The church in the United States expresses its grief and condolences following Wednesday’s tragedy in Minneapolis, where a young man opened fire during Mass at Annunciation Catholic School. The attack resulted in the deaths of two children and around seventeen injured before the shooter took his own life.
Vatican News
Messages of condolence, solidarity and prayer have poured in to the community in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in the United States where a young man on Wednesday opened fire during Mass before the start of classes at Annunciation Catholic School. Two children died in the attack and seventeen others sustained injuries according to initial reports, while the shooter took his own life.
Cardinal de Mendonça offers heartfelt condolences
Upon hearing the terrible news, Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, Prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education, sent a telegram to Minneapolis Archbishop Bernard Hebda, expressing his “heartfelt condolences” over the deaths of the two children during the celebration of Mass. The message assured the community of “fervent prayers for the victims and their families” and “spiritual closeness to the entire community affected.” Cardinal de Mendonça noted how this heartbreaking incident shows the need for Catholic education to renew its efforts in the face of today’s challenges “in order to continue building a culture of fraternity, founded on a peace that is both unarmed and disarming.”
Cardinal Cupich prays for victims, urges action
In a statement issued on Wednesay 27 August, Cardinal Blase Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago, said “we join our prayers with others that those injured in body and spirit will heal and that the murdered children will be received into heaven, we must also cry out for action to prevent even one more such tragedy.” Noting sadly that such shootings and violence have become commonplace, this incident “hits close to home” since it occurred at a Catholic school and the gunman shot through the windows of a church where the children and their teachers were at prayer to mark the start of the school year. He writes: “If any place should have been safe, it should have been there. If any time should have been safe, it should have been then. Tragically, we know no place or time when Americans – even children – are safe from the curse of gun violence.”
Cardinal Cupich encouraged offering prayers for “those who hold the power to make the safety of our people a national priority,” and for “God to give them the courage to take the steps they know will alleviate if not eliminate the fear parents must feel sending their children off to school…surely they must be moved by these shootings. We pray that they will not see them as inevitable because then we will have certainly surrendered our rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
Cardinal Tobin prays for comfort to the grieving
Cardinal Joseph Tobin, Archbishop of Newark, urged the faithful to join him in prayer for all those affected by the tragic shooting at Annunciation Catholic School, noting how “what should have been a joyful beginning to a new academic year was instead shattered by senseless violence.” In a a message posted online, he said, “we hold close in prayer the children, families, teachers and parish community of Annunciation” and that “no child should ever face fear in a place of learning and worship, and no parent should endure the loss of a child to violence.” In conclusion, we writes, “May Christ our Redeemer bring comfort to the grieving and peace to all who mourn.”
Cardinal Dolan, solidarity with the victims
Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, in a social media post, exprssed profound sadness over the attack, writing, “once again, we are shocked and horrified by the news of another senseless shooting, this time all the more disturbing because it happened at a Catholic church and school, which should always be sanctuaries of peace. We mourn the two innocent children whose lives were cut short by this dreadful tragedy and hold in our intentions the seventeen wounded.” He added, “we join in compassionate solidarity with the countless families of the city of Minneapolis, Annunciation Catholic school, and beyond who have been touched by an unthinkable grief caused by mindnumbing gun violence which has become all too common. We pray for an end to all violence in our hearts, in our communities, and in our world.”
