Dean's Message for July 10, 2025

Author:
July 10, 2025

It is with a broken heart that I write, holding in sacred tension two unbearable griefs, one close to home, the other across the world, each echoing the same anguish: the loss of innocent, beloved children.
This week, we grieve the devastating deaths of many in West Texas, including young girls at Camp Mystic in Texas. Lives full of joy, friendship, faith, and future—gone in an instant. These were children entrusted to a place of beauty and belonging. Now families and communities face unimaginable sorrow. We hold them in prayer. We carry their names, their stories, and their grief with reverence.
And yet even as we mourn this tragedy at home, we cannot turn away from the staggering and ongoing loss of life in Gaza. Since October 2023, more than 17,400 children have been reported killed in the conflict. Seventeen thousand four hundred. Each one with a name. A face. A family. A future that will never be lived. The scale of this loss is almost incomprehensible, and yet we are called to bear witness to it. We are called to weep. To pray. And to act.
There is no hierarchy of sorrow. All of these children matter. All of these deaths are unacceptable. All of these families deserve peace, safety, and the assurance that the world sees their pain and will not turn away.
As Christians, we follow the One who said, “Let the little children come to me.” We are not called to be neutral in the face of suffering. We are called to be moved—to allow our hearts to break and then to let the Spirit move through our grief into compassion, courage, and action.
So today, let us pray:

For the families at Camp Mystic and the communities in mourning.
For the families in Gaza and all who grieve the loss of their children.
For an end to violence, and for the will to pursue peace with urgency.
For a world where the lives of all children are sacred and protected.
And let us act:
By refusing to turn away from suffering.
By amplifying voices for peace and justice.
By giving, serving, writing, marching, and voting for a better world.
By building communities where no child is expendable, anywhere.
Eternal God, receive these precious lives into your arms of mercy. Heal the brokenhearted. And stir in us the holy discomfort that leads to action. Amen. 

The Very Reverend Katie Churchwell, 15th Dean, St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral

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