CNA Staff, Dec 9, 2025 / 15:10 pm
Three months after a deadly shooting in Minneapolis that left two students dead and injured 18 others as well as three adults, Archbishop Bernard Hebda, along with Auxiliary Bishops Kevin Kenney and Michael Izen, said a special Mass at Annunciation Catholic Church on Dec. 6 that included a rite of reparation to restore the church for worship.
On Aug. 27, Robin Westman — who was born “Robert” and identified as a woman – shot through the stained glass windows of the church during a morning Mass filled with Annunciation school students in first through eighth grade, killing Fletcher Merkel, eight, and Harper Moyski, 10.
Westman, who had posted anti-Christian and explicit messages on social media before the attack, then killed himself at the scene.
"Our Blessed Mother lived this faith and cooperated with God's plan for her life, despite the difficulties it would occasion,” Hebda prayed outside the building just before the Dec. 6 Mass. “We profess that our souls now will rejoin hers in proclaiming the greatness of the Lord in this church, dedicated in her honor, and now reclaimed for the glory of God."
"My brothers and sisters, the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead proclaims that evil and death do not have the final word; God does.”
Hebda, followed by Kenney, Izen, and the rest of the congregation, entered the church chanting the Litany of the Saints.
The altar was bare when the Mass began. Part of the rite of reparation included the prayers: "restore the sanctity of this church, dedicated to your glory and the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary."
Other prayers included petitions to “bring healing to those who were injured” and "bring healing and comfort to those suffering the harm done to their children."
Annunciation pastor Father Dennis Zehren, along with the archbishop, sprinkled holy water throughout the church, on the altar, and on those gathered. The media was not allowed into the church during the Mass.
During his homily Hebda recalled the anointing of Annunciation Church at its establishment 40 years earlier, pointing out that inscribed outside the church are the words: “‘This is the house of God and the gate of heaven.’”
In notes of his homily provided to the media, Hebda recalled what occurred at the church on Aug. 27: “This safe haven, this place of refuge, this foretaste of the order of the heavenly kingdom, was disturbed by a chaos that no one could have imagined. It's for that chaos that we've come together to engage in this act of penance and reparation this day.”
"This community will never forget what happened that day,” he wrote, “and will forever remember with great love Harper and Fletcher, whose beautiful and inspiring lives were cut short as they and fellow students gathered for the Eucharist.”
He continued: "I've never seen such an outpouring of love and mutual support as I have witnessed here these last three months. The sorrow understandably lingers, but there's a Christ-centered resilience here that is remarkable — and praise God — it's been contagious.
"Today we gather penitentially for this rite of reparation in the hope of restoring the order that Christ desires for his Church, his family. We cannot undo the tragic loss of Fletcher and Harper, but we can communicate to the world that we recognize that the power of God is far in excess of any evil; that where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more.”
"We cannot let Satan win, and we, by God's grace, reclaim this space today for Christ and his Church,” the prelate said.
