SPIRITOFST.FRANCIS | ASK A FRANCISCAN By Pat McCloskey, OFM Are guns the only—or the best—means of ensuring personal safety? For decades, the National Rifle Association (NRA) worked very hard to promote responsible ownership of guns and their use. Supporting a mistakenly absolutist reading of the Second Amendment began among its members as a nonnegotiable position only after the NRA’s 1977 annual convention in Cincinnati. All people, including NRA members and their critics, must tell themselves the truth and act accordingly.
ONLINE: StAnthonyMessenger.org E-MAIL: Ask@FranciscanMedia.org MAIL: Ask a Franciscan 28 W. Liberty St. Cincinnati, OH 45202
All questions sent by mail need to include a self-addressed stamped envelope.
Are Catholics Allowed to Own Guns? In light of the chaos in the United States and around the world, are Catholics allowed to own guns or support the National Rifle Association? Jesus taught us to love our enemies and turn the other cheek (Mt 5:39b; Lk 6:29a). If, however, we must protect ourselves without the help of the police and military, are we allowed to do so by purchasing guns or rifles? Or instead, must we lay down our lives and surrender to terrorists without trying to defend ourselves and our property?
C ?
WANT MORE? Visit our website: StAnthonyMessenger.org
WE HAVE A DIGITAL archive of past Q & As. To get started, go to StAnthonyMessenger.org. Material is grouped thematically under headings such as forgiveness, Jesus, moral issues, prayer, saints, redemption, sacraments, Scripture—and many more!
atholics have as much right to defend themselves within legal limits as anyone else while also telling themselves the truth about why they are purchasing and using firearms—as though they were explaining these reasons to God. Unfortunately, Catholics are as susceptible to misinterpreting the Constitution’s Second Amendment as anyone else. In context, it certainly does not give everyone an absolute right to own any kind of firearm or to carry it wherever and whenever they want. Like other Christians, some Catholics give the impression that they are much more committed to their misreading of the Second Amendment than they are to the belief that Jesus Christ was truly divine and human! Gun ownership has increased dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic. Suicides by gun also increased in the same time period.
Pilate’s Role in Jesus’ Death How are Christians to accept two completely different versions of Christ’s trial before Pilate? In Mark, Pilate sentences Jesus to death, but in Matthew, Pilate washes his hands, declaring himself innocent of Jesus’ blood.
I
n fact, there is no real contradiction here. The Romans reserved capital punishment to themselves. That is why Pilate indicated the sign to be posted regarding Jesus’ crime as he saw it (Mk 15:26). John 18:31 indicates that when Pilate told Jesus’ Jewish accusers to judge him according to their law, they replied, “We do not have the right to execute anyone.” According to the Law of Moses, Jewish people guilty of blasphemy must be executed. The fact that Jesus’ execution was carried out by Roman soldiers indicates that Pilate’s statement that he was “innocent of this man’s blood” (Mt 27:24) is not entirely true. In fact, about six years after Jesus died and rose, Pilate was removed from his position as procurator because of excessive cruelty toward the Jews. And the Romans could tolerate a great deal of cruelty. All of this should remind us that the Scriptures need to be read together and within the faith community. We should resist the temptation to pit one biblical account against all others. In its 1965 decree on the relationship of Christianity to all non-Christian religions, the bishops at Vatican II taught that not all Jews in Jesus’ day or since then were/are responsible for Jesus’ death.
10 • April 2021 | StAnthonyMessenger.org
Spirit of St. Francis 0421.indd 10
2/26/21 10:21 AM
ALESSANDRO0770/ISTOCK
Father Pat welcomes your questions!
FAR LEFT: MC KOZUSKO/SAM; TOP LEFT: JIRKAEJC/FOTOSEARCH
Pat McCloskey, OFM
