25 – July – 2012 – CNN Belief Blog

Driven by personal tragedy, man builds crosses for Aurora victims, thousands of others

By Dan Merica, CNN

(CNN) - In a vacant lot across from the site of last week’s movie theater shooting, 12 white crosses stand solemnly, their arms covered in messages of hope and the ground around them full of flowers.

For the loved ones of the 12 killed in the Aurora, Colorado, theater, the crosses have become a focal point of remembrance, a place to memorialize victims and pray for their families and friends. But for the man who built the white crosses, each just over 3 feet tall, the crosses are something more: symbols of his own survival since tragedy struck his family 16 years ago.

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Greg Zanis, an electrician from Aurora, Illinois, said he has built 13,000 crosses in that time, each a memorial for a victim of an American tragedy.

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July 25th, 2012

04:35 AM ET

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Belief Blog's Morning Speed Read for Wednesday, July 25

By Laura Koran, CNN

Here's the Belief Blog’s morning rundown of the top faith-angle stories from around the United States and around the world. Click the headlines for the full stories.

From the Blog:

CNN: Where was God in Aurora massacre?
Where was God in Aurora? It’s a fresh take on an age-old question: Why does God allow suffering, natural disasters or – if you believe in it – evil? We put the question to Twitter on Tuesday and got some starkly different responses.

CNN: Philly priest gets 3 to 6 years in abuse case
The highest-ranking Catholic Church cleric charged and convicted in the landmark Philadelphia child sexual abuse trial was sentenced to three to six years in prison Tuesday. Monsignor William Lynn, 61, was found guilty in June of one count of child endangerment, the first time a U.S. church leader has been convicted of such a charge.

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- CNN's Laura Koran

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