Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from 2017

Silent fright: Church Nativity features mass shootings Priest: 'The solution isn't to arm more, it's to disarm and to trust each other'

  Print St. Susanna’s Parish in Dedham, Massachusetts, displays this nativity scene featuring a list of bloody mass shootings to get parishioners talking about gun control (Photo: screenshot) A Catholic church in Dedham, Massachusetts, is showcasing a Nativity scene that features a list of the nation’s 16 bloodiest mass shootings just above the display of baby Jesus, Joseph and Mary. St. Susanna’s Parish  – described as one of the most liberal parishes in the Archdiocese of Boston  – apparently wants to motivate its parishioners to take action on gun control. Father Stephen Josoma told Boston’s WFXT-TV 25 that the church is hoping to motivate parishioners to take action on gun violence in the U.S. “We were discussing the gun-control issue and how it seems to be stagnated across the country,” Josoma said. “There’s ci...

Immigration and gun control discussed by Catholic bishops in Baltimore

BALTIMORE — The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is holding its annual fall meeting in Baltimore this week. The meeting entails three days of prayer, reflection and politics, as top church decision-makers weigh in on the same issues being debated across the nation's capital, including immigration and gun control. "(Immigrants) who are often fleeing horrible violence, terrorism and disaster. Their journey is our journey," said Bishop Vasquez. Bishops advocated for inclusion by embracing immigrants and migrants. That stance is in direct opposition to the Trump administration. "We have resources for our local churches, our diocese, to be able to pursue policies. We try to work out, sometimes, in terms of legislatures or Congress or the administration," said Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, USCCB president. A small but dedicated group of protesters demanded the Roman Catholic Church designate one "sanctuary church" ...

Shootings demonstrate need for gun control, USCCB says

USCCB = United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Washington D.C., Nov 7, 2017 / 04:38 pm ( CNA/EWTN News ) .- In response to mass shootings in Las Vegas, Nevada and the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Spring, Texas, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has encouraged public debate on gun control, suggesting specific policies that might quell gun violence. “For many years, the Catholic bishops of the United States have been urging our leaders to explore and adopt reasonable policies to help curb gun violence,” said Bishop Frank Dewane of Venice, Florida, Chairman of the USCCB’s committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, in a Nov. 7 statement. “The recent and shocking events in Las Vegas and Sutherland Springs remind us of how much damage can be caused when weapons … too easily find their way into the hands of those who would wish to use them to harm others.” On Oct. 1, 64-year-old Stephen Paddock unleashed hundreds of bullets on a crowd...

Responding to Texas church shooting, U.S. bishops renew call for gun control

Meredith Cooper, of San Antonio, Tex., and her 8-year-old daughter, Heather, visit a memorial of 26 metal crosses near First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Tex., on Nov. 6. (Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via AP) Like the episodes of violence themselves—three of the nation’s five worst shootings in modern history have taken place over the last 24 months —responses to mass shooting events from politicians and activists seem to have adopted a routine. Those with an absolutist interpretation of the Second Amendment offer thoughts and prayers but insist that the immediate aftermath of a shooting is not the right time to discuss gun control. Those who wish to end easy access to high-capacity, military-style weapons say thoughts and prayers are insufficient without action and demand legislators stand up to the national gun lobby, now prompting a backlash by some conservatives who say the supporters of gun regulation mock religion. Just days after t...

Texas bishop in wake of church shooting: ‘No war, no violence, no guns’

Carrie Matula embraces a woman after a fatal shooting at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, on Sunday, Nov. 5, 2017. Matula said she heard the shooting from the gas station where she works a block away. (Nick Wagner/Austin American-Statesman via AP) Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the archbishop of Galveston-Houston, responded to the country’s latest mass shooting, where at least 20 people were killed in a Texas church on Sunday, by saying Americans “must come to the firm determination that there is a fundamental problem in our society.” We need to be embassadors of peace. No war, no violence, no guns. — Archbishop Gustavo (@ABishopGustavo) November 5, 2017 “This incomprehensibly tragic event joins an ever-growing list of mass shootings, some of which were also at Churches while people were worshipping and at prayer,” the cardinal said in response to the shooting at the First Baptist...

National Catholic Reporter: Editorial: Now is the time for action on guns

Article Source "The day after a gunman mowed down hundreds of people in Las Vegas, Archbishop Michael Jackels of Dubuque, Iowa, posted a message to his diocese. "Our faith inspires us to offer condolences," he wrote. He offered "prayers for the happy repose of the souls" and called for respect for life and for common good. And then, in an abrupt needle-scraping-across-the-album moment, he simply wrote "Jesus, mercy" and ended with this parenthetical: "This is substantially the same statement as last year after the Orlando shooting. I figured: why write something new; nothing of substance has changed in the area of gun control. And that is I think yet another level to the sadness of Sunday's tragedy." Many of us thought the slaughter of Connecticut schoolchildren, just weeks before Christmas five years ago, was gut-wrenching enough to inspire lawmakers to enact some legal reins on the gun culture that is destroying the freedo...

Cardinal Cupich launches "anti-violence" program in Chicago with Pope Francis’ support

Cardinal Cupich launches anti-violence program in Chicago with Pope Francis’ support 04/05/2017 at 5:55 PM Posted by Mary Anne Hackett By Michael O’Loughlin, April 04, 2017 Cardinal Blase Cupich announced he will use $250,000 from his discretionary charitable fund to create a new foundation to fund anti-violence programs throughout Chicago, an initiative with support from Pope Francis. The cardinal told reporters on April 4 that the archdiocese will expand existing mentorship, educational and job programs at Catholic entities and partner with non-Catholic agencies. Speaking in a neighborhood where gang violence is rampant, Cardinal Cupich said the Catholic Church is committed to peace-building. “We are here because the kids are here, because the families are here. They deserve our support,” he said. The cardinal read a letter he received from Pope Francis, who exhorted Chicago’s young people to follow the ex...