Five years ago on Dec. 14, 2012, 20 children and six staff members at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., were shot to death by a man who had previously shot and killed his mother, and who subsequently shot and killed himself. In commemoration of the lives lost in that nightmare and of the more than 500,000 lives lost to gun violence in this country since, clergy from all over the country will hold a vigil in front of the NRA headquarters in Fairfax, Virginia at 10 a.m. on Dec. 14 this year. Clergy on Martha’s Vineyard will hold our own vigil at 10 a.m. next Thursday. We will first join together at 9:15 a.m. at Owen Park as the multifaith fellowship we are. At 9:30 a.m., the time the shooting began, we will march silently to Five Corners where we will offer prayers and read out the names of the children and adults who died in 2012 at the Sandy Hook Elementary School. Members of the clergy will lead us in prayer for an end to the unnecessary loss of life that gun violence has caused and continues to cause in this country and for a just and moral resolution to the dilemma our country faces between personal freedom and public safety. We invite the public to bear witness in silence to our vigil.

Rabbi Lori Shaller
Oak Bluffs

This letter was also signed by the Rev. Woody Bowman, The Rev. Cathlin Baker, Rabbi Caryn Broitman, the Rev. Bill Clark, the Rev. Mary Beth Daniels, Jill De La Hunt, the Rev. Sharon Eckhardt, the Rev. Armen Hanjian, the Rev. Vicky Hanjian, the Rev. Susan Eibner, the Rev. Cynthia Hubbard, the Rev. Michael Nagle, Bruce Nevin, Sarah Nevin, Janet Newton, the Rev. Chip Seadale, the Rev. Susan Waldrop and the Rev. Roberta Williams.