Archbishop offers condolences after Colorado church-related shootings

Published: 2007-12-10

DENVER (CNS) -- Two church-related shootings in Colorado Dec. 9 were "especially bitter," coming as they did during "this time of preparation for Christmas, the birthday of the Prince of Peace," said Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Denver. The violent acts, committed 12 hours apart at a missionary training center in the Denver suburb of Arvada and at an evangelical megachurch in Colorado Springs, "would be heart-rending in any season," Archbishop Chaput said in a Dec. 10 statement. "I pray that God will heal the suffering inflicted by these terrible events, and sustain the hope and faith of the people" at the center and the church, he added. According to police, the two events were linked. They identified Matthew Murray, 23, as the gunman in the Colorado Springs attack, and believe he might have been involved in the Arvada shootings.

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