Mourners gathered in prayer last night at Fort Hood to pray, grieve and remember. Chaplains have been on duty around the clock since a gunman opened fire into a crowd of soldiers and civilian Army personnel around 1:30 p.m. CST Thursday.
Episcopal Army Chaplain David Scieder told Episcopal News Service that Chaplains are “doing 24-hour operations to provide pastoral care, and grief counseling for anyone affected, particularly grieving families and first responders.”
Bishop George Packard, Suffragan Bishop for Federal Chaplains wrote in his blog:
I spoke to Chaplain Dave Scheider on his way to work early this morning; he was composing what might be waiting at the Family Life Center where the Army wisely placed him (postponing his retirement) because of his gifts and the special need for soldier support. He said everyone was in lock down yesterday–isolated from the news–and headed for the one of the four gates and home when the alert was lifted. The shudder of trauma will be arriving as they face this weekend.
I ask your prayers for the victims and their families, primarily. May God receive them and wrap them in gracious care. Please pray for our chaplains: Jorge Budez (now deployed), George Holston, Ira Houck, Dave Scheider, Ted Valcourt, Christine Waweru and David Waweru and their families.
As well please pray for our ongoing faith community at Fort Hood. It is an indomitable congregation, always faithful in serving the troops. Fr. Paul Moore at St. Christopher’s Church in Killeen, Texas is our abiding friend and supporter as is his parish family; please pray for them.
Episcopal News Service reports on their ministry.
Chaplain Ira Houck, of the Diocese of Bethlehem, described the scene inside the Soldiers Readiness Processing Center minutes after the shooting and said that in the midst of the horror the place was also “strangely sacred , evoking images of the blood that sealed God’s covenant with Abraham (in Genesis 15) and the redeeming blood of Christ’s redemptive sacrifice.”
Before entering “a roomful of frightened” survivors, he (Houck) passed evidence of the carnage—bloody handprints on the wall, blood on the floor and signs that the wounded and dying had been dragged to safety by their comrades.
Inside, people were crying and paralyzed by fear. In what became 12 hours of individual and small-group counseling with medical personnel, Houck said he “was confident and felt strong because I knew that Christ was there before me and I was coming to join him.”
Grieving health care providers “told stories of how soldiers dove in front of them and received bullets [so] that they wouldn’t die,” Houck said, adding that he learned that the gunman targeted those in uniform.
As health-care workers relieved their trauma and other chaplains and social workers joined Houck, “of course, we were all remembering the young people who died in that room.”
“They were unarmed and they were there to serve the country and some of them gave their lives to protect others,” Houck said. “I don’t think we’ll ever know who but I know that their stories still live.”
Read the rest here.