Boston parishioners remember Newtown shooting victims during Sunday service at Park Street Church

By Derek J. Anderson, Globe Correspondent

Parishioners filled up the Park Street Church on the corner of Park and Tremont streets in Boston early Sunday morning for 8:30 a.m. mass, where the mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., was mentioned numerous times. Parishioners prayed for the families, victims, and any others affected by what was called “the massacre of innocence.”

Afterward, church-goers socialized, picked up their children, and discussed the sermon.

“I think [the shooting] has been a reminder of how broken the world is and how much more we need a savior,” said Katie Cahill, 31, who lives in Jamaica Plain. “As a mother of a young child, that’s all I have hope in.”

Cahill has been attending the Park Street Church every week for about six months and is mother to a 1½ year old. She sees the church reflecting more on the shootings as time progresses, but not everyone seemed to think that was a good idea.

“What can be said that hasn’t been said?” asked Rick Gannon, 58, of Dorchester. “It’s beyond human comprehension.”

“The 21st century may not hold the promise of a good one with the tragedies that have taken place,” he said while looking down at his cup of coffee. “This didn’t happen 50 years ago, at least not like this.”

“It’s enough to make you, as they say, ‘head for the hills’ and leave society behind,” said Gannon. He sees the church talking about the events that occurred in Sandy Hook for a very long time. “It was an act of human monstrosity more than we could ever imagine.”

“There are no more safe places we can go to enjoy life,” he said.