Gun Violence

Catholic leaders throughout the country are calling for prayer and action after gun violence scarred the July 4 holiday weekend in several states.

Sitting in front of a replica of Michelangelo’s Pietà — the sculpture of Mary holding her crucified son — the bishops of the Atlanta province signed a joint statement June 27 urging “decisive action” on legislation to curb gun violence.

The June 6 shooting took place in a park outside a theater that hosted Huguenot High School’s graduation ceremony, two blocks from the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart.

Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin of Newark recently published a letter calling on Americans to voluntary “self-restraint” on gun ownership as part of their response to rising gun violence.

One year after the Uvalde mass school shooting, which left 19 students and two teachers dead, officials with Chicago-based Catholic Extension visited the Texas city to renew the organization’s solidarity with a community still in the process of healing and announce its financial and tangible support will continue.

Community members gathered in Uvalde, Texas, to pray and honor the 21 lives taken last year in a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School.