Several London Catholic schools received assistance from Church agencies helping students to cope up with the trauma caused by the incident. The assistance programs includes soothing the worries of students and staff members regarding some of their fellow students who are still missing after the Grenfell Tower fire incident.
There were 30 people who died in the said fire last June 14 and confirmed by the Police. However, the number of casualties is expected to rise in the next coming days as emergency personnel continue to search the ruins for bodies.
On June 16, the director of education for the Archdiocese of Westminster, John Paul Morrison, told Catholic News Service that counseling to students was offered and given in order to help them deal with the trauma from the tragedy.
According to Morrison, "What they have witnessed was incredibly shocking. Television and media can only touch a portion of it."
He also added, "The thing that really hit the students was the screaming,"
"I spoke to some people yesterday who were very upset by that -- by hearing, 'Help me!', 'Help me!'" Morrison said, whilst adding that students were also missing from the schools around the danger zone. However, he did not state the total number of students currently absent due to the tragedy and didn't wish to identify them ahead of time.
There were hundreds of students and their families that were evacuated from the 24-story building with the possibility that it might collapse and scatter debris in a half-mile radius. St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Primary School students were also relocated to Sion Manning Catholic Girls School, which makes them far and safe from the zone cordoned off by police.
"I think from an educational point of view, it is really important you get back to some form of consistency and normality as much as you can in a period of incredible anguish and tragedy," said Morrison as he discussed the current status of the affected students.
Concerned teachers tried their best to give the students a typical day in class and have received help from schools across the archdiocese to deliver books and other materials needed to help students with their studies.
Morrison was happy and very proud of the Catholic Church's response to the tragedy. "It was good to see all elements of the church's mission come together to address what is an incredibly said but also an incredibly complex situation," he said.
One of two churches used to serve as a collection point for the public's donation of food, clothing and other supplies for the families that were victimized by the fire is the St. Francis of Assisi Church in Notting Hill.
Parish priest, Father Gerard Skinner, was also inundated with donations that left no storage space remaining within hours of the Grenfell tragedy. He also left a message that the church was "at capacity." He was also overwhelmed for the practical assistance offered for the victims.
