*** DEBUG START ***
*** DEBUG END ***

Boston begins to recover

26 April 2013

AP

Deserted: the streets of the city of Boston empty during the city's lock-down last Friday, as police searched for the second suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing on Monday of last week

Deserted: the streets of the city of Boston empty during the city's lock-down last Friday, as police searched for the second suspect in the Boston M...

TRINITY Church, Boston, was closed on Sunday as the FBI carried out investigations into the bomb attack on the city's marathon (News, 19 April), which took place just yards away.

The church's congregation worshipped instead at Temple Israel Synagogue. The previous day, the FBI had allowed church officials to enter the church for half an hour to gather vestments and communion bread and wine, reports said.

The offices of the Episcopal diocese of Massachusetts and the Cathedral Church of St Paul were closed last Friday as Boston went into lockdown while police searched for one of two men suspected of carrying out the bomb attack, which killed three people and injured 282.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed in the early hours of last Friday during a shoot-out with police. His brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, a 19-year-old student, was captured late on Friday in a boat in Watertown, Massachusetts, after a day-long manhunt.

Mr Tsarnaev has since been charged with conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction, and could face the death penalty if found guilty.

In a statement issued after Mr Tsarnaev's capture, the Bishop of Massachusetts, the Rt Revd M. Thomas Shaw, said: "It's a relief to have the events of this long day behind us. Let's continue our prayers for all who have been touched by the violence of the past week and all who have worked tirelessly for our safety."

Bishop Shaw joined the congregation of the Church of the Good Shepherd, in Watertown, on Sunday, near where Mr Tsarnaev was apprehended.

The Priest-in-Charge of the Church of the Good Shepherd, the Revd Amy McCreath, posted a photo on her blog on Saturday taken from the churchyard. It showed the scene, across from the churchyard, where Mr Tsarnaev had been found, blocked off with orange barriers and patrolled by FBI agents.

Ms McCreath was previously Episcopal chaplain at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where a police officer, Sean Collier, was killed in the shoot-out during the evening of Thursday of last week. "My heart goes out to the MIT community," she told the Episcopal News Service last Friday. "I am grieving with them as they mourn the loss of a fine colleague."

President Obama spoke at a multifaith service at the city's RC Holy Cross Cathedral on Thursday of last week. He said: "Scripture teaches us, 'God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.' And that's the spirit you've displayed in recent days.

"When doctors and nurses, police and firefighters, and EMTs and guardsmen run towards explosions to treat the wounded - that's discipline. When exhausted runners, including our troops and veterans - who never expected to see such carnage on the streets back home - become first responders themselves, tending to the injured - that's real power.

"When Bostonians carry victims in their arms, deliver water and blankets, line up to give blood, open their homes to total strangers, give them rides back to reunite with their families - that's love."

Browse Church and Charity jobs on the Church Times jobsite

Forthcoming Events

Women Mystics: Female Theologians through Christian History

13 January - 19 May 2025

An online evening lecture series, run jointly by Sarum College and The Church Times

tickets available

 

Festival of Faith and Literature

28 February - 2 March 2025

tickets available

 

Visit our Events page for upcoming and past events 

Welcome to the Church Times

 

To explore the Church Times website fully, please sign in or subscribe.

Non-subscribers can read four articles for free each month. (You will need to register.)