Milwaukee archbishop urges prayers, reflection on violence after killings in Sikh temple

(August 10, 2012) The killing of six Sikhs in a shooting in their temple in Wisconsin, United States, on Sunday, has brought an outpouring of spiritual support from the leader of the local Catholic Church, as well as a call for the entire community to examine violence in U.S. culture. Local Archbishop Jerome Listecki of Milwaukee on Monday assured the Sikh community the prayers of Catholics as a sign of their solidarity. He said they prayed for God’s consolation and healing for the Sikh community. “I was totally shocked that anyone would come in and do such an act of violence, but also to do it within the context of church, temple, synagogue, mosque," he told the archdiocesan website the Catholic Herald. "Here are people coming together to worship God, and what happens? They're confronted by evil. This tells us that we have to be mindful of evil in the world." According to police, the shooter entered the Sikh Temple in the Milwaukee suburb of Oak Creek during a religious service and shot into the gathering using an automatic weapon. He killed four people inside the temple and two more outside, then he wounded a police officer. A second officer shot and wounded the gunman, 40-year-old Wade Michael Page, who then killed himself with a shot to the head, the FBI said on Wednesday.