San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone traveled to Half Moon Bay on Jan. 27 to acknowledge the lives lost and families fractured in a deadly workplace shooting Jan. 23.
Eight migrant farmworkers were shot by a former co-worker at two separate locations in the bucolic coastal enclave, 30 miles from San Francisco. Seven of the victims died and one remains in critical condition. The suspect was apprehended hours later.
A crowd of approximately 50 grieving family and community members, including the town’s mayor, gathered at both the Mountain Mushroom Farms and Concord Farms sites where the Archbishop came to help reclaim the site from the violence that occurred there.
“We come together this day to reclaim this space of death as a place of life,” he said, circling the grounds to bless them with holy water.
“This place where violence occurred, we are reclaiming as a place of peace. This place that causes fear, anger and pain, we are reclaiming as a place of hope and community. We reclaim the humanity of both victim and victimizer in God’s name.”
The Archdiocese of San Francisco’s Restorative Justice Ministry under the Office of Human Life & Dignity organizes public prayer services for victims of violent crimes within archdiocesan boundaries. Half Moon Bay is in San Mateo County, one of the three counties served by the Archdiocese.
The Archbishop spoke in both English and Spanish. All of the victims — seven men and one woman — were of either Asian or Hispanic descent.
According to the San Mateo County Coroner’s Office, the victims were Yetao Bing, 43; Qizhong Cheng, 66; Marciano Martinez Jimenez, 50; Jose Romero Perez, 36; PedroZhishen Liu, 73; Jingzhi Lu, 64; and Aixiang Zhang, 74.
Servando Martinez fought back tears as he spoke haltingly in Spanish about his brother, Mariano, one of the victims.
“For me, my brother Marciano is not dead. He is only ahead of us,” he said. As family members flanked him in support at the microphone, he asked for forgiveness for the suspect, a remarkable act of faith the Archbishop recognized.
“They themselves have manifested the love of God in extending forgiveness to the perpetrator of this heinous crime who took their loved ones away from them,” he said.
Renato Juarez Perez spoke about how his cousin Jose Romero Perez helped him find his way in a new country when he left Oaxaca, Mexico, to join other family members laboring in the fields of Half Moon Bay.
“I felt very safe when I came here a year and a half ago,” he said….
Full story at the San Francisco Archdiocese.
“The Archbishop spoke in both English and Spanish. All of the victims — seven men and one woman — were of either Asian or Hispanic descent.”
So why didn’t the Archbishop speak Asian?
What oddly juxtaposed sentences.
What language is “Asian”?
May all the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
] do not think Archbishop Cordileone can speaks any of the Asian languages. No cleric can speak all the languages here in California because we have thousands of them. Perhaps someone else said a prayer in Chinese, etc., or maybe most all those of Asian descent knew English and interpreted for others who did not. That is usually the case.
there was a ceremony held in Half Moon Bay on the 25th that was led by a buddhist monk who used a singing bowl to purify the area. I do not see many Asian faces in the photo of the gathered people with Archbishop Cordileone. That may explain not speaking “Asian”.
Most of the Asian Catholics I have seen are very devout and Americans could learn a lot from them.
Eternal rest grant unto the victims O Lord and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace, Amen
For the survivor, Lord Jesus, You healed all who came to You. Please heal this survivor. Through the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Eternal Father, in the Name of your Son, Jesus Christ, we ask you to grant the survivor and the victim’s families, friends and community all that You know that they need. Amen.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/half-moon-bay-victims-fund