Rev. Dr. Chuck Currie: "The Hearts of Those in Our Nation are Broken"

Dear Students, Staff, Faculty, and Friends,

We woke up this morning to the news of what is now the deadliest mass shooting in the United States. 

Right now, there are more questions than answers. Still, the hearts of those in our nation are broken.

On the night that Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed by gun violence, U.S. Sen. Robert Kennedy, whose brother was killed by gun violence and who himself would be killed a month later in yet another act of gun violence, spoke these words:

“What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence or lawlessness; but love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country…”

If you need someone to talk with, there are resources available to students, faculty and staff.

Students may call the Student Counseling Center at 503-352-2191.

For faculty and staff, our Employee Assistance Program provides services through Cascade Center. You just need to call and say you are an employee of Pacific University.

Cascade Center
Toll Free: 1-800-433-2320
Portland: 503-639-3009
Salem: 503-588-0777

As university chaplain, I am also available to provide support — an extra person to talk with — whatever faith tradition you might hold (in fact, you don’t even need to have a faith tradition).

Sen. Kennedy ended his speech that night by saying: “Let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world.” That same mission is before us today. 

Sincerely,

Rev. Dr. Chuck Currie
University Chaplain
Director, Center for Peace and Spirituality