Multiple Butler County venues hosting prayer vigils
Following the events of Saturday, July 13, at the Butler Farm Show grounds where one person died and two others were injured in an attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, multiple churches and public venues in Butler County are hosting prayer vigils this week.
Hillcrest Baptist Church on Mercer Road in Butler is hosting a prayer vigil at 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 17.
Christ’s Family Church on West Slippery Rock Street in Chicora is holding its own prayer vigil at 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 17, hosted by Pastor John Pistorius.
Pistorius, who himself attended the Trump rally, said he is still “highly charged” over what happened, and he wants to bring people together in prayer for all of the families affected and help people come to terms with their trauma.
“Many people are deeply traumatized by this, and we're hoping to help relieve some of that trauma,” Pistorius said. “We want to pray for the families affected. We want to pray for the family of the individuals who were injured. We want to pray, obviously, for former President Trump and all of those who risked their lives protecting him. We want to pray for our nation.”
A candlelight vigil will be held in memory of the late Corey Comperatore at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Lernerville Speedway in Buffalo Township.
One of the chief organizers of the Lernerville event is Kelly McCullough, a personal friend of Corey’s sister, Kelly Comperatore-Meeder. McCullough is teaming up with other community leaders, some of whom knew Comperatore personally, to organize the vigil.
“I'm only doing this as a friend,” McCullough said. “I feel like our community needs to come together in unity and healing. We need to pull together to support Corey's family. But my overall goal is community unity and healing.”
While McCullough could not provide an estimate of how many are expected to show up, Lernerville Speedway seats about 12,000, and all who attend will be seated in the grandstands. Comperatore’s family will be seated in the front.
Curt Marino, who formerly served as lead singer of the Christian band Risen To Save, will perform some of his music at the event.
On Facebook, Pistorius called for all local churches in the Butler County area to “come out of the closet” and host similar prayer vigils in response to Saturday’s events.
“Contact the person in charge of your faith community's meeting place today and demand a meeting for prayer and discussion,” Pistorius wrote.
“There's too many (churches) that are afraid to touch anything when they have a political tone to it,” Pistorius said. “I’m not one of those people. I believe as faith leaders, we need to lead people in the direction of Godly values. And praying for people is one of those values.”
