"From kindergarten until I left for college, I attended four different Catholic schools in Sioux City, Iowa. Each one compelled me and my fellow students to attend Wednesday school Mass every week. We trudged through snow. We crossed busy streets. We adhered to an unspoken creed that felt older than Rome: Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor the deepest Midwestern gloom keeps these students from their Wednesday Mass-and Iowa had plenty of all four."
"Last week, a shooter opened fire through a stained glass window during Wednesday school Mass at Annunciation Catholic Church and School in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Two children were killed: 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel and 10-year-old Harper Moyski. Twenty-one others were injured, including 18 children and three elderly parishioners. As I write this, two students have required surgery, including 12-year-old Sophia Forchas, who had part of her skull removed in an emergency procedure."
Weekly Wednesday Mass in Catholic schools regularly interrupts lunch or recess and forces children to sit on hard pews and kneel on painful kneelers. Children pass the time by counting stained glass windows or staring at light fixtures while trying to remain solemn among friends. Attendance at Wednesday Mass was a persistent routine in Sioux City, Iowa, regardless of weather. A recent shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church and School in Minneapolis sent a shooter’s rounds through a stained glass window, killing two children and injuring many, with several students requiring emergency surgeries.
Read at Slate Magazine
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