The Bishop of Prince George, Canada, has called on the faithful to turn to prayer and penance after a mass shooting in the British Columbia town of Tumbler Ridge left nine people dead and dozens injured, in what is being described as one of the worst acts of violence in recent Canadian history.
In a statement issued on February 11, the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, Bishop Stephen Jensen said the “unimaginable tragedy that struck the community of Tumbler Ridge yesterday has traumatised us all”. He noted that the season of Lent would begin in a week’s time and urged Catholics to embrace it as “a time for more intense prayer and penance, personal sacrifice, to beg God’s healing grace for our lives and for the world”.
