Rockhurst holds prayer service week after Chiefs parade shooting
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Two universities joined together to hold a multi-faith service Wednesday on the Rockhurst University campus.
The service was meant to be a time of prayer in the wake of the shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs parade one week prior.
“We may be coming from different faith traditions but that all of us have very similar goals,” said Tamara Falicov, dean of UMKC’s School of Humanities and Social Sciences.
The service included faculty from UMKC and Rockhurst, students and time for singing and praying.
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Father Stephen Hess said that it was great to see many different faiths worshipping and praying together.
“No matter who we are, we have a God who loves us and created us each with a great sense of dignity and that’s how we need to treat one another,” Hess said.
Speakers from various faiths offered prayers from Judaism, Islam, Catholicism, Protestantism and more. Falicov said that it’s services like this that help heal the community.
“The way that violence is happening all around us it’s so difficult to process. Coming together brings us strength in numbers and we need that right now while we’re grieving,” one speaker said.
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“We are a large city with a big heart and a community feel,” Steph Hart said.
Hart is a success coach at Rockhurst. She said that the event proved something to the entire community.
“There are safe spaces here and there are people to talk to. [It showed] how important it is to have that conversation and to recognize that people are hurting,” she said.
Some, like Hess, prayed for peace and unity.
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“Somehow, that we can come together. Despite what our beliefs are, what our political views are, and to come together as a community. And to not be so polarized because that brings about violence,” he said.
Others, like Falicov, said that she wants to see action from the community.
“Think about ways that we can work on this, that we come together and realize that we can’t have this happen so much, it’s too much,” she said.
