The Killing Must End: LCWR Calls for Action to Prevent Gun Violence

Wed, 2022-05-25 15:56 by asanders

Our hearts and prayers go out to those parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, and uncles who lost their precious children and to all who have been touched by the massacre at Robb Elementary School.

Unfortunately, their heartbreak has become all too familiar to students, teachers, and parents across this country. The Washington Post reports that since the attack at Columbine High School in 1999, nearly 300,000  have been on campus during a school shooting. In 2020 firearm-related injuries surpassed automobile accidents as the leading cause of death among children and adolescents. according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Where is the outrage? How many more children are we willing to sacrifice?

We mourn with the people of Uvalde even as we continue to grieve for those lost to gun violence in Laguna Park, Buffalo, Parkland, Las Vegas, Sutherland Springs, Orlando, San Bernardino, Charleston, Newtown, Columbine, and in countless other cities and towns across this nation.  We mourn the senseless killing made easy by the proliferation of guns and the pervasive culture of violence which plague our communities.

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While there is much to grieve, we know that mourning is not enough. Prayers and condolences, as important as they are, are not enough.

It is well past time that our elected officials stopped listening to the gun lobby and heeded the cries of the people of this nation. It is well past time that we enacted sensible gun violence prevention legislation.

The Leadership Conference of Women Religious calls on Congress to immediately take up legislation that:

• requires universal background checks and mandatory waiting periods for all gun purchases;

• bans civilian ownership of high-capacity weapons and magazines; and

• provides funding to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to conduct public health research on firearm violence prevention.

We pledge to stand with all who seek to put an end to the epidemic violence in our land and to follow the path of peace.  Let us never doubt that the deep darkness of these days can be overcome by the radiant light of our lives and actions lived in love.

The Leadership Team of the Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth joins with people of good will throughout the United States in grieving the tragic loss of life in yet another school shooting this time taking place at  Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.  We join the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) in releasing the following statement.

The Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth, Convent Station, NJ, join with people of good will across the world as we witness with horror and disbelief at the unfolding tragedy in Ukraine, the bitter fruit of Russian military aggression. In the course of a few weeks: lives and homes destroyed; millions more people added to the world refugee population; half of the children in Ukraine displaced; the specter of nuclear war; ecological devastation.

We dedicate our prayer and join our voices to the conviction of Pope Francis, “Wars are always unjust since it is the people of God who pay.” We urge an immediate cessation of violence, intensified diplomatic efforts, a cessation of the global arms trade that foments violent conflict.

We are moved that even in the midst of this unspeakable tragedy, there are signs of hope: the welcome of millions of refugees by European countries, the acts of civil resistance by the Ukrainian people; the risks of the thousands of Russians who publicly protest their government’s military aggression; the world citizens who are providing humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

As we enter more deeply into the season of Lent, we contemplate the cross of Jesus, himself the victim of a colonizing empire. In Jesus, God pledged solidarity with victims of violence. We pledge the same solidarity and join with others to find ways to express it concretely.

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