Cardinal Francis George called on Chicagoans of all faiths to pray together, calling it “one of the most important things we can do.”
Mary Karnia, an Illinois Housing Development Authority employee, shared a taxi with three co-workers to attend the event, because she said she believed in the strength of prayer in numbers.
Angel Beenn, of Chicago, who attended the 45-minute service with his wife, said “I want to pray for peace, that everything will get back to normal.”
Suzzane Royals, who works at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, said she came to pray for Wall Street colleagues that she hasn?t heard from yet.
“I?ve been glued to my television set. I had to get away for a few minutes,” she said.
In addition to prayers, churchgoers today also offered financial support. Collection baskets passed around for the American Red Cross filled with $10 and $20 bills.
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The service?s emotional culmination came as hundreds of attendees wept as they sang “America the Beautiful.”
Other services planned today included:
Mayor Richard Daley has called for a citywide moment of silence from 11:59 a.m. to noon Friday. He has also asked churches and other houses of worship ring their bells from noon to 12:03 p.m.
Blood banks throughout Illinois scheduled emergency drives.
?Red Cross blood donation centers across the Chicago area were flooded with people who wanted to give blood,” said Bill Braden, executive director of the American Red Cross of Greater Chicago.
The agency reached capacity for blood collection Wednesday, but Braden urged people to make
appointments for future donations by contacting:
Donations of money to aid relief efforts were being accepted by several area agencies: