Word has spread around the tight-knit community of Rochester, New Hampshire, regarding the tragic death of James Foley. It's a sad reality Foley's family and spiritual family now has to come to grips with.
"I know this has international ramifications, but this is personal for us," said Father Paul Gousse.
Gousse of our Lady of the Holy Rosary Catholic Church is the spiritual leader for the Foley family. He is also someone who knew slain journalist James Foley personally, and very well.
"He was a man who cared about people and he was a light. He was a man who had deep compassion and loved people," said Grouse.
The Foley family hasn't spoken directly with the media yet, though Foley's mother Diane said they will soon as they were leaving for church Wednesday morning.
They did release a statement online Tuesday evening saying, that they were proud and thankful for all the joy their son brought them.
Gousse did meet with the family last night, only hours after they learned Foley was killed by terrorists in the Middle East.
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"Jim's mother said to me, just before I left, As she hugged me, she said please pray for me, but I don't become bitter. I don't want to hate. And that's what it's about," added Grousse.
Foley had been missing since Nov. 2012, when he was abducted outside an Internet café in Syria while working as a freelance journalist for Boston-based GlobalPost.
His family had not heard from him directly and did not know who took him or why.
Sadly it took this newly released and gruesome video for them to know that, and also know their son Jim won't be coming home.
"There's nothing I can say that's going to make any sense out of any of this because you can't make sense of insanity," said Grousse.
The video released also shows a second man identified as an American journalist and warns he could be the next captive killed.
