Bells and a minute of silence: Czech Republic commemorates the victims of the worst mass shooting in its history, Archbishop Graubner says love must always win
Speaking in Saint Vitus Cathedral at the religious service for the victims of the shooting at the Faculty of Arts in Prague and related killings, Archbishop Jan Graubner said that while we are all doing our best to build an earthly paradise, the reality of life shows us that evil does exist, that it is not enough to shut our eyes to it, and that no institution or law will ever protect us from it. "If we do not want to succumb to evil, we must know how to stand up to it," he said.
“We are all somehow still in shock from what has happened, in our own way,” Graubner said at the start of the service. “It is necessary that we clearly condemn what happened and, at the same time, that we look forward.”
According to the Archbishop, we each must discover for ourselves what we do to spread evil and find the courage to change our minds. Society, in his view, does not sufficiently perceive causes and consequences and we are losing the ability to listen to others face-to-face.
“We are becoming isolated in an unreal world, in actual loneliness and desolation even if we may be in the middle of a crowd,” the Archbishop said. A rose lay on the altar for each victim during the service.
“We are adding one [rose] here for the person who allowed himself to be so controlled and so manipulated by evil that he became an instrument of terrible death,” Graubner said. “We are expressing our faith that love must always eventually win by doing so.”
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“The life of each person is an enrichment, through its uniqueness, and a part of all our lives, and therefore its loss is irreplaceable. The life of a young person is an unfulfilled possibility to do a great deal of good for others,” Charles University Rector Milena Králíčková said at the end of the mass.
The Rector thanked everybody for their words of support and for actively aiding the emergency medical responders and the members of the Integrated Response System during the events. “Let’s keep helping each other, let’s be good to each other, let’s be considerate of each other and please, let’s be supportive of each other. At these difficult moments, none of us should be left on our own,” she said.
The service was attended by Czech President Petr Pavel, the presidents of both chambers of Parliament and the Mayor of Prague. The Government announced an official day of mourning – flags at authorities and institutions flew at half-mast and black flags were added to them, while church bells tolled at noon.
People paid their respects to the dead and expressed their condolences to the bereaved with a minute of silence at noon. Some cities either cancelled or adjusted their advent activities and television stations also changed their programming.
Religious services commemorating the victims of the tragic attack were also held today in Brno’s Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, in the Cathedral of the Divine Redeemer in Ostrava, and in other locations. Church bells tolled at noon throughout the Czech Republic and the public in many locations paid their respects to the victims of the attack with a minute of silence, as did firefighters, who stood for that minute in their emergency uniforms in front of fire stations.
The mass casualty shooting in the university building in the Old Town of Prague is the most tragic such case in the history of the Czech Republic, costing the lives of 14 people. Another 25 people were injured, some seriously.
The attacker turned his weapon on himself after committing his horrible crime and died as a result; several days prior he had previously killed two random strangers, one of them a two-month-old infant, and killed his own father immediately before travelling to Prague to perpetrate the mass shooting. The Facebook post below shows some of the victims who died Thursday.
