On April 18, Catholics and others joined together to pray and to walk in solidarity with survivors of crimes of violence, and to remember and pray for homicide victims.
The annual Walk for Peace and Memorial Mass were held on Saturday afternoon at St. Mark Church in Belmont. The Walk is timed to coincide with National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, April 19-25. St. Mark pastor Father Angel Quitalig offered the Mass.
Before the Mass, those gathered prayed the rosary. David Chavez, an Excell Network student whose cousin was shot to death last July, spoke about the loss of his cousin, Kalief Perez – Chambers. The 23-year-old was killed while working on a car with a friend in a residential neighborhood of Oakland. The friend was under the car and escaped notice. The accused shooter, Jamazea Kittell, 31, is being held without bail on a murder charge in the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin.
Father Angel Quitalig with those praying, gathered before Mary’s grotto and with the crosses memorializing those who died violently in the past year.
“Kalief’s death has left a wound in our family that only God can help us carry,” Chavez said. “We believe every life has value, and that includes the life of the person accused—but valuing every life also means confronting the systems that failed to keep our community safe. Our prayer is that Kalief’s memory inspires healing, accountability, and a renewed commitment to protecting all of God’s children.”
David Chavez touches the cross honoring his cousin. Photo of cousin Kalief Perez – Chambers, below.
Archdiocese of San Francisco Restorative Justice Ministry Coordinator Julio Escobar said the Mass and the peace walk “support the rights of the victims. As part of our Catholic faith, we want to honor the lives that were taken. Their lives were interrupted; they left this earth before their time. As Catholics, we do this, we remember the dead, we pray for them, every year.”
The community also always prays for those who have committed crimes, Escobar said.
St. Mark parish community is committed to supporting the Restorative Justice Ministry and hosts one of two monthly Excell Network breakfasts where the formerly incarcerated students share their stories and are supported by those attending. The Excell Network is a scholarship and mentorship program of the Archdiocese. Mission Dolores parish hosts a second monthly breakfast in San Francisco.
The Walk for Peace honors victims and survivors in a core part of the Restorative Justice Ministry’s mission, Escobar noted. The Restorative Justice Ministry is committed to a “ministry of presence, healing, and hope, rooted in the Catholic belief in mercy and the dignity of every human person. We accompany individuals and families affected by crime, incarceration, and violence—walking with victims, offenders, and communities to foster reconciliation, transformation, and peace,” according to the mission statement on the website.
