N.Y. cardinal compares murdered Newtown teacher to Jesus

NEWTOWN, Conn. • A single bell repeatedly rang a sad, slow beat Thursday at the Connecticut funeral of a 6-year-old girl killed by a gunman at her elementary school, while a cardinal in New York compared a slain teacher to Jesus for giving up her life to protect others.

In Newtown, the site of the shooting rampage, grim-faced mourners hurried through the packed parking lot of St. Rose of Lima Church to attend the funeral Mass for 6-year-old Catherine Hubbard.

Catherine's family said in her obituary that she would be remembered for her passion for animals and her constant smile.

Catherine was among the 20 students and six teachers killed when Adam Lanza, armed with a military-style assault rifle, broke into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown on Dec. 14 and opened fire. Lanza killed his mother at her home before the attack and committed suicide at the school as police closed in.

Funerals were also scheduled in Connecticut on Thursday for 7-year-old Grace McDonnell and 6-year-olds Benjamin Andrew Wheeler, Jesse Lewis and Allison Wyatt.

In New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan told mourners at the funeral of Anne Marie Murphy that the teacher "brought together a community, a nation, a world, now awed by her own life and death." Murphy's father, Hugh McGowan, said authorities told him that she died trying to protect her young pupils.

"Like Jesus, Annie laid down her life for her friends," Dolan said. "Like Jesus, Annie's life and death brings light, truth, goodness and love to a world often shrouded in darkness, evil, selfishness and death."

About 15 people arrived at St. Mary of the Assumption Church in Katonah, N.Y., in a yellow school bus with "Newtown" written on its side. The church quickly filled and about 100 mourners waited outside.

Murphy's brother-in-law Thomas Newman read a brief statement before the service.

Her relatives "pray, for all the families touched so terribly, that God may help these feelings of such great pain and grief pass quickly; that they be replaced with only happy thoughts and joyous memories of those we have lost," they said.

A long line of mourners waited to enter a memorial service for teacher Lauren Gabrielle Rousseau on Thursday.

A U.S. Justice Department official told The Associated Press on Thursday that Attorney General Eric Holder will travel to Newtown on Friday to meet with first responders and law enforcement officials. The trip comes after Holder met with Vice President Joe Biden, who is tasked with leading an administration-wide effort to create new proposals for reducing gun violence.

The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the trip hadn't been publicly announced.

In addition to the services, the families of 6-year-old Olivia Rose Engel, behavioral therapist Rachel Marie D'Avino and school psychologist Mary Sherlach have calling hours Thursday.

At least nine funerals and wakes were held Wednesday, and more are set for Friday and Saturday.

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Associated Press writer Frederic J. Frommer in Washington, Jim Fitzgerald in Katonah, N.Y., and Eilleen AJ Connelly in Newtown contributed to this report.