At Colorado church service: ‘What kind of people are we becoming?’

AURORA, Colo. — At Queen of Peace Catholic Church, about 20 minutes from the Century 16 theater, service-goers on Sunday almost completely filled the 1,500-seat building at a morning Mass to remember parishioner A.J. Boik and to pray for at least two other church members injured in Friday’s tragic theater shooting.

Some had worked at the theater, others had relatives there or nearby when the shooting happened.

“People feel unsafe now,” Israel Gomez, 15, said before the service, adding that he knew Boik and feels for his relatives and others awaiting word on the wounded at area hospitals.

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“It’s rattled up quite a lot of my friends,” said Nevan McCabe, 17, who just graduated and plans to attend the same medical school the alleged shooter did. “It’s a pretty dark time.”

“I just think of all the police officers who had to see all those people, all the first responders at the hospitals...,” said Donna Marie Irwin, director of liturgy at the church, which opened in 1968 and has about 7,500 members.

The Rev. Mauricio Bermudez, 33, told the assembled that he almost went to the movie on Friday with members of the church youth group but tried to buy tickets too late and had to go to another theater.

“It’s difficult to be here after what happened last Friday. It’s really hard to see the ones we love hurt,” he said.

“We live in a culture that promotes violence. The question is, what kind of people are we becoming?” Bermudez said. “This is our opportunity to change things, to do something different. Many of you know those who were killed or injured or who were there but by the grace of God were not.”

Frank Garcia, 70, a retired United Airlines worker whose wife works at the mall near the theater, said he hoped the Mass would strengthen the community. His kids live outside Aurora and want him to move after the shooting, but he plans to stay.

“I believe everybody will come together with this to build our faith,” he said. “Why live in fear?”

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