The bishops on the shootings

The horror felt by the American bishops grew palpably with each successive mass shooting over the last few days.

First, a brief personal anecdote, which may illustrate what the Catholic church would be up against, should it decide - as it may have; see below - that combating gun violence is a high priority:

Yesterday at mass, in the course of leading what used to be called the Prayers of the Faithful, I discovered that someone had added a petition that wasn't in the mass script that had been emailed to me a couple of days earlier.  The new petition was straightforward - something along the lines of, "For the victims of the recent shootings in California, Texas and Ohio, we pray to the Lord."  As I read it aloud, my mental train of thought kicked in as follows: "Wait - what shooting in California?  Oh, that's right, the Garlic Festival - I had forgotten that one already.  Texas ... right, the El Paso Walmart shooting.  Ohio?  Ohio?  What shooting in Ohio?"  I mention this to make a couple of points, neither of which is very flattering about me, but which may have some bearing on our public conversation: (1) To the extent the American public is like me, we have short attention spans.  Even dramatic and horrifying news items recede from our memory pretty quickly - especially when, as was the case with the California shooting, it's superseded by an even more dramatic and horrible event.  (2) A lot of people (apparently including me this past weekend) don't follow current events very closely, and are only vaguely aware of events that strike many of us as significant.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has issued a series of statements in the wake of the three recent shootings.  I'm going to paste all three of them here, not only because they're brief, but also because I believe they show a definite progression in concern about gun violence and mass shootings.

For those of you who don't spend much time on their website, I should explain that the USCCB has many committees and departments, which in the aggregate cover virtually any and every conceivable human activity, with each committee headed by one of the member bishops.  When a statement is issued, it's standard practice for the head of the pertinent committee to issue it.  So the first statement, after the Gilroy, CA shooting, was issued on July 30th by Bishop Frank DeWayne, the bishop of Venice, FL and the head of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development.  Here it is:

It is heartbreaking to learn yet again of a mass shooting that has taken innocent lives, and wounded many others, this time at a food festival in Gilroy, California. At the time of this writing, the reports are of twelve wounded, and three deceased, including a six-year-old boy as well as a thirteen-year-old girl. The Lord calls us to comfort those who mourn and to be peacemakers in a violent world. We pray, and we must, for the victims and their families. The Church should act in ways that heal and support all those affected by gun violence. It is disturbing that our society would seem to allow some to feel comfort in being violent. Our legislators must make changes to our gun policy to prevent the loss of life. As Americans, we must be honest with ourselves that we have a sickness, almost a plague, with the problem of gun violence. As Christians, we must look to the cross, repentant of the ways that have led us to this point and, with God’s grace, abandon such senseless, inhuman acts. Let us resolve to make the sacrifices necessary to end the violent killing that saturates our nation.  

Without wishing to do an in-depth analysis, and bearing in mind that, at the time this was written, nobody was anticipating that two even worse shootings would follow in quick succession, I think this is a pretty strong statement.  It's forthright in calling out that gun violence is a serious American problem; it calls for legislative action; it sympathizes with victims and urges us to stand in solidarity with them.

 On August 3rd, after the El Paso shooting, another statement was issued.   This one was a joint statement, from DeWayne and Cardinal DiNardo, who is the president of the conference.  The president's signature on the statement indicates that this topic is now a concern, not just of a single committee, but of the entire conference.  Here it is:

This Saturday, less than week after the horrific instances of gun violence in California, yet another terrible, senseless and inhumane shooting took place, this time at a shopping mall in El Paso, Texas.

Something remains fundamentally evil in our society when locations where people congregate to engage in the everyday activities of life can, without warning, become scenes of violence and contempt for human life. The plague that gun violence has become continues unchecked and spreads across our country. Things must change. Once again, we call for effective legislation that addresses why these unimaginable and repeated occurrences of murderous gun violence continue to take place in our communities. As people of faith, we continue to pray for all the victims, and for healing in all these stricken communities. But action is also needed to end these abhorrent acts.

Again, without wishing to do a full analysis, my reading of this statement is that it's simple and direct.  "Things must change."  The bishops' impatience apparently is growing.

The very next day, August 4th, DiNardo and DeWayne issued yet another statement, this time in the wake of the Dayton shooting.  Here it is:

We extend our condolences to the families and friends of those murdered in Dayton last night. The lives lost this weekend confront us with a terrible truth. We can never again believe that mass shootings are an isolated exception. They are an epidemic against life that we must, in justice, face. God’s mercy and wisdom compel us to move toward preventative action. We encourage all Catholics to increased prayer and sacrifice for healing and the end of these shootings. We encourage Catholics to pray and raise their voices for needed changes to our national policy and national culture as well. We call on all relevant committees of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to outline a reinvigorated policy agenda and pastoral campaign to address ways we can help fight this social disease that has infected our nation. The Conference has long advocated for responsible gun laws and increased resources for addressing the root causes of violence. We also call upon the President and Congress to set aside political interests and find ways to better protect innocent life.

Note that by now, what was as first described as a "sickness" and a "plague" has now become an epidemic.  And calls for legislation has now morphed into a pledge by the bishops themselves that "all relevant committees" will "outline a reinvigorated policy agenda and pastoral campaign".  They declare themselves compelled to act.

We will have to see what comes of this vow, taken in the heat of anxiety and horror, as passions cool and the bishops take stock.  Changing the wider culture is a tall order.  I suppose I am not substantially more prone to amnesia and stupidity than most others in the culture; yet, as I illustrated at the top of this post, they're amply present in me.  Those are hard tendencies to correct or overcome.  And it is in the nature of mass shootings that they happen, everyone reacts, and then the news cycle marches on to newer topics.  I wish the bishops success in their endeavor to change the American culture regarding gun violence.