Deacon Kevin Conneely of Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis talks about his experiencces and how the community is moving forward after a 2025 school shooting during an interview Aug. 10, 2026. (OSV News photo\/Dave Hrbacek, Catholic Spirit)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u201cThere are so many people here, despite all the new leaders,\u201d DeBoer added. \u201cThere\u2019s great retention here at Annunciation among the faculty and staff at the school, and in many ways the parish staff as well. While the public-facing leadership team was brand new, there (are) some real anchors and great dedication among the staff here at all levels. I can\u2019t imagine what it would have been like to lead a team of teachers that were new or not rooted in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
The data speaks for itself, DeBoer said, with 100% of parish and school staff returning to work after the tragedy. New leadership leaned on this veteran presence and institutional knowledge.<\/p>\n
According to the Washburn Center for Children \u2014 a mental health service in Minneapolis \u2014 Annunciation was prepared for a trauma response of best practice, Clapp said, meaning \u201cthey had a strong social and emotional curriculum where children were used to talking about their emotions and knowing themselves in space and time.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you walk into classrooms in Annunciation, you\u2019ll see mood meters, you\u2019ll see sensory corners, you\u2019ll see all the best practices, and they\u2019ve worked on that for years and years,\u201d Clapp said. \u201cAnd then a set of procedures when behavior arrives that you\u2019re asking an adult for help and engaging, versus a punitive system.\u201d<\/p>\n
At Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, DeBoer was a business major. In 2005, while he was in college, Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just felt called to be in that community,\u201d DeBoer said. \u201cI went down there a bunch of times during college.\u201d<\/p>\n
DeBoer worked with Catholic Charities and Operation Helping Hands. Then he applied for the Jesuit Volunteer Corps and was placed in New Orleans at Good Shepherd Catholic School as a teacher.<\/p>\n
DeBoer said his first professors were the children and parents of New Orleans coming out of Katrina. The community that welcomed him also modeled what healing looks like in the face of disaster, he said.<\/p>\n
When DeBoer was 28 years old, he became the fifth principal in six years at a Catholic school in Seattle that had a \u201cgreat deal of challenges.\u201d The school was struggling with enrollment and its Catholic identity.<\/p>\n
\u201cGod has sent me a number of places, and I do feel like that journey, my life, has been more of that spiritual chiseling to serve in this capacity at this time, at this place that nobody should have to serve in,\u201d he said. \u201cI do feel blessed that my prior experiences did prepare me to try to minister here to the best of the needs of the community at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n
In an email to The Catholic Spirit, Father Zehren wrote that his years as a priest taught him that blessings come to a shepherd who \u201cdoesn\u2019t run at the first sign of danger.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAs Moses told the people at the Red Sea, \u2018Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you,’\u201d Father Zehren wrote. \u201cIf you quit in the middle of the story, you never see the happy ending that God brings about.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s true that I was new to Annunciation,\u201d Father Zehren wrote. \u201cWe hadn\u2019t been working together long. It\u2019s like the apostles \u2014 they didn\u2019t have time to prepare before answering the call of Jesus. They heard his voice. They knew to answer without hesitating. Each had gifts for the mission.\u201d<\/p>\n
During workshop week, when Clapp was supposed to start, she had emergency gallbladder surgery. She recovered at home until the first day of school, Aug. 25, 2025.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course, the first two days of school, all administrators overdo it,\u201d Clapp said. \u201cI had four incisions that I was caring for. So, Matt (DeBoer) said Tuesday night (Aug. 26), \u2018I want you to rest tomorrow. Sleep in. We have Mass (in the morning) if you want to come in the afternoon. Take your time.’\u201d<\/p>\n
Clapp was home the morning of Aug. 27. At 8:30 a.m., she heard sirens. \u201cI\u2019ve never heard that many sirens,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
That afternoon, Clapp hit the ground running. The first task was taking care of Annunciation\u2019s families, children and staff, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I brought to bear is a variety of experiences working with many community stakeholders, a variety of experience in emergency procedure preparation, and a handful of low-level emergencies that we dealt with in (my) 29 years in education,\u201d Clapp said. \u201cI just felt like I was the freshest person, obviously without the trauma of that morning. I was just in a very different space.\u201d<\/p>\n
Annunciation has always been a parish, but after Aug. 27, it became for some people a cause, Deacon Conneely said. It became \u201csomething to pray for, something to support financially, something to try to help heal, and so it really became something larger than a parish.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone knows about the tragedy, and people in my circle of friends or family, they will tell me how they heard about it, or who was praying for us, from all different states, all different faith backgrounds,\u201d Deacon Conneely said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt really has become something to rally around. People don\u2019t want to see the evil win, they really want two things: They want this to never happen again, and they want us to be able to heal from what did happen,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Leadership at Annunciation wants the parish to remain known as a parish and not just one more name in a long line of communities dealing with the tragedy of a school shooting, like Columbine, Sandy Hook or Uvalde, Deacon Conneely said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to grow into something,\u201d Deacon Conneely said. \u201cOne of the lines we use is that we don\u2019t want this tragedy to define us; we want it to refine us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Every year, Annunciation School has a theme for the coming school year. In 2025, that theme was \u201cA future filled with hope.\u201d<\/p>\n
This year, the theme is \u201cGuide our feet into the way of peace\u201d from the Canticle of Zechariah in the Gospel of Luke. The full verse \u2014 \u201cIn the tender compassion of our Lord, the dawn from on high shall break upon us to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace\u201d \u2014 hits home, DeBoer said.<\/p>\n
This verse shows that \u201cGod is our guide, and that light from above that we\u2019ve talked about in all our recovery work, and that light will guide us, will lead us forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt gives us a little more clarity about what that destination is: It\u2019s peace,\u201d DeBoer said. \u201cPeace within ourselves, peace within our community, peace in the world, and so there\u2019s a lot that we can do with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
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