As the church bells rang at Holy Name, Windsor Terrace, and a light cool breeze blew, parishioners stood outside the church with lighted candles and remembered.
This was last Monday evening, one week after the bombings at the Boston Marathon. Father Jim Cunningham, pastor, organized an interfaith prayer service for all the people who were affected by the evil act of terrorism. He invited religious leaders from the neighborhood. One by one, they came to the microphone and prayed in his own way.
Rev. Alex Rivera, senior pastor at the Park Slope Christian center, read from the Psalms. Rev. David Parsons, pastor of St. John-St. Matthew Emmanuel Lutheran Church, led an a capella rendition of Amazing Grace. Rev. Steven Paulikas, of All Saints Episcopal, spoke about the symbol of light overcoming the darkness, goodness defeating evil.
After all the words, those assembled lit their candles from the Paschal Candle and observed four minutes of silence, one for each of the murdered victims in Boston – Krystle Campbell, Police Officer Sean Collier, Lingzi Lu and eight-year-old Martin Richard.
Among those in the crowd was attorney Liam Malanaphy, a member of St. Saviour’s parish and a Scout leader with Troop 237 at Holy Name parish, who had run the Boston Marathon. He had been reveling in the excitement of having completed the 26.2-mile course in three hours and 11 minutes, the best time of his 25 marathon runs.
He had already left the finish-line area when news of the incident began to spread. He was at a meeting center when other runners began to report that the train wasn’t running and the phones weren’t working. At first, he heard it was a local fire. And then he didn’t want to believe what he was hearing about bombs.
When word of the memorial service was announced in church, Malanaphy said, “I knew I had to attend. It was personal. It’s still incredible to think that something I’m involved in was under attack.”
Of course, next year he plans to run again in Boston. “I can’t wait. If they said it was tonight, I would be there. I identify with that defiant spirit of not changing a thing just because of the actions of a few deranged individuals.”
While hymns were sung and prayers recited, Malanaphy proudly wore his marathon medal. Ann Dolan passed out small flags for participants to display. Park Slope’s own Jim O’Dea crooned the National Anthem and America the Beautiful. Sharon Smith closed the service with the hymn, Let There Be Peace on Earth.
It was an all-American scene on Prospect Park West: flag-waving parishioners gathering at their church to pray for those tragically murdered and hoping for a more peaceful future.
