Faith leaders have gathered to organise a national day of mourning today to help the island grieve after a series of tragic deaths.

Religious leaders, united with the Right Reverend Vernon Lambe, Bishop of the First Church of God in Pembroke, will open their doors to the public for a chance to reflect, pray and find a sense of community, from 7am to 8pm.

Worship centres will offer black armbands to those who wish to stand in solidarity with the grieving.

A special gathering will also be held at the Anglican Cathedral in Hamilton from noon until 1pm, with a series of readings and prayers.

The call for action comes after a series of murders that has shaken the community since the Bermuda Day holiday on May 24.

The Right Reverend Nicholas Dill, the Anglican Bishop of Bermuda, said that there had been “a sense of public horror”, leaving some people struggling to recognise their home island.

Bishop Dill said the tragedies had led to many feeling isolated in shock and grief.

He added: “This is a way of saying to people that you are not alone — we are with you.

“There are political solutions to what we are seeing, and maybe economic, but we want to make spiritual provisions as well.”

He said there had been deepening concern in the religious community, but that for Bishop Lambe the “traumatic” series of killings was “the straw that broke the camel’s back”.

Church leaders also pledged to pool their resources towards long-term assistance and prevention schemes, such as crisis intervention teams and a think-tank, to tackle the problem of community violence.

A member of staff at the First Church of God said the idea came out of conversations among a group of pastors.

The staff member explained: “All churches have been invited to open their doors for anyone to come in and pray, or to seek a quiet place, from 7am to 8pm.

“We respectfully request all religious institutions to open their doors for the purpose of prayerful reflection and intercession towards the healing of our community.”

The island had been in a state of shock throughout July after the start of the month was marred by violence and tragedy on a scale rarely seen in Bermuda.

Razi Garland, 18, and Amon Robinson, 19, were fatally shot in the Scaur Hill area of Sandys at about 6.05am on July 10.

The two were popular graduates from The Berkeley Institute’s Class of 2023 known for their academic prowess and enduring dedication to their communities.

Three days before that, a family of four, which included two young children, were found unresponsive in a South Terrace apartment in Pembroke.

They were pronounced dead, and identified as Na-Vii Trimm-Parfitt, 4, Drae-E Trimm-Parfitt, 9, Nicole Parfitt, 39, and Ramon Trimm, 40.

A police investigation into the incident has been under way since. A spokesman said yesterday: “Out of respect for the families of the deceased, no further information will be released at this time.”

The six deaths prompted a wave of grief, with politicians and communityactivists offering condolences and assistance.

Bishop Dill said that although he was off the island when the incidents happened this month, he had seen an immediate effect on those around him.

He said: “The Tuesday morning when I came back, one of my staff just burst into tears and said ‘it’s just been so horrible’. It turns out she’d known one of the victims.”

The clergyman added: “There’s this sense that we’re not quite sure what to do with this grief at this time, in this island that we don’t recognise.

“There have been spates of violence, but this seems to be at a different kind of level.

“The question is about how to give expression to that and how to allow people to not bottle these things up and pretend like they don’t exist, but to give vent to them in some measure.”

Bishop Dill said that it was important for people to have ways to release their feelings in a healthy manner, drawing for comparison on the Christian concept of lamentation, which was common in many religious traditions and designed to allow people to grieve together.

He said: “This is an opportunity for the nation to mourn, to lament and to ask ‘how do we get out of this place of mourning?’ ”

Bishop Dill said that the movement grew “very quickly” as leaders joined the cause, though he pointed out that the events would be entirely up to individual churches.

He explained that leaders hoped to connect with groups centred on community activism, mental health and anger management.

Bishop Dill emphasised that these groups were “still in formation” and in their early stages.

However, he reminded the public that many churches offered bereavement support.

He also insisted that people who felt shocked, saddened or angered by the recent tragedies confronted their issues.

“How they do it and where they do it doesn’t really matter,” Bishop Dill said. “But if we constantly pretend that stuff is not real and painful and doesn’t affect all of us, it’s just going to create hardness, bitterness and anger.

“This is really a form of mental health support that I think everyone can benefit from.”

He added: “My hope with all of this is just a greater awareness of our need to take care of ourselves, to talk about these things and seek help when we need help.”