Looking out this morning into the pews, at people whose nicknames and secrets he knows well, the Rev. Joseph C. McLoone said he could sense that many of them were feeling torn and confused about the war with Iraq. Do not worry, he told his parishioners. He felt torn, too.
Roman Catholic leaders vigorously opposed the prospect of war with Iraq for months, and Father McLoone, pastor of a 250-family parish on this city's northwest side, said he would have much preferred peace, too. But then came the images of war: American soldiers making their way across the desert, battles unfolding in the sand, the faces of the dead.
"I am sure many of us are divided in what to think, what to do, and how to feel," Father McLoone told those gathered for Mass at St. Therese of the Child Jesus in the Mount Airy neighborhood. "Neither side is right or wrong. But we all need to pray. Whether you pray in desperation, exasperation, or even just out of fear, we all need to pray."
In Catholic churches nationwide on the first Sunday since war began, priests and their followers seemed to have turned their focus away from the philosophical questions, like whether the war was wrong or right and whether they were required to select between the views of Pope John Paul II and President Bush. Instead, the faithful had turned to a more basic, immediate need: comfort.
"I am really heartbroken," said Pauline M. Johnson, who has attended Mass at St. Therese for 44 years. "I don't want war. My first thoughts are of the injured and the dead. These are children, 17, 18, 19. They're babies. This is what hurts. This is what we need to pray about."
Mrs. Johnson, a regular at the 8 a.m. Mass, is a retired schoolteacher. Her husband served in the military. So did her brother. A cousin is in the Marines in the Persian Gulf, she said. She began to cry as she described the conflicting tugs she felt.
"If I say I'm against it, then why are they there?" Mrs. Johnson said. "If we're going to be there, I'm going to support our country. I guess I don't know what to think."
Worshipers of other faiths also prayed for peace and the safety of troops. Some priests devoted their homilies to talk about war, many for the first time. Some churches were opened early and closed late for people who felt they needed more time in those silent rooms, far from the noise and the rush of a television war.
Nationwide, some parishioners began efforts on behalf of the troops. In churches, they lighted candles and posted books with the names of their loved ones at war. They collected bug spray, gum and sunblock to send overseas.
Outside a Mass in Brighton, Mass., Anne Reid, 27 of Larchmont, N.Y., said she does not believe the war in Iraq qualified as a "just war," under principles of Christian teaching, and does not support it. Still, Mrs. Reid said, now that war has come and soldiers are dying, she will support them.
"As a Catholic, where you have an interest in human life, you have to support the troops," she said. "I definitely support the troops and everything they do, but inside I'm torn."
In San Francisco, a priest at St. Mary's Cathedral called on parishioners to pray for all people touched by the war in Iraq. The Rev. Agnel De Heredia urged churchgoers to pray for the families of members of the armed services, military troops, antiwar demonstrators and Iraqis.
"It is important to note that our church is not taking a side," said Edgar Fennie, 46, an architect in San Francisco and regular parishioner at St. Mary's who said he opposed the war.
At three Philadelphia churches, few parishioners said they were still struggling with the notion that they had to choose between the antiwar views of their religious leaders and the decisions of their political leaders. Patrick M. Sullivan, 52, shrugged when reminded of the pope's opposition.
"That's his opinion," Mr. Sullivan said as he left Mass at the Church of St. William on the northeast side. "I pray for the soldiers."
Msgr. Nelson J. Perez said in an interview at St. William: "I think where people are now is at a more basic level. I think right now they're at the level of watching this unfold, in real time. There's a feeling of helplessness. The reality is that at this point, when you go to bed at night, you are at war. It's scary. There's not room for the level of ideology right now."
Monsignor Perez offered this solution to his flock: pray, talk and learn. "Prayer is our source of peace," he said.
But in a few churches during some Masses, priests never mentioned the war. There were no prayers for the soldiers, no calls for peace.
Patricia M. Geis nudged her husband at a Saturday evening Mass at Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in central Philadelphia. Mrs. Geis said she could not believe the omission.
"Here we had prayed for the homeless and the hungry, but not a word about our troops?" she said afterward. "I was really disappointed by that. I think the Catholic Church has its head buried in the sand about this war. At some point, you can't ignore it."
Mrs. Geis, 58, is anything but excited about the current military action. "I think there could have been another way," she said. "But we're there. And I support my troops.
"Even if they didn't want to talk about it, they could have prayed for the soldiers. I'm very deep in my faith, but I don't agree with everything that is told to me."
Her husband, John F. Geis, said he and his wife would say their own, private prayers for the troops.