Community gathers to pay tribute, pray for Lisa Lopez-Galvan and shooting victims
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - People of multiple faiths came together to pay tribute and pray for Lisa Lopez-Galvan and the other 22 victims Wednesday night.
Father Stephen Hess of Rockhurst University said it doesn’t matter what you believe; we are all human.
“We need to come together with all of our differences to what we are about,” Hess said.
Hess said it was encouraging to see the crowd putting their differences aside and standing together as a community during this tragic time.
“I’m praying for an end to not just violence, but we live in a world that’s very polarized right now and that somehow, we can come together despite what our beliefs are, what our political views are, and to come together as a community and not be so polarized and that brings about violence,” Hess said.
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Tamara Falicov, Dean of the School of Humanities at UMKC, said she was invited to speak at the service.
“Rockhurst and UMKC have been wanting to create partnerships together,” Falicov said. “This was a perfect opportunity for us to gather in the wake of senseless violence.”
Falicov is also Jewish and wanted to together with others of faith.
“I think it’s really important that different faith traditions have an opportunity to really reflect on the different ways that we process the chaos and the senselessness of our everyday lives and how we can realize that coming together brings us strength in numbers,” Falicov said.
Steph Hart attended the service and was emotional watching the community come together.
“Everybody hurts in similar ways,” Hart said. “We are a large city with a big heart and a community feel.”
Hart hopes others will be inspired to do the same.
“We are a community that unfortunately does experience violence on a daily basis,” Hart said. “So, we know what it feels like to hurt, and so it’s almost easiest for us to come together, and now we just have to take action.”
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