Challenge for archbishop: Finding words to heal an inconsolable Uvalde

UVALDE – In this small city of inconsolable souls, Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller called children to the altar as he recited the names of each victim in an elementary school shooting.

The living were stand-ins for the lives loved and lost. There were 19 names of children, most only 10 years old, and two of teachers. This week, the archbishop’s focus has been on the children.

Since the shooting, he has criss-crossed this town on a mission to provide calm in the midst of chaos. He has been a trusted adviser to residents racked by pain and grief.  He rushed to the hospital from San Antonio, an hour-and-a-half away, to sit with families as they heard horrid details. Then, he went to a crisis center where parents took part in a morbid ritual of providing DNA swabs to identify bodies.

The shooting at Robb Elementary was the worst in the decade since Sandy Hook Elementary School and evolved into a challenge of the spirit for the 65-year-old archbishop, a tall, slim Mexican-born immigrant who speaks multiple languages. How do you console people at a time when so many deride “thoughts and prayers” as trite and insufficient?

The prelate kept focus on the survivors, the victims and even the alleged shooter, an 18-year-old named Salvador Ramos who was gunned down at the brick school.

“Life is precious and everyone is a piece of art,” the soft-spoken archbishop said in an interview with reporters after Mass the day of the shootings. “There are brothers and sisters who need help. We need to help them so that they will not destroy life.”

He was appointed archbishop of the Archdiocese of San Antonio, which includes Uvalde, in 2010. It served 139 parishes with nearly 800,000 Catholics, according to a 2018 count. Some of those parishes are along the border, and he has become known for his advocacy for immigrants.

As García-Siller walked out that evening in cream-colored vestments and the distinctive magenta cap that denotes his Catholic religious rank, he paid special attention to children. He greeted them, bending to look in their soft and scared eyes.

His calming presence seemed aimed at giving them some measure of peace.

At another Mass, as he neared the entrance doors to leave, he asked to hold a woman’s chubby toddler. He kissed the child on his cheek, and held him tight. It was as though the prelate was getting comfort – as well as giving it.

García-Siller stresses the importance of listening to people, letting them tell their stories.

“People, people, people,” he said. That’s his focus.

Healing across divides

In times of trauma, consolation from a respected religious leader can help, said Dr. Frank Ochberg, a psychiatrist and expert on post-traumatic stress.

That is especially true when trauma creates divisions.

It was predictable, of course, that the Uvalde shooting would become politicized, especially after questions emerged about the police response and how the shooter got his weapons.

Many politicians have descended on Uvalde, which sits at the edge of Texas Hill Country about 85 miles west of San Antonio and 60 miles from the Rio Grande. Among them have been Gov. Greg Abbott and his Democratic opponent for governor. Beto O’Rourke interrupted a news conference in Uvalde this week pointing at the governor and blaming his gun policies for the shooting. Democratic state Sen. Roland Gutierrez also had tough words for Abbott during a Friday event.

Abbott called for everyone to set aside political differences.

“All Texans are grieving with the people of the world and people are rightfully angry about what has happened.”

But amid a political storm, voices like Garcia-Siller’s can have more credibility in the broader community.

“Often a person who has leadership responsibility will come to a place where people are suffering and know how to be genuinely consoling and respectful,” said Ochberg. “Certainly people from a religious background have been wonderful in that regard. I think of Desmond Tutu. What a magnificent healer. But, to me personally the healing abilities depend on humility.”

Parishioner Fathme Abraham at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, where the service was held Tuesday, said many may not understand the power of prayer to give people comfort. In Spanish, the word is “consuelo.” It is so important in meaning that girls are often christened Consuelo, as their first name.

“I know a lot of people think faith hasn’t anything to do with what is going on here,” said Abraham, a mother of two children.

But it helps solidify the community, at a time when they are cleaved with sorrow, she said.

Having the archbishop travel quickly to Uvalde helped, Abraham said. “We feel the love and people need to feel that we are loved.”

Clear stance on guns

García-Siller didn’t dance around the issue of gun control with reporters.

“There is nothing good about killing people,” Garcia-Siller said. “We just had this situation in New York and El Paso,” he said, referencing the recent massacre at a Buffalo grocery store and the 2019 rampage at a Walmart by racist shooters.

Does García-Siller support more gun regulation, a reporter asked? “Of course, of course, anything that can be connected with death and aggression. We are supposed to promote life.”

Garcia-Siller’s ability to toggle between his native Spanish and English has helped in Uvalde, where 8 out of 10 persons are of Mexican ancestry.

He also speaks French and Italian, and, during his time as auxiliary bishop in Chicago, learned Polish and Lithuanian because of the Catholic population there. Now, he is tackling American Sign Language and displayed that at a recent Mass at Uvalde.

García-Siller became a U.S. citizen in 1998 and has been known for his advocacy for immigrants, being particularly outspoken in opposing the policy of separating children from their parents at the border.

Prayers for all

Diego Esquivel, a 20-year-old Uvalde native, said he struggled to understand how so much death could unreel in his hometown. His parents knew several of the victims’ families. “They started connecting dots and told me how I was related to them.”

Esquivel sighed. A school should be a safe place, he said. The parents “will always have an empty bed with those clothes of their children lying around.”

But he took some relief in the fact that the archbishop was visiting families every day. “You would never think that anyone so high up would show up,” Esquivel said.

Raquel Guedea, an 11-year-old, was among the young persons who walked with a red rose down the polished marble floor of Sacred Heart church on Wednesday. She carried her flower solemnly for 10-year-old Maite Rodriguez, who was gunned down.

Raquel did not know Maite, but it did not matter. They were united in age and innocence and promise.

“I feel happy that I was able to honor the spirits.”