop for Newtown who came to today's service to offer his support, also emphasized the importance of leaning on others. He advised grievers to take their time with the mourning, and to do what is right for them. "Nobody can tell you when to stop the tears," he said.

When it was time for the sermon at Trinity Episcopal Church, priest Kathleen Adams-Shepherd headed not to the pulpit but to the church's center aisle. "I just have this longing to be here, with you,'' she said.

Two children who were killed Friday will be memorialized at Trinity this week. Ben Wheeler, whose family attends the church, and Madeleine Hsu, whose family did not belong to a local church, Adams-Shepherd said.

"Every one of those precious lives is being held in the greatest love that could possibly be,'' she said.

To help families who never expected to have to bury their young children, the church has received offers of cemetery plots and funeral services are being donated, Adams-Shepherd said.

She asked the congregation to hold on to glimmers of faith in the face of sorrow. "To lose this faith is for darkness to win. From what I have seen this weekend, darkness has not won.''

Members of the congregation who read Scripture and led prayers did so through tears. Adams-Shepherd paused her sermon for a moment for everyone to hug each other.

"God wrestles goodness and life and hope out of the darkest moments,' she said. "Try to see just a pinpoint of light, if you can,'' she said. Advent and Hanukkah are seasons of hope, she said. "Our children need this season to be what it should be. … Jesus will come, no matter what. And so will Santa. Amen.''