MADISON – (Above) Children learn about the ichthus fish symbol as they make their own beaded fish at Vacation Bible School at St. Francis parish. (Below) Children sang VBS theme songs for parents and friends at their closing program. (Photos by Mary Catherine George)
By Bishop Joseph R. Kopacz, D.D.
The National Eucharistic Congress is underway in Indianapolis this week and considerable faith, hope and love have been poured into the preparations that have made it all possible. Our Eucharistic Lord is working great wonders and inspiring many to recognize Him and love Him in the gift of His Body and Blood during this graced time in our nation’s Catholic history.
One obvious manifestation of the outpouring of God’s grace were the four national Eucharistic processions that converged earlier this week in Indianapolis. Recalling the words of St. Paul, many joyfully walked as pilgrims in adoration. “Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice! Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord is near.” (Philippians 4:4-5) It is a time of revival, renewal, and rejoicing to know the enduring and eternal gift that the crucified and risen Lord has bequeathed to the church in the Eucharist.
As we enjoy this issue of the Mississippi Catholic that features the celebrations of the sacraments from around the diocese, it is abundantly evident that the Mass, the great prayer of Thanksgiving is the heart and soul of our identity as Catholics. Recently, at each closing session of our Pastoral Reimagining, the Eucharist was the centerpiece to express our gratitude, as well as to call upon the Holy Spirit to inspire us in our commitment to be faithful to the Lord in pastoral reimagining. The holy sacrifice of the Mass is our true north on the way to eternal life, the fulfillment of the promise the Lord made to all disciples who ate his body and drank his blood. “I am the living bread that comes down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; the bread I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” (John 6:51)
The Eucharist, the center of the church’s life, somehow seems to say it all. It says in a hundred different ways: this is who we are, and this is who God is … When we look at Eucharist in all its rich fullness, we can rekindle within ourselves eucharistic amazement and wonder at this great gift God has given to us in his Son Jesus. (Stephen J. Binz, Eucharist, page 2) The psalmist captures these gifts of awe and wonder. “Enter his gates with thanksgiving, his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name, good indeed is the Lord. His mercy endures forever, his faithfulness lasts through every generation.” (Psalm 100)
Central to recognizing the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist is our hunger and thirst for God’s Word. Our Liturgical/Sacramental Catholic world cannot exist without the proclamation of the scriptures during each administration of the sacraments. Emergency baptisms or anointings would be the exceptions. The Emmaus story in St. Luke’s Gospel embodies what Pope Saint Paul II meant in his document Ecclesia de Eucaristia at the turn of the millennium. In other words, the church is born from the Eucharist and the road to Emmaus portrays the fullness of Eucharistic faith when the Word burned in the disciples’ hearts, and they recognized the risen Lord’s presence in the Breaking of the Bread. The inspired Word of God prepares us to see the glory of God in the Lord’s body and blood on the altar.
Central to an authentic celebration of the Eucharist is the understanding that at the end of Mass the service continues.
“Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life.”
“Thanks be to God.”
As the Lord distinctly taught, it is urgent to put into practice what we have heard in order to build our house on rock, the solid ground of faith in action. Seizing the moment with all who are in attendance at the Eucharistic Congress will be the invitation to be Eucharistic missionaries, or missionary disciples on fire with the joy of the Gospel. Afterall, we are the Body of Christ, the church, and we are to carry our holy communion with the Lord and one another into our lives and world as a leaven that witnesses to God’s Kingdom.
Indeed, the Lord is always near, and never more so than when the members of his body, the church, faithfully live the Good News.
June 28
Father Stephen Okojie
St. Stephen Magee & St. Therese Jackson
July 16
Deacon Mark Bowden
St. Jude Pearl
Deacon Dien Hoang
Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle Jackson
Deacon Wesley Lindsay
Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle Jackson
Deacon John Pham
St. Michael Forest
Deacon David Rouch
St. Michael Vicksburg
Deacon Tony Schmidt
St. Paul Flowood
August 5
Msgr. Elvin Sunds
Retired
August 14
Father AnthonyClaret Onyeocha
St. Joseph Woodville & Holy Family Gloster
August 16
Father Joe Dyer
Retired
THINGS OLD AND NEW
By Ruth Powers
Now that the summer break is a little more than halfway over, parents and students begin to turn their attention to the start of the next school year. Although this topic may seem more suited to the celebration of Catholic Schools Week in January, as we look toward the start of the new school year it may be beneficial to take a look at the history of Catholic schools in our country and the role they played in transmitting the faith to our children. My own family has benefitted as we have had our faith shaped by Cathedral School in Natchez for six generations (my grandchildren being the sixth.)
Catholic education in what would become the future United States began with Franciscan friars establishing schools in Spanish territories in the 1500s, educating both Indigenous people and Spanish settlers. The French later established schools along the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Notably, the Ursuline Academy in New Orleans, founded in 1727, which is still in operation today.
In English colonized areas, however, there was a different story. Although the original Puritan settlers came looking for religious freedom, they did not practice religious toleration. Their strict Calvinists beliefs led to hostility towards Catholics, influencing attitudes across the original colonies, especially in New England and the Northeast. Maryland, initially a haven for persecuted Catholics, was overtaken by Calvinist rebels in 1689, leading to the outlawing of Catholicism.
After the Revolutionary War religious toleration became much more widespread in law, allowing Catholics to again freely worship without fear of persecution, but social attitudes remained staunchly anti-Catholic in many places. Into this situation stepped St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, an Episcopalian convert to Catholicism, who is credited with founding the U.S. Catholic School system. Seton was approached by a priest of the Sulpician order to come to Maryland and start a school for Catholic girls, which she did in 1810. She also gathered a number of women around her and founded the Daughters of Charity. Members of this religious order travelled around the United States and founded Catholic Schools in areas where there were concentrations of Catholics.
From the 1820s through the 1850s Catholic immigration from Ireland and Germany dramatically increased, sparking a rise in anti-Catholic sentiment. This era saw the formation of the “Know-Nothings,” a political party aimed at halting Catholic immigration and eradicating Catholic influence in the United States. To achieve this, the public school system, where most immigrant children were educated due to the scarcity of Catholic schools, became a battleground. Horace Mann, the system’s advocate, staunchly opposed institutional religion, particularly Catholicism. The idea was for the Protestant teachers to use Protestant prayers, hymns, and study of the Protestant Bible to indoctrinate Catholic children against the teachings of the Catholic Church.
In response to the Know-Nothing movement and the violence it engendered, a series of Councils were held in Baltimore, Maryland in 1852, 1866 and 1884. The second and third of these councils were instrumental in the development of the system of parish-based Catholic schools that many of us grew up with. The Second Council called for the erection of parochial schools in every Catholic parish, and Catholic teachers working in public schools should be employed in Catholic parish schools wherever possible. Catechism classes were to be provided for students who couldn’t afford to attend the parish school. The Third Plenary Council went even further. It called for the establishment of Catholic high schools and addressed parents as well. It stated, “we not only exhort Catholic parents … but we command the with all the authority in our power, to procure a truly Christian education for their dear offspring … (and) send them to Catholic … schools,” unless they otherwise obtained permission from their local bishop.
Parochial schools grew exponentially after this, due in large part to the work of women religious who were willing to staff them for very little in the way of salary or benefits. Catholic schools continued to flourish, and the next waves of immigrants in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century (Italians) and after WWI (Poles and other Eastern Europeans) found schools ready not only to help their children learn academics, but also to enculturate into American society without giving up their Catholic faith.
Parochial schools thrived until the early 1960’s, but declining numbers of religious vocations necessitated hiring lay teachers, coupled with rising operational costs, leading to the closure of numerous Catholic schools in recent years. Increased tuition has further restricted access for many families, resulting in a significant resurgence of Catholic students in public schools, marking a pivotal moment in the landscape of U.S. education.
Currently, there is a move to once again integrate religious chaplains and required bible study into public school classrooms. Catholic parents need to look back at what happened in the nineteenth century and ask some hard questions – what will these chaplains do, which Bible will be taught, and who will be doing the teaching to make sure there is not another attempt to indoctrinate our children.
(Ruth Powers is the program coordinator for the Basilica of St. Mary in Natchez.)
AMID THE FRAY
By Greg Erlandson
I must have skipped the chapter in my “how to parent” instruction manual where it talked about weddings. Not my wedding, of course, but all the weddings of my kids, the friends of my kids and the kids of my friends.
For me, the year 2024 is turning into a banner year for nuptials, including the wedding of one of my sons. Yet we have been invited to at least five other weddings this year as well. We are swamped by the logistics of attending. We get save-the-date cards with a photo, then the actual wedding invitations. We negotiate wedding websites to R.S.V.P. and send gifts. In case you didn’t know, department store gift registries are now as old fashioned as department stores. It is far busier for some of our children, who have even more weddings to attend, bridesmaid dresses to buy, bachelor parties to throw, and travel and hotel expenses to cover.
I can’t complain, however. My wife and I are cheered by this nuptial rush, for the statistics about young people getting married have been falling for years. Marriage has been in something approaching freefall since the 1960s. Catholic marriage rates have been dropping precipitously as well.
Some of this freefall is due to a rampant distrust of institutions that harkens back to Mae West (“Marriage is a great institution, but I’m not ready for an institution yet”). Some of it reflects a distrust of the church itself. Some of it is cautiousness about commitment in an era of divorce. And some of it is the result of a crisis in dating.
We are hearing far too many stories of young men and young women (and some not-so-young men and women) who want marriage but are not finding suitable partners. Even worse are the stories of young men and women who don’t know how, or are afraid, to ask someone out on a date. Colleges are even offering dating instruction courses, for which there appears to be a real need. Young men tell me they are afraid that any expression of interest may be interpreted as harassment, and young women tell me of men who seem to be mired in perpetual adolescence.
And for parents who worry about their single children, it is usually made absolutely clear to them that they are not allowed to play matchmaker. Meanwhile, their (quite wonderful) children wait and wait for lightning to strike. But I digress.
What I want to tell all the couples that are getting married this year is that they should not focus on the wedding day. It is just one day, after all. It is not worth going into debt for or causing all your friends to go into debt for. The destination, the trappings, the dress – these are all irrelevant when compared to what this day signifies the start of: a shared life together.
After 41 years of marriage, I can testify that (a) marriage is great, (b) marriage does take work (on oneself), and (c) all the effort is worth it.
For Catholics, the challenge and the joy of “becoming one flesh” is that the couple is committing to helping each other become more like Jesus, that is to grow in life-giving and generous love. That is why we get married, why we hope to have children, why we make a lifelong commitment. Marriage is an ongoing seminar in selflessness. It’s not always easy. We even fail at times. But after 41 years of marriage, I can testify that the rewards are greater than anything those young couples can imagine right now.
(Greg Erlandson is an award-winning Catholic publisher, editor and journalist whose column appears monthly at OSV News.)
IN EXILE
By Father Ron Rolheiser, OMI
Prayer is most needed just when it seems most useless. Michael J. Buckley, one of the major spiritual mentors in my life, wrote those words. What does he mean by them?
In the face of so many problems we can get the feeling that praying about them is useless. For example, in the face of the discouragement and helplessness we feel before some of the mega problems in our world, it is easy to feel that praying about them is useless. What will my prayer do vis-à-vis the wars raging in different parts of the world? What’s the value of my prayer in the face of injustice, famine, racism and sexism? What will my prayer do vis-à-vis the divisions and hatred now dividing our communities? It is easy to feel that praying about these situations is useless.
The same holds true about how we often feel about the value of prayer when serious illnesses beset us. Will prayer bring about a cure for someone with terminal cancer? Do we really expect a miraculous cure? Mostly, we don’t, but we continue to pray despite the feeling that our prayer won’t in fact change the situation. Why?
Why pray when it seems useless to do so? Theologians and spiritual writers have given us various perspectives on this which are helpful, though not adequate. Prayer, they say, is not meant to change the mind of God, but to change the mind of the person who is praying. We don’t pray to put God on our side; we pray to put ourselves on God’s side. As well, we have been taught that the reason it might seem that God doesn’t answer our prayers is that God, like a loving parent, knows what is good for us and answers our prayers by giving us what we really need rather than what we naively want. C.S. Lewis once said that we will spend a lot of time in eternity thanking God for those prayers that God didn’t answer.
All of this is true and important. God’s ways are not our ways. Faith asks us to give God the space and time to be God, without having to conform to our very limited expectations and habitual impatience. We can indeed be grateful that God doesn’t answer many of our prayers according to our expectations.
But still, still … when Jesus invited us to pray, he didn’t do so with a caveat: but you need to ask for the right things if you expect me to answer your prayer. No, he simply said: Ask and you will receive. He also said that some demons are only cast out by prayer and fasting.
So, how might the demons of violence, division, hatred, war, hunger, global warming, famine, racism, sexism, cancer, heart disease and the like be cast out by prayer? How is prayer useful in any practical way in the face of these issues?
In brief, prayer doesn’t just change the person who is praying, it also changes the situation. When you pray you are in fact part of the situation about which you are praying. Sincere prayer helps you become the change you are praying to bring about. For example, praying for peace helps you to calm your own heart and bring a more peaceful heart into the world.
While this is true, there is also a deeper reality at play. More deeply, when we pray there is something happening that goes beyond how we normally imagine the simple interplay between cause and effect. By changing ourselves we are changing the situation; yes, but in a deeper way than we normally imagine.
As Christians, we believe that we are part of a body, the Body of Christ, and that our union there with each other is more than some idealized corporate community. Rather, we are part of a living organism in which every part affects every other part, just as in a physical body. Because of this, for us, there is no such a thing as a private act – good or bad. I hesitate to suggest that this is analogous to the immune system inside the human body because this is more than an analogy. It’s real, organic. Just as in a human body there is an immune system which protects the health of the overall body by killing off cells and viruses that are endangering its health, so too inside the Body of Christ. At all times, we are either healthy cells bringing strength to the immune system inside the Body of Christ or we are a virus or cancerous cell threatening its health. Praying about an issue makes a difference because it helps strengthen the immune system inside the Body of Christ – precisely as it is dealing with the issue about which we are praying.
While on the surface prayer can sometimes feel useless, it is doing something vital underneath – something most needed precisely when we feel that our prayer is useless.
(Oblate Father Ron Rolheiser is a theologian, teacher and award-winning author. He can be contacted through his website www.ronrolheiser.com.)
By Justin McLellan
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Heaven is not a secure vault protected from outsiders but a “hidden treasure” that is reached by cultivating virtues, Pope Francis said.
Before praying the Angelus in St. Peter’s Square on the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul June 29, the pope reflected on Jesus giving St. Peter, the first pope, the keys to the kingdom of heaven.
“The mission that Jesus entrusts to Peter is not that of barring the doors to the house, permitting entry only to a few select guests, but of helping everyone to find the way to enter, in faithfulness to the Gospel of Jesus,” Pope Francis said after celebrating Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica.
Heaven, he added, is “for everyone. Everyone, everyone, everyone can enter.”
The pope said that St. Peter “received the keys to the kingdom not because he was perfect, no, he is a sinner, but because he was humble, honest and the Father had given him sincere faith.”
Even after many trials and setbacks, the Apostle Peter was the first to experience for himself “the joy and freedom that come from meeting the Lord,” and the first “to understand that authority is a service in order to open the door to Jesus.”
The following day, Pope Francis again appeared in the window of the Apostolic Palace to keep his usual Sunday appointment of praying the Angelus with the faithful. He focused on the Gospel theme of inclusivity by reflecting on the day’s Gospel reading from St. Mark in which a woman is healed after touching Jesus’ cloak and a girl is resurrected after Jesus took her by the hand.
Highlighting the importance of physical contact in both healings, the pope asked, “Why is this physical contact important?”
“It is because these two women are considered impure and cannot, therefore, be physically touched – one because she suffers from bleeding and the other because she is dead,” he said. “Yet, Jesus allows Himself to be touched and is not afraid to touch.”
By carrying out the physical healing, Jesus “challenges the false religious belief that God separates the pure, placing them on one side, from the impure on another,” the pope said. “Instead, God does not make this kind of separation because we are all his children.”
He added that impurity “does not come from food, illness, or even death; impurity comes from an impure heart.”
Pope Francis urged Christians to take to heart the lesson from the day’s Gospel reading, that “in the face of bodily and spiritual sufferings, of the wounds our souls bear, of the situations that crush us, and even in the face of sin, God does not keep us at a distance.”
“God is not ashamed of us; God does not judge us,” he said. “On the contrary, He draws near to let Himself be touched and to touch us, and He always raises us from death.”
By Carol Glatz
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Any Catholic who participates in the celebration July 28 of the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly can receive a plenary indulgence, the Vatican announced.
“Grandparents, the elderly and all the faithful who, motivated by a true spirit of penance and charity,” attend Mass or other prayer services as part of the day’s celebration can receive the indulgence, which “may also be applied as a suffrage to the souls in purgatory,” said the announcement published July 18 by the Apostolic Penitentiary, the Vatican court charged with granting indulgences.
The Vatican said the indulgence also can apply to those who “devote adequate time to actually or virtually visiting their elderly brothers and sisters in need or in difficulty,” such as those who are sick, lonely or disabled.
To receive a plenary indulgence, which is a remission of the temporal punishment due for one’s sins, a person must show detachment from sin, go to confession, receive the Eucharist and pray for the intentions of the pope. The announcement also urged priests “to make themselves available, in a ready and generous spirit,” to hear confessions.
The indulgence also is available to “the elderly sick and all those who, unable to leave their homes for a serious reason,” spiritually join the celebrations, which will be broadcast through various media, and offer “to the merciful God their prayers, pains or sufferings,” the Vatican said.
Pope Francis celebrated the first World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly in 2021 and decreed that it be observed each year on the Sunday closest to the feast of Sts. Joachim and Anne, Jesus’ grandparents.
In his message for this year’s celebration, Pope Francis focused on the problem of intergenerational conflict, calling it “a fallacy and the poisoned fruit of conflict.”
Dedicated to the theme “Do not cast me off in my old age” from the Book of Psalms, the pope’s message said the elderly must not be accused of saddling younger generations with their medical expenses and pensions — a notion which foments intergenerational conflict and drives older people into isolation.
“The loneliness and abandonment of the elderly is not by chance or inevitable, but the fruit of decisions — political, economic, social and personal decisions — that fail to acknowledge the infinite dignity of each person,” the pope had written.
The pope encouraged all people to express gratitude to those who, often at great sacrifice, “care for an older person or simply demonstrate daily closeness to relatives or acquaintances who no longer have anyone else.”
By Maria Wiering
(OSV News) — Catholic and civic leaders called for peace and unity in the hours after former President Donald Trump was grazed by a bullet and a spectator was killed July 13 in an assassination attempt during the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The Holy See expressed “concern about last night’s episode of violence, which wounds people and democracy, causing suffering and death” in a July 14 statement in Italian. The Holy See is “united in the prayer of the U.S. bishops for America, for the victims, and for peace in the country, so that the motives of the violent may never prevail,” according to Catholic News Service.
On July 14, Trump thanked “everyone for your thoughts and prayers yesterday, as it was God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening,” on his social media platform Truth Social.
“We will FEAR NOT, but instead remain resilient in our Faith and Defiant in the face of Wickedness. Our love goes out to the other victims and their families. We pray for the recovery of those who were wounded, and hold in our hearts the memory of the citizen who was so horribly killed,” he continued. “In this moment, it is more important than ever that we stand United, and show our True Character as Americans, remaining Strong and Determined, and not allowing Evil to Win. I truly love our County, and love you all, and look forward to speaking to our Great Nation this week from Wisconsin.”
The Republican National Convention is scheduled to take place July 15-18 in Milwaukee.
President Joe Biden condemned the attack, calling it “sick” in Saturday evening remarks shortly after the incident. The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee returned to the White House from his vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, and addressed the American public again July 14.
“Jill and I are keeping him (Trump) and his family in our prayers,” said Biden, a Catholic. “We also extend our deepest condolences to the family of the victim who was killed. He was a father. He was protecting his family from the bullets that were being fired, and he lost his life. God love him.”
That victim has been identified as Corey Comperatore, a firefighter from Pennsylvania who was among the thousands attending Saturday’s rally.
Biden said he is also praying for the full recovery of those who were injured and are grateful for the response of the Secret Service agents, other law enforcement and individuals who risked their lives.
“As I said last night, there is no place in America for this kind of violence, or any violence for that matter,” he said. “The assassination attempt is contrary to everything we stand for as a nation. Everything. It’s not who we are as a nation. It’s not American, and we cannot allow this to happen.”
“Unity is the most elusive goal of all, but nothing is more important than that right now,” he said.
He said the FBI is leading the investigation, which is in its early stages. Biden encouraged the American public not to make assumptions about the motive or affiliations of 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, who was named as the gunman killed by the Secret Service at the rally.
Biden also emphasized that Trump has had and will continue to have “a heightened level” of security protection, that he’s asked the head of the Secret Service to review all security measures for the Republican National Convention, and he has ordered an independent review of the July 13 incident and will share its results with the public.
Biden plans to speak more about the situation the evening of July 14 in an Oval Office address. “We must unite as one nation,” Biden said, repeating the phrase, “to demonstrate who we are.”
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro described Comperatore as a husband and father with two daughters “who died a hero.”
“Corey was a girl dad. Corey was a firefighter. Corey went to church every Sunday. Corey loved his community. Most especially, Corey loved his family,” Shapiro said July 14 during a press conference.
On Facebook July 13, Father Kevin Fazio, pastor All Saints Parish in Butler — a Catholic parish with five churches, one of which is located across from where the rally took place — wrote to parishioners that “We are shocked and saddened by the tragic shooting and act of violence that occurred at the Farm Show grounds on Saturday, July 13.”
“There are feelings of fear, hurt, anger, and sorrow in our community right now,” he wrote. “As Christians, we need to remember that during times of darkness, we are called to reflect the light of Christ. May we continue to pray for peace in our world, in our country, and right here at home. Our prayers to God today for everyone involved in, and all of the victims of this violent act, their families, and friends. God our Father, watch over us. Jesus our Savior, heal us. Holy Spirit, guide us.”
The assassination attempt occurred the weekend before the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, a five-day gathering of Catholics across the country in Indianapolis that begins July 17. In a July 14 statement, Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota, the congress’s board chairman, offered prayers for Trump and those killed or injured in the July 13 violence. He also assured congress attendees that they can expect a secure event.
“We feel privileged to gather in prayer at a time with Our Eucharistic Lord when our country and our world need this peace which comes only from him,” he said. “We will pray for healing of all divisions in our land and an end to violence.”
Other bishops, including Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, archbishop of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops; and Bishop David A. Zubik of Pittsburgh, which includes Butler, issued statements July 13 calling for prayers and peace.
“We are grateful for the swift actions of the Secret Service and our local first responders,” Bishop Zubik said. “Let us join together in prayer for the health and safety of all, for healing and peace, and for an end to this climate of violence in our world. May God guide and protect us all.”
On X, formerly known as Twitter, Bishop Robert E. Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, posted July 13, “I would like to offer prayers for President Trump and all those who were injured at the rally in Pennsylvania. We must turn from the path of violence. May the Lord bless our troubled nation.”
The same day, Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley of Boston lamented that “our nation has once again witnessed another deadly and tragic shooting today” and joined in prayer for the families of those killed and the recovery of Trump and the injure
“As a nation, we must come to grips with the incessant violence that has too often become the norm. It must stop,” he continued in his social media post. “We must find peaceful ways to resolve our differences & avoid all political violence.”
Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez of Philadelphia also prayed for consolation for “those mourning the loss of a loved one” and for a swift recovery for Trump and those injured.
“Americans must join in solidarity to condemn today’s act of political violence and violence in all forms,” he said in a multipart message on X. “Working together, we can resolve our differences through peaceful dialogue and conquer the sin of hatred.”
Other bishops who offered prayers for those affected included Bishop Michael T. Martin of Charlotte, North Carolina; Bishop Edward J. Weisenburger of Tucson, Arizona; and Bishop Larry J. Kulick of Greenburg, Pennsylvania.
In addition to prayers, Bishop Martin also called the violent incident “a call of conscience to all people of goodwill” and a time for self-reflection to bring an end to all violence
“Let us not simply condemn today’s attack but root out the anger in our own hearts that can affect our words and our actions,” he said in a statement shared by diocesan media.
“Scripture reminds us we are all made in the image and likeness of God. That means something, especially in our great democracy. It means we must treat other people — all people — with the sacredness that is due to all of God’s children. We must respectfully listen to each other, care about others’ welfare, and seek the common good — even and especially when we disagree on how that may be best achieved.”
In the USCCB statement, Archbishop Broglio said that the bishops “condemn political violence, and we offer our prayers for President Trump, and those who were killed or injured. We also pray for our country and for an end to political violence, which is never a solution to political disagreements. We ask all people of goodwill to join us in praying for peace in our country. Mary, Mother of God and Patroness of the Americas, pray for us.”
The USCCB statement also noted a statement the bishops released this summer about political violence that urged “all Christians and people of good will to abstain from political violence, and instead, ‘pursue what leads to peace and building up one another’ through dialogue, seeking justice.”
(Maria Wiering is senior writer for OSV News.)
By Carol Glatz , Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Vatican expressed its concern about the violence waged at a political rally in the United States and it offered its prayers for the nation, the victims and peace.
In response to queries about the shootings at a rally involving former U.S. President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania, the Vatican press office released a statement July 14 expressing its “concern about last night’s episode of violence, which wounds people and democracy, causing suffering and death.”
The Holy See is “united in the prayer of the U.S. bishops for America, for the victims, and for peace in the country, so that the motives of the violent may never prevail,” the statement said in Italian.
Gunshots were fired at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, July 13, injuring Trump who said on social media that a bullet “pierced” his right ear. One person attending the rally was killed and two others were critically injured, The Associated Press reported July 14.
The U.S. Secret Service said it killed the suspected shooter who had attacked from an elevated position outside the rally venue.
Law enforcement was investigating the shooting as an attempted assassination of the former president and presumptive Republican presidential candidate, AP reported.
Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in a written statement July 13, “Together with my brother bishops, we condemn political violence, and we offer our prayers for President Trump, and those who were killed or injured.”
“We also pray for our country and for an end to political violence, which is never a solution to political disagreements. We ask all people of goodwill to join us in praying for peace in our country. Mary, Mother of God and Patroness of the Americas, pray for us,” the archbishop said.
