Posted on 07/13/2014 5:35:35 PM PDT by Ripliancum
Stunned by the execution-style killings of six of its members - four of them minors - members of a north Houston Mormon congregation are struggling to begin the process of healing.
On Thursday, they sent helium-filled balloons heavenward in memory of Katie and Stephen Stay and their four slain children, ages 4 to 13. On Friday, they planned a trust fund to benefit the victims' relatives.
This weekend, part of the regular Sunday service at the Mormon church in Spring will be devoted to assuaging the congregation's grief by putting the Wednesday night tragedy into perspective.
"It won't be a memorial, it will be more to comfort and teach, to help people come to grips in the context of our faith in Jesus Christ," said David Bertoch, president of the Mormon ward of which the Haver Street church is a part.
Bertoch said a funeral for the Stay family likely will be scheduled next week.
Already, Bertoch said, the church's family services division is offering grief counseling to congregation members, with a special focus on young members who were friends of the Stay children: Bryan, 13; Emily, 9; Rebecca, 7; and Zach, 4. A fifth Stay child, Cassidy, 15, also was wounded. She was released from the hospital Friday…
...The Houston area is home to about 60,000 Mormons, whose congregations, church officials have estimated, grow by about 1,000 people each year. Church members first came to Houston in 1921, meeting in a private house that had been left to them in a will.
Mormons came to Texas in the mid-19th century, settling primarily in North Texas and the Texas Hill Country.
Mormons constitute the fourth-largest religious group in the United States, with an estimated 5.5 million members, behind Catholics, Southern Baptists and Methodists.
(Excerpt) Read more at houstonchronicle.com ...
My sister in Spring is friends with the family, and was in their LDS congregation before she moved a couple months ago. She passes this info along: "Do you live in or know someone in Odessa or Midland, TX? Please share this flyer with everyone you know."
I am so sorry for this horrible act of violence against this precious family. Only God can heal this deep wound. Please accept my deepest sympathies. Special prayers for the brave daughter who survived.
Any leads on a motive. How awful
Sorry to hear this. I hope that out of this tragedy a better devotion to the Lord will be found.
What a terrible tragedy for this family and those who know and love them. My prayers for young Cassidy as she deals with this.
Who did it and why? Do they know yet?
An uncle.
They caught the killer the same day based on the the wounded girl’s information to 911. It was an ex-spouse of a family member who had repeatedly been given a pass by Utah authorities.
What a horrible crime, I’m happy the one girl survived, but I can’t imagine going on when my entire family had been murdered in front of me.
It’s Texas, so I hope they’ll hang him high.
He was also given a pass by San Diego.
The Mormon-baiters will be arriving shortly ...
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