Arizona Catholics hold rosary vigil for Charlie Kirk

(OSV News) -- Catholic faithful in Arizona gathered in prayer following the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk during a Sept. 10 public speaking event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah.

Kirk, 31, was slain while hosting a campus event on behalf of Turning Point USA, the nonprofit he founded in 2012 to promote what the organization's website describes as "traditional American values like patriotism, respect for life, liberty, family, and fiscal responsibility."

Authorities continue to search for a suspect and a motive. The FBI's Salt Lake City office -- which is offering a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading to the identification and arrest of those involved -- has released two images a "person of interest" in the case, which depict a wiry young adult male, dressed in what appear to be jeans, a dark shirt, a baseball cap and dark sunglasses.

Kirk's death was announced by President Donald Trump on social media, with Trump calling the murdered speaker -- a close ally of the president -- "Great, and even Legendary."

In Scottsdale, Arizona, where Kirk lived with his wife and two young children, several dozen gathered at a park on the evening of Sept. 10 for a rosary vigil honoring the murdered activist, an evangelical Christian whose wife, Erika, has been described in media reports as Catholic.
The event -- which was livestreamed on YouTube, with more than 8,600 views as of Sept. 11 -- was organized by Kirk's friend John Yep, president of Catholics for Catholics, a 501(c)(4) organization that engages in political activities, with a priest that Yep introduced as Father Daniel Cruz leading the rosary.

Yep said that Kirk "went to our church," and "even though he wasn't Catholic … that love (for) the Blessed Virgin Mary" was "growing on him."

"That same Blessed Mother" is "helping Charlie make it, hopefully, to heaven on his journey, and she's going to be helping her little kids down here who lost their daddy today," said Yep.

Following the rosary, Yep told the crowd that he had texted Kirk, although he "knew he was no longer with us."

In the message, Yep assured Kirk, "We're going to honor your blood, your sacrifice and your tears," and that Kirk's children will "know that when their dad was taken from this earth, that we came here and prayed. Charlie, here's the link. Watch it from up there and I know you'll be proud."

"Life doesn't stop," said Yep, pointing to the Sept. 7 canonizations of St. Carlo Acutis and St. Pier Giorgio Frassati, describing the latter as "a man who was pretty much involved in the political arena, just like Charlie."

The vigil concluded with the crowd singing "God Bless America," after which attendee Grant Gaylord told The Guardian that Kirk had attended Mass at his parish, St. Bernadette in Scottsdale.

OSV News is awaiting confirmation from the parish about Kirk's attendance at liturgies there.
Gaylord told The Guardian that seeing Kirk "explore the Catholic faith with an honest heart was something that really touched my heart in a unique and profound way."

He lamented that for him Kirk's death evoked not political implications but "just a loss of the sacredness of each human life."