A coalition of public, private and faith-based partners plans to gather for a one-hour prayer vigil Dec. 30 at 5:30 p.m. to remember the lives lost to homicide this year and plead for an end to violence in Baltimore City.
All are invited to join the group in prayer and witness.
The group will meet at St. Joseph’s Monastery at 3801 Old Frederick Road in Baltimore’s Irvington neighborhood, and then walk in prayer by candlelight to My Brother’s Keeper, less than half a mile away. The names of Baltimore City’s 2024 homicide victims will be read along the 10- to 15-minute walk followed by the serving of hot chocolate and fellowship at the Catholic Charities resource center.
A similar event was held Dec. 27, 2023 as a follow-up to the group’s successful gun buyback at Edmondson Village.
The prayer walk is an extension of the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s Grief Ministry that serves the families of homicide victims in the city through partnerships with the Baltimore Police Department and Roberta’s House, a nonprofit family grief support center.
In 2024, a network of volunteers through the Catholic Church provided care packages filled with fresh groceries and nonperishable food to nearly 600 family members, including 222 children from infants to teenagers. The ministry also covered other needs as well, including funeral expenses, clothing and comfort items for families.
Monday’s walk is also part of the ongoing efforts of Health By Southwest to improve and reform the social drivers of health through a partnership with St. Joseph’s Monastery, Catholic Charities, My Brother’s Keeper, Mount Saint Joseph High School, the Archdiocese and Ascension Saint Agnes Hospital. It follows the coalition’s 2023 Community Peacebuilding and Resource Fair and the 2024 Gun Buyback that got 646 firearms off the streets – including over 50 semi-automatic guns and a handful of stolen weapons.
Read More Local News
Copyright © 2024 Catholic Review Media
English
Spanish