In wake of deputies’ deaths,we cry out: ‘Why have you done this to me?’

Father John Nhan Tran, pastor of St. Joan of Arc Church in LaPlace,  was the homilist at the funeral Mass Aug. 20 for slain St. John the Baptist Parish sheriff’s Deputy Jeremy Triche, who was killed Aug. 16 along with Deputy Brandon Nielsen while investigating criminal activity at a LaPlace trailer park. Archbishop Gregory Aymond was the principal celebrant of the funeral Mass.
In his homily, Father Tran said there are moments in life that prompt people not just to ask but also to “cry out, ‘Why’?” He said, “In addition to our desolation, we feel in some way perhaps betrayed by the God whom we have learned from childhood to trust in his protection and love.” Father  Tran said that while the pain and sorrow the Triche family must bear may “only be understood at the end of time,” God “asks us to offer him the weight of our grief and the sacrifice of our tears, and he will support us. He asks us now for faith and trust at the very moment when we feel that we have none to offer him.” See Peter Finney's commentary for a look at how friends and family are helping the families of the slain deputies cope with the tragedy.