On behalf of the people of the Archdiocese of Chicago, I send our heartfelt and deep condolences to the families of those slain and injured yesterday at the Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston, South Carolina. We stand in unity and prayer with the members of that congregation and with all others in our human family who seek peace and justice, particularly at times such as this. We acknowledge with pain that, even as they sought to understand the word of God and to find wisdom in the scriptures, these faithful souls fell victim to a senseless act of hate. We keep them and their loved ones in our thoughts but also draw from this, another example of unspeakable violence, a resolve to stand in solidarity with those who work to remove the means and correct the hardness of heart that enables such atrocities. And we commit to strengthen our efforts to sow love, heal broken minds and deny hatred and racism a place to flourish in the human heart.