Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy calls for a moment of silence and churches to ring bells exactly one week after the shooting at an elementary school.

A grassroots movement to mark the one-week anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre was spreading across the nation, with thousands of churches set to ring their bells 26 times at 9:30 a.m. today (Friday).

The National Council of Churches said many of its 100,000 congregations plan to participate in the bell-ringing during a somber remembrance that Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy called for earlier in the week.

"I'm asking that Friday, Dec. 21, at 9:30 a.m., exactly one week after the horror began to unfold in Newtown, that the entire state observe a moment of silence," Malloy said at a Monday press conference.

"I'd like to ask those houses of worship or other buildings that have the ability to play bells to do so as well --26 bells for the beautiful children and six wonderful adults who were killed at school that day."

A remembrance will be held in Spokane at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Lourdes, where the funeral toll will ring, at 9:30 this morning.