- Mass attendance slightly increased after Charlie Kirk's assassination in Salt Lake City.
- Father Evans noted private prayers and gatherings before Sunday services at the cathedral.
- Evans attributed personal attacks to social media and cancel culture's impact on society.
SALT LAKE CITY — As the community grapples with Charlie Kirk's assassination, some have turned to religion for answers and healing.
At the Cathedral of the Madeleine, mass was full on Sunday evening.
Father John Evans, the vicar general for the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City, said it was a slight increase to the usual crowd, but what surprised him was what happened during the week.
"People were coming together before Sunday," Evans said, "praying privately, some in groups, praying the rosary, and different prayers of different sorts."
It was a not-too-unfamiliar sight — 24 years ago, the first weekend following 9/11, people gathered at churches across the nation.
Gallup polls from 2001 showed a 6% increase in church attendance.
"The uncertainty of that kind of violence touching us here in the United States, " Evans said.
Congregant Romnel Tan described similar feelings and emphasized he finds comfort at church.
"There's so much tumult and yet the cross here, even on our own cathedral, shines," Tan said.
Evans said the difference between 2001 and 2025 is how personal the attacks are, like what happened to Charlie Kirk and others.
He attributed this to social media and cancel culture. Cancel culture starts with disagreeing with someone and devaluing them, then demonizing them, said Evans. It's something he believes ends when people value human life and show charity.
If you have charity for others you seek their good even when there's disagreement. And you work for the betterment and good of society.
–Father John Evans, Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City
"If you have charity for others, you seek their good even when there's disagreement," said Evans. "And you work for the betterment and good of society."
Listening, Evans said, is more than just hearing one another, but caring about what the other is saying without wanting to change them.
As for congregants, Tan said it's his community in Jesus Christ that provides healing.
"We unite all of that suffering, all that pain and all that sorrow to him who has conquered death and given us hope," Tan said.
