CONFRONTING RACISM AND GUN VIOLENCE WITH JUSTICE, PRAYER AND THE WISDOM OF THE SAINTS

BY THE MOST REVEREND

KEVIN W. VANN, J.C.D., D.D.

ON TUESDAY, MAY 24, 21 people were killed at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. We are beginning to receive reports and biographies of these precious lives taken, at least 19 children and two adults, elementary students and teachers. The shooter was an 18-year-old Uvalde resident who also died and needs our prayers for mercy.

The details of this massacre are still forthcoming yet the compounded grief, sadness, and, yes, anger are here in full force. We pray, O God of peace, for those who are grieving, and we weep with those who weep. We ask for the grace to respond with faith, hope, and love to meet the challenge before us. Indeed, we must grieve and we cannot fail to take action to change this sad state of affairs. In this moment, we must address in prayer and action the urgent need for sensible gun control, the increasing tendency to respond to fear with violence, and the deep and increasing alienation due to wide-ranging causes, which seems to be spreading.

Racism is a particularly powerful and persistent manifestation in recent instances of gun violence, and we must be sure that we do not permit racial biases and stereotypes to shape accounts and responses to the tragedy in Texas either.

We in Orange were already reeling from the horrific racially motivated murders in Buffalo on May 14, only to be struck in our own community of Laguna Woods by more gun violence the following day, May 15. Fifty-two-year-old John Cheng, a physician whose two children attend Santa Margarita High School (where he was remembered during a recent Mass), was at the Taiwanese Presbyterian Church to attend services with his parents and charged the attacker, saving the lives of many others but sadly losing his own. Four others were injured. The incident is being investigated as a hate crime against the Taiwanese people, given notes and comments made by the shooter.

The attack in Buffalo which killed ten more beloved children of God was motivated

CONTINUES ON PAGE 11

The Diocese of Orange, through OC Catholic newspaper, presents local, national and world news about the Catholic Church. Our intention is to give our readers access to a variety of perspectives in order to help them to process the information within the framework of our Catholic faith, but also to better understand the perspectives of those with opposing viewpoints. We hope that ultimately our readers will be better equipped to have constructive conversations that further the growth of the Catholic Church.