Families, friends and fellow students of nine of the 14 women murdered in the Dec. 6 shooting spree at the University of Montreal’s École Polytechnique, paid their final tributes to the victims at a joint funeral Mass Dec. 11 at Notre Dame Basilica.
Private funerals were held for the other five shooting victims. All 14 women were gunned dow{KomentoDisable}n in the school’s engineering department by 25-year-old Marc Lepine, a loner and gun enthusiast who blamed women for all of his problems. He killed himself after stalking the 14 female victims.
Cardinal Paul Gregoire, Archbishop of Montreal, was chief celebrant of the funeral Mass. He was assisted by 40 priests and a dozen Quebec bishops, including Bishop Robert Label of Valleyfield, Que., president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The 160-year-old basilica in downtown Montreal was filled to capacity with grieving family members, friends and relatives of the victims. Among those at the funeral were Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa and Governor General Jeanne Sauve. Thousands more stood outside the basilica and listened to the Mass over loudspeakers.
In his homily, Gregoire said the massacre has plunged the community into utter misery.
“The tragedy which unfolded at École Polytechnique compels us to live the absurd and the suffering with an even greater intensity,” Gregoire said. “Fourteen young women were brutally mowed down in the beauty of their youth at a time when everything seemed to assure them of a brilliant future. In a few moments, a hopeless and vicious act of another young person was sufficient to destroy all the dreams and all the promises. We remain dumbfounded in the face of these deaths.”
Gregoire later urged the classmates of the shooting victims to remember the challenge that Christ offered in the Beatitudes: “Your daughters, your sisters, your friends, the future engineers over whom we weep today chose to be builders of society,” Gregoire said. “In memory of them, in solidarity with them, you will strive to build a better world of friendship and thus take to heart the words of Jesus, ‘Happy the peacemakers.’ ”
CCCB president Lebel also issued a statement on behalf of his fellow bishops. He offered sympathy to family members and friends of the victims, and expressed hope that the tragedy will lead to a greater sensitivity to the increasing violence in society.
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