National Clergy Council Meets Families of Amish School Shooting Victims

The President of the National Clergy Council in the U.S., the Rev Rob Schenck, has met all day with families of both the victims and the perpetrator of the Amish school shootings in rural Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

He will appear on Larry King Live in the U.S. tonight where he will give an interview on his time spent with the families.

Rev Schenck met the relatives as the head of the Washington DC-based interdenominational organisation which represents more than 5,000 clergy and 20,000 lay associate members.

He met the mother of one of the girl victims and was afforded the rare privilege of witnessing the highly private wake along with scores of extended family members. The wake was held in the girl's home.

Rev. Schenck had earlier spent time with the parents and other family members of shooter Charles Roberts.

"This tragic event is one of the saddest and most agonising situations I have ever faced," said Schenck, adding, "All the people caught up in this tragedy are victims and we must not forget that. I conveyed the sympathy and support of churches and people of Christian faith across the country for all the families so devastated by this enormous horror - and they received that message with comfort and deep gratitude."

According to a Sky News report, families of some of the children murdered in the rural Bart township have invited the wife of the killer, Marie Roberts, to the funerals.

Vigils were held across the state of Pennsylvania to remember the five Amish schoolgirls as the healing process begins in the tight-knit community.

The Amish community of Nickel Mines have touched hearts with their appeals for forgiveness, not anger, in the aftermath of Monday's horrific and devastating tragedy that left five girls dead and five more critically injured.

Members of the Amish community said they were sad and disappointed but not angry.

"It's just not the way we think. There is no sense in getting angry," said Henry Fisher, 62, a retired farmer with five grown children and 33 grandchildren who has lived all his life in the town some 60 miles west of Philadelphia.

Marie was at a prayer meeting when Roberts, 32, called during the standoff in the schoolhouse and confessed that he had molested two female relatives when they were three to five years old.

Police also believe that the death of his prematurely born daughter, Elise, in 1997 may also have been a motive behind the attack, which police believe Roberts had been planning for up to a week.