MARYSVILLE – When Father Dwight Lewis got off a plane in Los Angeles Oct. 24 and turned on his cellphone, he was stunned to see 155 messages from his St. Mary Parish staff, the archbishop and others.
They were trying to reach the St. Mary’s priest administrator in the wake of that day’s shootings at Marysville-Pilchuck High School. Two students were fatally shot and three others remain hospitalized; the shooter took his own life.
“Marysville has now joined the roster of schools in America where children have died by gunfire,” Father Lewis told his congregation at Sunday Mass two days later. He reassured his young parishioners that they are loved by everyone in the parish, as well as their families, and that resources are available to help them when they’re troubled.
Father Lewis invited all of the young people at Mass to gather around the altar and asked parishioners to join them, pray over them and show their support. More than 100 children and teens responded to the invitation, along with more than 50 adults who filled the remaining space.
The evening of the shooting, while Father Lewis was still on his way back from a visit to his native Trinidad, a special Mass was celebrated at St. Mary’s by Father Hans Olson, pastor of St. Mary Magdalen Parish in Everett. Each night this week, parishioners have gathered to pray the rosary for those affected by the tragedy.
One of the students still hospitalized, Nate Hatch, is the grandson of Don Hatch, a parishioner at St. Anne Mission on the Tulalip Reservation and a longtime leader of the Tulalip Tribes.
On Oct. 31, Archbishop J. Peter Sartain will celebrate an 11 a.m. memorial Mass at St. Mary’s, followed by a 1:30 p.m. prayer service at St. Anne’s. Father Lewis is reserving the front rows of St. Mary Church for the parish’s young people “to hear the words of our shepherd, Archbishop Sartain.”