LAWRENCE — Marchers numbering in the hundreds stepped off from four points in the city Sunday morning in a cold rain, converging on Campagnone Common’s center to worship, rally for peace and prevent youth violence.
The 10 a.m. march, a year in the planning by the Merrimack Valley Interfaith team, marked the start of a 12-month effort among pastors and churches to reach out to youths and build bridges for peace, said the Rev. Joel Almono of Grace Episcopal Church in Lawrence.
The event came only hours after a shooting erupted in the city, one of the latest flashpoints in an epidemic of gun violence across the nation.
Despite the early morning incident at a house party on Royal Street in which six people were shot, one fatally, the marchers took heart in knowing so many people came out – in ponchos and under umbrellas and toting signs – calling for peace, said Carlita Suarez, an event organizer.
Suarez and others want a future for children that promises peace in homes, on streets and in schools.
“I want my granddaughters to be able to walk through the streets with no harm coming to them,” Suarez said in an interview, translated by her daughter-in-law, Janiris Matos, also of Lawrence.
“I want students to be able to go to school and their parents to have peace of mind, knowing their children are safe. I want families to grow up and not be exposed to violence.”
Representatives from nearly 20 churches, including those under the AMEDAL network of evangelical houses of worship, and Jose Rodriguez, manager of WGUA radio católica in Methuen, participated in the march and worship service.
Marchers departed from Monmouth, Exeter, East Haverhill and Union streets. They stopped in front of City Hall before proceeding to the common for the worship service.
City councilors, the mayor and members of the Police Department joined the gathering, said Almono, president of the Merrimack Valley Interfaith team.
The march marked the next phase in a peace initiative that has drawn ideas from local pastors and congregations.
The initiative, organized by a group that included the Rev. Victor Parra of the Methodist church Libre la Nueva Esperanza, emerged after a horrendous act of youth violence in 2016.
The gathering Sunday builds momentum for upcoming workshops and conversations among parents, youths, neighbors and congregations seeking connections and to reduce the violence that sows and is sowed by divisiveness.