Two doors down from the Ortega home in Covina's Knollcrest neighborhood live Omar and Sheila Uriarte and their three children. Before moving into the area and joining St. Louise de Marillac Church not long ago, Omar was youth minister at Holy Angels Church, Arcadia, and taught at La Salle High School in Pasadena.

Most Christmases, the Uriartes celebrate with his parents, but the parents were in Rome for Christmas so, on Christmas Eve 2008, the Uriarte family was home. Sheila was upstairs and Omar was watching "It's a Wonderful Life" --- until he heard gunshots and screaming.

A teenage boy climbed over the wall yelling, "Sir, help me, help me! My uncle is killing everybody!" The boy jumped over along with one of his relatives.

"So I tried to calm him down and bring him inside the house," Omar recounted, "and I am thinking, 'This isn't real. Where is Candid Camera in all this? It can't be real.'

"We called 911. We could still hear the shooting and screaming. And more people were climbing over the wall and more people." Nine people ran into the Uriarte home.

Omar sensed the enormity of the situation when the last lady said, "He's coming! He's coming!" Omar said to himself, "Oh, my God. This monster is going to come into my home now. I've got a wife and children."

He sent them all upstairs and looked to see what was happening. His neighbors were starting to come out of their homes, and Omar yelled, "Get inside! He's still here and shooting!"

With nothing to defend himself - not even a baseball bat --- Omar took a steak knife in his hand. "I didn't know if he was going to come through the back yard door or the front yard door. So I thought, 'I am a last resort and I have to get this guy, because if I don't get him, and he gets upstairs, he is going to kill everyone including my kids and my wife.'"

Fortunately the police and SWAT arrived, and secured the Uriartes and Ortega survivors upstairs until the neighborhood was secure. They were all upstairs until 3:30 a.m.

That was a month ago, when Bruce Pardo came to the home of his former in-laws and killed nine family members (including his ex-wife), injured others and used an incendiary device to burn down the house, before committing suicide. In all, 17 children lost either one or both parents, and neighbors, family and friends lost nine members of the Ortega family between the ages of 80 and 17.

More than a month later, the memories still haunt Omar Uriarte.

"I'll never forget it," he said. "That boy is looking right at me and asking me, 'Sir, what do we do? He shot my parents.' And I didn't know what to do. And when the little girl who got her cheek blown off, when she was there, she was looking right at me and telling me, 'I've been shot.' And so all of that is in my head and it's so hard to let it go. The video keeps playing in my head even today."

Coming together
Last Saturday, on the one-month anniversary of death of nine members of the Ortega family, the parish communities of Holy Name of Mary (San Dimas), Sacred Heart and St. Louise joined together for a Healing Mass at St. Louise. The purpose was to give support to one another and to those among their community who were the first responders - the neighbors, friends and professionals who came to the scene of the tragedy that took place that Christmas Eve.

Said Father Bill Easterling, pastor of Sacred Heart, "It is bigger than Sacred Heart Parish. All of our parishes have been in constant prayer and the community has responded tremendously to support the family. We have promised to keep them in our prayers and to help with the education fund for the children."

San Gabriel Regional Bishop Gabino Zavala began the liturgy by saying, "There are no words that help us explain away. We need to accompany one another."

Which is what these parishes have done. In their shock and grief they have begun the healing process through prayer and ouitreach. Earlier that day a motorcycle ride began in Glendale (where a surviving daughter attends Holy Family Church) and ended in Covina. The ride, organized by the National Latino Peace Officers Association, raised funds to assist the family and surviving children. A pancake breakfast was held the same weekend in Covina.

During his homily, Father Lawrence Dowdel, St. Louise pastor, stressed, "God is there to give us strength, hope and guidance." And while an important part of healing is forgiveness, "forgiveness," he said, "does not mean that we write off something. We ask Christ to help us deal with our feelings and make us more supportive. No one is out of range of God's net of love."

Of the neighbors who responded to the scene and to the needs of the Ortega family, Father Dowdel said, "That is true discipleship in action, to help make it a safe place once again.

"Jesus wants to draw us closer to himself. God is saying, 'I am here. I am with you. I am working within and through you.' Let us continue to pray and support one another."

'It was just unbelievable'
Don Dominic --- former chair of St. Louise's Pastoral Council for ten years, and a confirmation teacher for 20 --- and his wife live two doors from the Ortega home the opposite direction from the Uriartes. On Christmas Eve, he recalled, "everyone tried to put the fire out but the police kept us away," said Don. "They were concerned that there might be another bomb or that the guy might still be in the neighborhood."

Two days later the police had a meeting at the Uriarte home, with parishioners attending. Their neighbors next door changed the night of their Bible study meeting to join in a prayer walk through the community.

"We stopped at everyone's house, said a prayer and it helped the neighbors," said Don, who has lived in the neighborhood since 1972. "Father Larry also did a fantastic job of helping people try to cope with something that is so unbelievable. At the meeting with the police, they said, 'In 31 years there has never been a call to come to the Knollcrest neighborhood and then we have to come for something like this.'

"It was just unbelievable. I was there 200 feet away from where it was happening, and I am not sure today that I can cope with it and understand what happened."

Visibly upset, Don continued, "You know, people talk about closure..." He paused for a few moments. "Our next-door neighbors, they see it. And the trauma - the trauma they are going through. Everyone is trying to support them, but you can't understand what they are going through."

Thinking back to his experience as youth minister and teacher, Omar Uriarte says, "I always told all my students and the youth, 'You never know when God is going to take you. When God is going to call you, you have to be ready.'

"That night was a situation when I was called to make some tough choices. I am glad I was there for these people. I am glad we were home and I believe now that it was God's will. I feel blessed that I was able to be of some type of service. I think that this is the message I want to give out to all my youth and all my teenagers over the years, another testament of what I have always been teaching them: You have to be ready. You never know when God is going to call you to a situation and you will have to stand."

'The greatest gift'
Soon after Christmas Eve the Uriarte family asked Father John Vianney from St. Louise de Marillac to come over to bless their house.

"My faith says that Jesus told his disciples that the greatest gift that we can give to the Father is our lives," says Omar. "I took it seriously that night. If it meant my being the last one holding this guy off, and even if it meant my life, then so be it," he added, tears coming to his eyes.

"You just always have to do the right thing. I am thankful that I did the right thing. My faith tells me that we must be able to challenge others to live up to their faith, and I want to share that testament with other people. Don't walk away from it. Don't close your door. Do what is right."

Donations to assist the Ortega family and children may be sent to: Ortega Family Fund, c/o Scott Nord, 500 N. Brand Blvd., #330, Glendale, CA 91230.