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Chicago Worshippers Reflect On Church Massacre: 'It Upsets My Soul'

(CBS) – Parishioners at AME Church in Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood called for a national prayer for the victims of the South Carolina massacre.

CBS 2's Dorothy Tucker reports church members practice the forgiveness they preach.

There are tears in Chicago for the victims in Charleston.

"It just upsets my soul," James Lee Hines says.

So parishioners at the Grant Memorial AME church in Bronzeville held a prayer service for their sister church, Emanuel AME, where nine people were gunned down by a stranger they had welcomed to the church.

No one hesitated to welcome when Jeanne Clark showed up Friday. The social worker made the trip from suburban Riverside.

"I'm so sorry. I'm so sad. I'm sad at the continued violence against people with darker color skin than me," she said.

Clark found acceptance in this Chicago community, just as suspect Dylann Roof found forgiveness in Charleston.

A judge allowed victims' relatives to speak before announcing roof's bond. One said she forgives the suspect.

"God has forgiven us. It's a mandate on ourselves to forgive others," Rev. Craig Martin Jenkins said back in Chicago.

Church leaders say they'll include a message of forgiveness, love and hope in this Sunday's sermon.

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