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I have been following news reports on the shooting at Annunciation Church and School in Minnesota. While events are still unfurling, what we know now is that two children ages 8 and 10 were killed and 17 persons were injured, 14 of them children. Two children are in critical condition. While such shootings have sadly become commonplace, this one hits close to home, not only because it occurred at a Catholic school, but also because the gunman shot through the windows of a church where children and their teachers were praying at the start of a new school year. 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. While 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.

The facts are clear. Guns are plentiful and common sense attempts to limit their availability have been largely rejected in the name of a freedom not found in our constitution. Cutbacks in funding for health care and social service programs will only exacerbate a national mental health crisis and increase alienation. We therefore pray for those who hold the power to make the safety of our people a national priority.

We ask 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 and Americans feel leaving their homes for simple errands. 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.

Please pray and please act.

Now.