On the morning of March 7^th, I was horrified to hear about the deaths of six Barrhaven residents.  Two of the children, Inuka and Ashwini, were students at Msgr. Paul Baxter  Elementary School, one of our feeder schools in St. Andrew Parish.  The six innocent victims who were killed are 35 year old Darshani (the mother) and their four children, Inuka (7 years old), Ashwini (4 years old), Rinyana (2 years old) and Kelly (3 months old). Gamini, who was with the family, was also killed.  The father of the children and husband of Darshani, Dhanushka, survived the attack and is recovering at a local hospital.

Although the funeral will take place in the Buddhist community, our parish included the names of the deceased and the survivors in our Prayers of the Faithful on the  weekend of March 10-11.  I ask you to pray for the repose of their souls in your personal prayers as well.  Fr. Martin and I spent time at Msgr. Paul Baxter School on Thursday afternoon and Friday morning.