Catholics join other faith leaders for Baltimore prayer walk in memory of homicide victims

Participants pray during a peace walk in Baltimore promoted by the Archdiocese of Baltimore, Monday, Dec. 30, 2024. / Credit: Yvonne Wenger

CNA Staff, Dec 31, 2024 / 14:00 pm (CNA).

Catholics in the Archdiocese of Baltimore gathered on Monday night to participate in an interfaith community prayer service in the city memorializing victims of homicide there. 

The coalition of faith leaders and other community organizers met at St. Joseph’s Monastery Parish in the city’s Irvington neighborhood before holding a prayer walk to My Brother’s Keeper, a nonprofit community resource service run by Catholic Charities. 

The names of the city’s homicide victims were read aloud during the 15-minute walk. The city has recorded roughly 200 homicides throughout 2024, down from earlier years but still significantly higher than the national average. 

The walk was facilitated in part by the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s Grief Ministry, which works to “accompany families who have lost a loved one to violence.”

Yvonne Wenger, a spokeswoman for the archdiocese, told CNA that the 2024 event was the second such walk. A similar prayer service was held last year. 

In a press release the archdiocese said the grief ministry works “through partnerships with the Baltimore Police Department and Roberta’s House, a nonprofit family grief support center.”

The prayer event was “also part of the ongoing efforts of Health By Southwest to improve and reform the social drivers of health through a partnership with St. Joseph’s Monastery, Catholic Charities, My Brother’s Keeper, Mount Saint Joseph High School, the archdiocese, and Ascension Saint Agnes Hospital,” the archdiocese said. 

The archdiocese has for years been active in promoting peace initiatives in Baltimore, which for decades has been one of America’s most violent cities. The city infamously went from 1978 to 2012 with yearly homicides in excess of 200, peaking in 1993 at 353.

In 2023 the archdiocese launched a gun buyback program in an effort to get dangerous weapons off the streets. Church officials obtained over 360 guns at the cost of about $50,000.

In a second gun buyback program in August, the archdiocese aimed to get even more guns out of the city. The program ultimately raised $70,000 to buy back the guns, with remaining funds going to the grief ministry. 

In total the programs took nearly 650 weapons off the streets, “including over 50 semi-automatic guns and a handful of stolen weapons,” the archdiocese said.