A small memorial, composed of flowers, a few stuffed animals and some alcoholic beverage bottles wrapped in brown bags, sat on the front steps of 106 Pond St.

The memorial was held in honor of Torrey Porter, a 27-year-old Syracuse citizen who was stabbed outside his home Saturday night after a fight on the 200 block of Pond Street turned into a deadly confrontation.

For more than a year and a half, Franciscans in Collaborative Ministries, a not-for-profit corporation established by the Conventual Franciscan Friars and the Sisters of the Third Franciscan Order of Syracuse, have held vigils for homicide victims in the Syracuse area.

Torrey Porter’s vigil took place a few feet from the front of his home at 7 p.m. Wednesday evening.

‘(Torrey) was a very nice, very polite and very caring person,’ said Nancy Cannizzaro, a volunteer at the Assumption Food Pantry who attended the vigil.

This is the first time she has joined Franciscans in Collaborative Ministries for an evening vigil, Cannizzaro said. She felt the need to attend the vigil and pray for Porter because she had seen him for the past three months at the food pantry’s sandwich program held daily.

‘I saw his picture on the news Sunday evening and felt a connection,’ Cannizzaro said. ‘I really felt like I needed to do something because I knew who he was.’

Sister Dolly, of the Franciscan Northside Ministries, said she helped coordinate Wednesday’s vigil and set up the time for people to meet.

She credited the Rev. Tim Mulligan, of the Alibrandi Catholic Center and the Catholic Chaplain at Syracuse University, as the vigil’s founder when he came up with the idea at one of their meetings.

Since the first vigil held more than one year ago, they have grown from people directly involved with the Franciscans in Collaborative Ministries to its advising council members, sisters and friars.

‘Sometimes if there is a passer-by, they will come and join us too,’ Sister Dolly said.

Mulligan said Wednesday’s turnout of about 15 was ‘typical’ and said the vigils are usually held within 48 hours of the homicide incident.

‘We live in a very violent city,’ Mulligan said. ‘We need a public voice that speaks for peace, and hopefully this is one way we can do this.’

Apathy is all too common and the vigils serve as one way to combat this problem, Mulligan said.

‘If we’re not part of the solution, we’re part of the problem,’ Mulligan said.

Friar Gary Johnson, the assistant to the pastor at the Franciscan Church of the Assumption, said by the time the vigil is held, there is usually a gathering of things, such as flowers, pictures and other items, from the people that were close to the victim.

‘Wherever we go, it makes me think we’re not the first that got here,’ Johnson said.

Published on April 25, 2006 at 12:00 pm