Church needs to address gun violence

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To the Editor:

Why hasn’t the Catholic Church expressed more outrage over the constant barrage of gun violence? In this calendar year alone, there have been at least 229 mass shootings in the United States. Innocent people, young and old, are killed almost daily by gun violence. The USCCB needs to take a stronger stand with a voice rooted in the Gospel. Is outrage only reserved for the abortion issue?

Have we become a nation that worships guns, like a golden calf, a new religion? Do we feel so much enmity toward our fellow citizens that we must put our trust in deadly force protection? We, who speak of being a “Christian nation”? How did we stray so far from caring for the common good? It would seem to me that Catholic Christians should be in the vanguard of calling for controls, regulation, bans on assault weapons. Jesus asked us to take up our cross and follow him. What does that mean in our lives? Looking out for “me, myself and mine”? Jesus said: “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me” (Mt. 25:40). Do those words ring hollow in our ears?

Mary Lu Callahan
Iowa City

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