They were children and parents gathered for a Mass to mark and celebrate a new year of school.
They were also targets of a gun-wielding madman.
We mourn the loss of two children who died in the mass shooting at the Church of the Annunciation school in Minneapolis.
We pray for the recovery of the wounded, as many as 17 of them and all of them children between the ages of 6 and 14. Some of the wounded are reportedly in critical condition.
Once again we are faced with a situation where "thoughts and prayers" fall well short of what the response to the epidemic of gun violence in America actually needs to be.
For now we mourn. Yet again
