Two years ago, the Congressman tweeted a photo of his daughter's first communion.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, which started its Spring General Assembly this morning in Indianapolis, opened their conference with a prayer for the victims of the shooting as well as the victims of a massive apartment fire in London last night. USCCB Vice President Archbishop Jose Gomez gave the prayer, which was also posted to Twitter.
Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington, D.C. also tweeted that he was praying for the congressman.
Bishop Michael F. Burbidge, head of the diocese of Arlington, Virginia released the following statement:
"I am profoundly saddened by the tragic shooting at Eugene Simpson Stadium Park in Alexandria earlier this morning. Today I call on the faithful in the Diocese of Arlington and all people of good will to join me in prayer for Rep. Steve Scalise and the others who were wounded in this senseless attack. May the Lord grant them swift healing and consolation. As we pray for God's mercy, we also ask Mary, our Mother, to intercede for us, so that our world will know the peace of her Son."
"Today as the Church invites us to begin a novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, I ask Catholics of our diocese to pray the novena with a specific intention for peace," he concluded.
Roughly 15-25 people were at the practice, including Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Jeff Flake, R-Ariz. Paul told MSNBC that "it would have been a massacre" if Capitol Police weren't there.
Update 11:00 am Central: U.S. President Donald Trump has said the suspected gunman - identified by multiple law enforcement officials as James T. Hodgkinson III, 66, from Illinois - was killed in a shootout with police, two of whom were wounded in the gun battle.
(Story continues below)
Subscribe to our daily newsletter
Correction 12:13 p.m. Central: A previous version of this article identified Scalise's parish as St. Agnes and his home diocese as Arlington, Virginia. Steve Scalise's home diocese is the Archdiocese of New Orleans, and his church parish is St. Catherine of Siena.
Mary Farrow worked as a staff writer for Catholic News Agency until 2020. She has a degree in journalism and English education from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.