Parishioners of the Emanuel AME Church of Charleston came home Sunday to “Mother Emanuel,” their tarnished citadel of God, to pray for the nine members of their church family who died during Bible study in a room just below the sanctuary.
"I am here to serve my God and my church," said Thomas Rose, 66, who had been waiting to walk inside past the downstairs room where 9 parishioners died. "They were all my family," he said.
Rose said he grew up in the church as had generations of his family before him. He ordinarily would have been there for Bible study Wednesday night, he said, but his wife took him to pray at a sister church instead.