Show of Support

R.J. Gravel first heard about the shootings at Northern Illinois University shortly after they happened from members of St. Bede the Venerable, the Chicago church where he serves as director of liturgical music. The NIU alumnus and graduate student had left the campus about half an hour before. “My first thought was, ‘No, you're wrong. You must be mistaken,'” Gravel recalled. “I played the alma mater for every one of my Masses that Saturday and Sunday.” Sunday afternoon, Gravel sat down at a piano and in about two hours had composed a song, “We Stand Together for We Are NIU,” which incorporated the school's alma mater with original lyrics.