The hate-filled and deadly attack on those worshippers at the Tree of
Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh yesterday was a vicious and appalling act
of anti-Semitism, an attack on Jewish people everywhere.
Our hearts and prayers go out to the families of these Jewish brothers
and sisters who mourn the tragic loss of loved ones and who have once
again to come to terms with the intrinsic and despicable evil of racism
and religious bigotry. We express our solidarity, too, with all
the members of the Jewish community here in the Seattle area. They are
our friends and their loss is our loss, their grief is our grief.
In the end, the brutal attack on worshippers in Pittsburgh was an attack
not only on our Jewish brothers and sisters who for far too long have
been the victims of the most vicious forms of bigotry and hatred
imaginable, it is also an attack on all people whose right to worship
God according to their conscience and their tradition came under attack
yesterday.
May our prayer together this morning unite us in our resolve to fight
against every form of hatred and bigotry; may it recommit us to building
bridges of understanding in this hopelessly fractured and divided nation
of ours, and may it be an act of love for and solidarity with our Jewish
friends, an earnest prayer for their healing and hope.
Father Michael G. Ryan
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