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24 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

catholicnewsherald.com | May 27, 2022

Bishop Peter Jugis offers guidance after shootings

CNH: How could God allow these senseless shootings to happen, especially to innocent children?

Bishop Jugis: God wills only good in the world; and one of the greatest goods He has given us is the gift of freedom. People can use this freedom to do good or do evil. When horrific acts occur like what we’ve witnessed in Texas, it is contrary to God’s will. It is an act of evil. When God became man in the person Bishop of Christ, He Peter J. Jugis entered into our world beset with abuses of freedom, evil and injustice. As seen on the cross, He is not a God indifferent to our suffering. He enters into our pain, our weakness and the ravages of sin. On the cross, in this great act of love, He shows us the way out of darkness and pain – lighting up for us the path of salvation, promising the righting of all wrongs, peace, and eternal life where there is no more possibility of sin and evil. Our Lord says to us, “I came so that (you) might have life and have it more abundantly.” CNH: What words of comfort have you given people who have experienced such profound grief?

Bishop Jugis: The pain of loss is difficult in any circumstance. When it is an act of malice against innocent children, it is especially heartbreaking. In the face of such tragedy, there are only two things that can bring some measure of peace: our faith in God and the love we share with one another. Let us turn to both. And let us pray for the Holy Spirit to give us wisdom and firmness of purpose to bring an end to such violence. CNH: How should we respond as Christians to the increasing violence we are seeing happen around us?

Bishop Jugis: Peace begins in the heart. Our first responsibility is to make sure we never surrender this peace and allow darkness, isolation and discord to overcome us and, in turn, to those around us. Secondly, we can be more attentive and loving to our family members, friends and neighbors. We must pray for God to give us the courage and charity needed to reach out and help those around us who may be succumbing to despair, who may be on the verge of breakdown – for their sake and the sake of others.

Prayers, calls for stricter gun laws in wake of mass shootings

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Pope Francis and the U.S. Catholic bishops are decrying three mass shootings that happened within 12 days in the U.S. – calling for leaders to “search their souls” and find ways to end the “epidemic” of gun violence.

A May 14 shooting at a grocery store in a predominantly AfricanAmerican neighborhood of Buffalo, N.Y., killed 10 people and injured three more. The next day in a separate incident, one person was killed and five others wounded in a shooting at a Taiwanese Presbyterian church in Laguna Woods, Calif. Law enforcement officials made arrests and are investigating both as hate crimes.

On Tuesday, a shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, killed 19 children and 2 adults, with more than a dozen others injured.

Texas authorities said an 18-year-old wearing body armor evaded police after crashing his truck near the school close to the U.S-Mexico border and entered the school building armed with two assault weapons. Authorities named Salvador Ramos as the shooter and said he was killed by police.

The May 24 shooting at Robb Elementary School was the deadliest school shooting since the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn.

On Wednesday, Pope Francis prayed publicly for the victims of the Texas shooting and said it was time to say “Enough!” and enact stricter laws on gun sales.

“With a heart shattered over the massacre at the elementary school in Texas, I pray for the children and adults who were killed and for their families,” he told the crowd gathered for his weekly general audience.

“It is time to say, ‘Enough!’ to the indiscriminate trafficking of guns,” the pope said. “Let’s all work to ensure that such tragedies never happen again.”

Shortly before the audience, Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller of San Antonio, an archdiocese that includes Uvalde, tweeted: “Holy Father Pope Francis, say some prayers for the souls of our little ones killed today and two teachers. Uvalde is in mourning. The families are having a very dark time. Your prayer will do good to them.”

Later on Wednesday, Archbishop García-Siller comforted families who waited outside a local civic center in Uvalde waiting for news of their loved ones. “When will these insane acts of violence end?” the archbishop later said in a statement. “It is too great a burden to bear. The word tragedy doesn’t begin to describe what occurred. These massacres cannot be considered ‘the new normal.’” “The Catholic Church consistently calls for the protection of all life; and these mass shootings are a most pressing life issue on which all in society must act – elected leaders and citizens alike,” he said. “We pray that God comfort and offer compassion to the families of these little ones whose pain is unbearable.” A May 24 statement from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said, “There have been too many school shootings, too much killing of the innocent. Our Catholic faith calls us to pray for those who have died and to bind the wounds of others, and we join our prayers along with the community in Uvalde and Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller. As we do so, each of us also needs to search our souls for ways that we can do more to understand this epidemic of evil and violence and implore CNS | BRENDAN MCDERMID, REUTERS our elected officials to A boy writes a message on a sidewalk May 18 in Buffalo, N.Y., where a mass shooting took place May 14 at a Tops help us take action.” supermarket. The shooting was the first of three mass casualty events within the past two weeks in the U.S., The U.S. bishops’ prompting Pope Francis and Catholic bishops to issue calls for prayer, peace and an end to the violence. statement echoed one issued just a few days earlier, in the wake of the Buffalo and Laguna Woods shootings – offering prayers for the dead and injured and urging support for the families, friends and communities impacted by the violence. “The Catholic Church has been a consistent voice for rational yet effective forms of regulation of dangerous weapons, and the USCCB continues to advocate for an end to violence, and for the respect and dignity of all lives,” the statement said. On Wednesday, some U.S. bishops spoke out against the easy accessibility to guns in the country. “Don’t tell me that guns aren’t the problem, people are. I’m sick of hearing it,” Bishop Daniel E. Flores of Brownsville, Texas, tweeted May 25. “The darkness first takes our children who then kill our children, using the guns that are easier to obtain than aspirin. We sacralize death’s instruments and then are surprised that death uses them.”

Parishes, schools in the Diocese of Charlotte join the Church’s call to pray for peace

CHARLOTTE — Catholics in the Diocese of Charlotte are responding to the recent acts of violence with prayer.

Bishop Peter Jugis is calling for a special prayer for peace during Masses this weekend in churches throughout the Diocese of Charlotte.

In the Prayers of the Faithful, the following prayer is suggested: “We pray for those affected by the recent shootings in

Buffalo, Laguna Woods and now at the elementary school in

Uvalde, Texas …for the deceased and their families, that they may know

Your heavenly peace promised by Jesus Christ; …for the perpetrators and those tempted by darkness and violence, that they may surrender to Your infinite mercy; …for all who feel vulnerable, frightened, or anxious by these acts of senseless evil, that they may find consolation in the promise of Your eternal kingdom. We pray to the Lord…”

On Wednesday, the diocese’s three high schools simultaneously observed a moment of prayer to remember the lives of 19 students and two teachers killed Tuesday at the elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.

The schools held a moment of silence and then recited a special prayer for victims, their families, and the perpetrator and his family.

Elementary and middle schools across the diocese also offered special moments of prayer Wednesday at the principals’ discretion.

Father Timothy Reid, Vicar of Education for the diocese’s 20 schools in western North Carolina, wrote Wednesday in a message to parents: “As Catholic school communities, we are called to support one another in times of suffering. As you pray with your family in the upcoming days, I certainly encourage you to pray for all those affected by this tragedy, but also to pray for peace, healing and protection within our own school communities.”