Empty school desks on Minnesota Capitol grounds signify children lost to gun violence February 26, 2026By Joe Ruff The Catholic Spirit Filed Under: Gun Violence, News, Schools, World News They were preparing for three days of presence and legislative testimony as they seek gun safety laws. The desks represented more than 200 Minnesota children lost to gun violence since 2021, the group said.
‘Operation Metro Surge’ in Minneapolis is ending but needs continue for immigrant families February 16, 2026By Joe Ruff The Catholic Spirit Filed Under: Immigration and Migration, News, World News Redemptorist Father John Schmidt, pastor of St. Alphonsus in Brooklyn Center, was cautiously optimistic as he heard the news Feb. 12 that “Operation Metro Surge” was nearing an end.
Amid tensions in Minnesota, Archbishop Hebda calls for conversion of hearts January 26, 2026By Joe Ruff The Catholic Spirit Filed Under: Gun Violence, Immigration and Migration, News, World News After a second fatal shooting in January involving federal agents in Minneapolis during an increase in federal immigration enforcement, Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda presided over an evening Mass for peace Jan. 25 at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul.
Catholic leaders call for peace, prayer after second person killed in Minneapolis by federal agents January 26, 2026By Joe Ruff The Catholic Spirit Filed Under: Gun Violence, Immigration and Migration, News, World News Catholic leaders are calling for peace the day after a second person was killed by federal agents this month in Minneapolis.
Vance visits Minneapolis to ‘tone down the temperature’ during immigration enforcement January 23, 2026By Joe Ruff The Catholic Spirit Filed Under: Immigration and Migration, News, World News Vice President JD Vance said he visited with business leaders, federal immigration enforcement officers and local law enforcement in Minneapolis Jan. 22 to better understand how an increase in immigration enforcement was unfolding and to “tone down the temperature a little bit, reduce the chaos, but still allow us as a federal government to enforce the American people’s immigration laws.”
Wisconsin man’s Catholic faith revived after finding bishop’s crosier in scrapyard January 3, 2026By Joe Ruff The Catholic Spirit Filed Under: Jubilee 2025, News, World News A bishop’s golden crosier, or hooked staff symbolizing his office, found in a Minnesota scrapyard has drawn the man who discovered it into a journey back to the Catholic Church of his youth.
Hope, healing highlight prayer service and Mass a month since Annunciation shooting September 30, 2025By Joe Ruff OSV News Filed Under: Feature, Gun Violence, News, World News Sharing hugs, tears and smiles, more than 150 people gathered on the lawn outside Annunciation Catholic Church and School in Minneapolis for a morning prayer service Sept. 27.
Bishop blesses hospitalized 12-year-old Annunciation shooting victim still in critical condition September 3, 2025By Joe Ruff OSV News Filed Under: Gun Violence, News, World News Blessing her forehead and both hands with holy water from Lourdes, France, as she lay unconscious in a hospital bed in Minneapolis, Auxiliary Bishop Michael J. Izen of St. Paul and Minneapolis prayed for 12-year-old Sophia Forchas, left in critical condition with head injuries when bullets tore through Annunciation’s church in Minneapolis one week before.
Annunciation pastor calls first parish Mass after church shooting a ‘humble beginning’ September 2, 2025By Joe Ruff OSV News Filed Under: Feature, Gun Violence, News, World News Recalling the fear and the cries from students, parents and school staff to “get low, stay down, stay down, don’t get up” as bullets tore through Annunciation church at an all-school Mass in Minneapolis, Father Dennis Zehren, the pastor, said it marked a new beginning.
Archbishop Hebda prays for community’s peace, fortitude, consolation after school shooting August 28, 2025By Joe Ruff OSV News Filed Under: Feature, Gun Violence, News, Schools, World News Hugs and tears preceded a service the evening of Aug. 27 to mourn and pray for those killed and injured after a shooting earlier in the day at a Minneapolis Catholic elementary school.
Suspect arrested for murdering Minnesota lawmaker, husband June 16, 2025By Joe Ruff OSV News Filed Under: Gun Violence, News, World News A man suspected of killing Democratic State Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, was arrested June 15 after a nearly two-day manhunt that authorities described as the largest in state history.
Minnesota lawmaker who once taught Catholic Sunday school shot and killed in apparent ‘politically motivated assassination’ June 15, 2025By Joe Ruff OSV News Filed Under: Feature, Gun Violence, News, World News Democratic State Rep. Melissa Hortman, who once taught Sunday school at St. Timothy in Blaine, Minn., and was a speaker of the Minnesota House, and her husband, Mark, were shot and killed in their home early June 14 in what Gov. Tim Walz said “appears to be a politically motivated assassination.”
