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Bishop
Wollersheim's Statement
Friends,
Thank you for your prayers. Here is a brief update.
There is a feeling of numbness about the terrible tragedy which occurred yesterday at Northern Illinois University. Students are saying that they can’t believe that it could happen here in DeKalb.
Our Campus Pastor, Diane Dardón, spent many hours yesterday and well into the early morning, at Kishwaukee Community Hospital ministering to victims of the shooting and their families. Her courage and compassion brought the light of Christ during a very dark time.
When I arrived at Lutheran Campus Ministry in the late afternoon, United Campus Ministries Pastor Dawn Jones, Pastor Sharon Rogers, Mr. Estuardo Dardón and about a half dozen peer ministers were on duty hosting students who dropped into the ministry center for prayer, conversation and some food and drink.
We held candlelight prayer services on the corner outside the Campus Ministry Center at 10:00 p.m. and midnight. These were attended by what seemed to be hundreds of students as well as area pastors and LCM board members and friends. We sang together Amazing Grace and relit each others candles as the wind blew. I believe that is the point of our ministry, relighting the candles in the wind.
The Campus Ministry Center is open 24/7 offering food, prayer, and fellowship. We may ask for volunteers to help us in staffing. We will send another e-mail about those details.
There is a meeting this morning with the University, all the campus ministries and other care providers to discuss ways to respond. Lots of the students have gone home so it seems that next week will be a critical time.
Please continue to pray for students, families, faculty, staff and caregivers.
In Christ,
Gary Wollersheim, Bishop Northern Illinois Synod
ELCA News Service Press Releases |
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February 15, 2008 Lutherans Offer Comfort after Northern Illinois University Shooting 08-014-MRC/FI CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Gary M. Wollersheim, bishop of the Northern Illinois Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), Rockford, said the Lutheran Campus Ministry Center at Northern Illinois University (NIU), DeKalb, is open around the clock "offering food, prayer and fellowship" in response to the Feb. 14 shooting at NIU that left five students dead plus the gunman. "There is a feeling of numbness about the terrible tragedy which occurred yesterday at Northern Illinois University. Students are saying that they can't believe that it could happen here in DeKalb," said Wollersheim in a Feb. 15 update. The Rev. Diane Schmidt Dardn, Lutheran campus pastor at NIU, "spent many hours yesterday and well into the early morning at Kishwaukee Community Hospital ministering to victims of the shooting and their families. Her courage and compassion brought the light of Christ during a very dark time," Wollersheim said. "We held candlelight prayer services on the corner outside the Campus Ministry Center at 10 p.m. and midnight. These were attended by what seemed to be hundreds of students as well as area pastors and Lutheran campus ministry board members and friends. We sang together 'Amazing Grace' and relit each others' candles as the wind blew. I believe that is the point of our ministry, relighting the candles in the wind," said Wollersheim. Care providers from NIU campus ministries and others from the university are meeting Feb. 15 to discuss "ways to respond. Lots of students have gone home, so it seems that next week will be a critical time," Wollersheim said. Associate in Ministry Karin Graddy, communication coordinator, ELCA Northern Illinois Synod, sent an online announcement about a noon vigil Feb. 15 at First Lutheran Church, DeKalb. "Hundreds of kids are coming in and out of the Lutheran Campus Ministry Center in the middle of campus. Many of the kids are staying there 24/7 to pray and be together. Many are awaiting rides home. Many just want to be there and pray," Graddy wrote. At a Feb. 15 news conference on the NIU campus Dr. John Peters, NIU president, said, "We had a plan in place for this sort of thing. Our university police had practiced that plan. They showed that yesterday in the speed and the professionalism of that response. We were dealing with a disturbed individual who intended to do harm on this campus. We did everything we could to ensure the safety of this university, and we are going to continue in that vein." Peters said he has been visiting with the victims of the shooting and their families in the hospital. "Let me say that their response, as you can imagine, is heart-rending, but I was impressed with their internal strength. They will get through this with our help and (with) the help and prayers of a lot of individuals across this country and the world," he said. "We will announce plans for our reopening at a later date," said Peters. "But first, we really have to deal with this healing process," he said. "Let me say to our community, to the NIU community, parents, victims and students, faculty and staff, we will get through this together." - - - Information about the ELCA Northern Illinois Synod is at http://www.nisynod.org on the Web. For information contact: John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org http://www.elca.org/news ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog
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February 15, 2008 ELCA Campus Pastor Ministers with Northern Illinois University Community 08-016-MRC CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Diane Schmidt Dardón, Lutheran campus pastor, Northern Illinois University (NIU), DeKalb, has been ministering with families and friends of students wounded from a shooting on the NIU campus Feb. 14 that left five students dead plus the gunman. Dardón, a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), told the ELCA News Service that she spent the evening and early morning at Kishwaukee Community Hospital, DeKalb, where she stood with families as they identified the bodies of students killed. The Lutheran Campus Ministry Center is "kitty-corner to the building where the shooting took place," said Dardón. The center will be open around the clock "for those who are weary and restless," she said. Outside of the center are six large crosses, draped in red and purple with the message, "We walk in hope, we pray for healing." As students and others stop to view the crosses, they are invited to write a message "to express their grief," Dardón said. Those who stop by the crosses are also invited to visit the Lutheran Campus Ministry Center everyday at 6:30 p.m. for "remembrance prayers," she said. "The crosses have become a huge witness to this community." The Lutheran Campus Ministry Center held prayer vigils Feb. 14 at 10 p.m. and midnight. Soon after the shooting Dardón said she called the center to organize a candlelight vigil, and "students there immediately took action. From that one phone call two prayer vigils were organized. Our church is so amazingly blessed by our young leaders," she said. The Rev. Gary M. Wollersheim, bishop, ELCA Northern Illinois Synod, Rockford, attended a candlelight vigil. - - - Information about the ELCA Northern Illinois Synod is at http://www.nisynod.org/lcm on the Web. For information contact: John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org http://www.elca.org/news ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog |
February 15, 2008|
Northern Illinois Synod, 103
West State Street, Rockford, IL 61101 Questions or comments about this website may be directed to Karin Graddy, Northern Illinois Synod Communication Director |
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